After calling out Malappuram as the most violent districts of India, BJP leader and former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi has fallen into trouble. The official website of People for Animals (PFA), an animal rights NGO founded by BJP MP Maneka Gandhi, was hacked on Friday by a group Kerala Hackers.
A message on the website after hacking read, “Maneka Gandhi dragged the sad death of pregnant elephant for dirty politics,” with the popular ‘coffin dance’ music playing in the background.
The hackers also posted a map of the place where the female wild elephant was found dead to reaffirm the fact that the incident happened in the Palakkad district of Kerala and not the Muslim-majority Malappuram district where the incident was first reported to have occurred.
“Maneka’s love for animals is intertwined with hate for Muslims”, added the hackers.
A lawyer in Malappuram has filed a complaint, demanding an FIR against Maneka and others for the comments, alleging the statements were made to add “communal colour”. Kerala’s opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala demanded an apology from Gandhi.
CPM state secretary, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said that the remarks of BJP national leaders were intended to “target a particular religious group”.
The People for Animals website appeared to have been down for around 20 minutes before it was restored.
Kerala Cyber Warriors claimed that it had hacked the website of People for Animals, India on its Facebook page.
The death of a pregnant elephant grabbed the attention of media and became a national news after a major news organisation first reported that the animal was intentionally fed a pineapple by local villagers in the Malappuram district of Kerala. However, it was later found that the incident was unintended and the elephant could have been injured by firecrackers intended to kill wild boar to protect the crops. Forest officials also confirmed that the incident took place in the adjoining Palakkad district and not Malappuram.