Live with us, experience our plight, then react: Wayanad CPI leader tells Maneka Gandhi
![maneka gandhi ej babu Maneka Gandhi, E J Babu. Photo: Rahul R Pattom/ Jithin Joel Haarim](https://img.onmanorama.com/content/dam/mm/en/kerala/top-news/images/2025/1/29/menaka-gandhi-ej-babu.jpg?w=1120&h=583)
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Kalpetta: Irked by former minister of state for environment Maneka Gandhi's assertion that human encroachments caused the attack of the man-eater tiger, the CPI leader has asked the BJP leader to stay in Wayanad and understand the people's plight before commenting on their lives.
The BJP MP, in an interview in New Delhi with a Malayalam news channel, had criticised the Kerala Forest Department's order to shoot to death the man-eater tiger, saying that it was human encroachment that resulted in wild animals entering human habitats.
She also claimed that a mass killing of wild boars forced tigers to cross into human habitats due to a shortage of prey in the jungle. Incensed by these remarks, CPI Wayanad District Secretary EJ Babu said that he was prepared to give Gandhi one acre of land free of cost.
"Instead of criticising us, you should suggest what we could do to keep away the wild animals that devastate our farmlands and pose a threat to our lives," he said in an open letter to Gandhi. "While the national average of forest cover in the country is 16 per cent, in Wayanad, it is 38 per cent," said Babu, who is a known pepper farmer.
"In the total 2,131 sq km area of Wayanad district, 820 sq km is forest," he pointed out. "The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary itself is 344 sq km, and there are two forest divisions and thousands of hectares of vested forest land," he added.
"There is not even a slice of land free from wildlife attack in Wayanad", he said. Farmers are leaving the farmlands and plantations due to the constant animal raids.
Measures should be taken to separate forests from human habitats. Teak and eucalyptus plantations should be converted to real forests with indigenous tree varieties.
"Take genuine steps to protect forest and wildlife. We will support you in the efforts," Babu said. "So come to Wayanad, live with us, experience our plight, and then react," he said.