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Updated: May 10, 2019 00:20 IST

A parade of around 50 elephants has been the centrepiece of Kerala’s popular temple festival, Thrissur Pooram, since the late 18th century when the erstwhile Kochi royal family started it. The week-long festival at Thrissur’s Vadakkumnathan Temple would not be the same when it starts this year on Monday without the parade.

The elephant owners have announced a boycott of the festival in protest against the ban on a 54-year-old tusker, Thechikottukavu Ramachandran, from participating in Thrissur Pooram.

The elephant, which suffers from a partial loss of vision, has been the centre of attraction at the festival since the 1970s. It was barred from participating in the festival after trampling two people to death in February. The elephant has been symbolically pushing open the Vadakkumnathan Temple’s southern entrance to mark the beginning of Thrissur Pooram for four decades.

Kerala’s Elephant Owners’ Federation general secretary, P Sasikumar, told IANS that a decision to allow the elephant take part in the festival was taken at a meet forest minister K Raju presided over on April 10. “We do not know what happened after that.”

Sasikumar called the ban on the elephant a rude jolt. “Hence, we decided that from May 11, not a single elephant of ours will be given for taking part in any festival. This one-sided decision is not acceptable to us,” said Sasikumar, whose organisation is the only body of owners of captive elephants in the state.

R Chandran, president of Thechikottukavu Devasom that owns Ramachandran, echoed Sasikumar and called the ban a shock. “There is some conspiracy behind this sudden change in a decision that was already taken. We hope better sense prevails,” said Chandran. “It is common knowledge that Ramachandran’s right eye has a vision problem while his left eye is 100% fit.”

Raju insisted Kerala’s chief wildlife warden, Surendrakumar, has banned the elephant’s participation in parades in public places and festivals after the February mishap. “We cannot take any risk.” He accused elephant owners of playing politics and added the government will not bow to their threats.

Sasikumar blamed Raju’s statement on Tuesday blaming owners for torturing jumbos for money for escalating the standoff. “We are willing to cooperate but the forest minister has made a controversial statement saying owners were torturing tuskers for money. It is an insensitive comment. We decided not to send our elephants to any festival.”

Thrissur’s district collector, TV Anupama, denied permission to allow the jumbo take part in the festival citing the February incident when it ran amok after crackers were burst near at a function. Anupama could not be reached for a comment.

(With agency inputs)