Tensions rose in the city on Thursday as BJP workers vehemently objected to Youth Congress-KSU workers attempting to sprinkle cow dung water on the stage used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an event the previous day.

According to Hindu belief, cow dung water is used to cleanse impurities from a place. Police said that tensions escalated in the area when Youth Congress and Kerala Students Union (KSU) workers staged a march towards Thekkinkadu Maidan, where the event had been held the previous day. They were allegedly protesting because the branches of a banyan tree near the venue were cut as part of the security measures for Modi’s programme on Wednesday. BJP workers, who were engaged in dismantling the stage on Thursday countered the march, which resulted in a tense atmosphere. Police intervened promptly and had to use force to disperse the two groups, restoring order in the area. “There was a push and shove between the activists. The tension eased when officers stationed themselves between the two groups,” a police officer told PTI. The protesting Youth Congress-KSU workers were removed from the spot, he added.

BJP’s district leaders said the party workers only prevented the Youth Congress members from sprinkling cow dung water at the venue. Youth Congress workers, however, alleged that BJP activists arrived armed with sticks, intending to attack them during their protest against the cutting of the banyan tree branches. The BJP workers blamed the Youth Congress-KSU workers, saying they caused trouble before the stage in Thekkinkadu Maidan was dismantled.

BJP state chief K Surendran strongly criticised the Congress, claiming that the act of sprinkling cow dung water on the Vadakkumnanatha temple ground (Thekkinkadu Maidan) exposed the party’s elitist mindset. In an apparent reference to Modi’s OBC background, Surendran attributed the Congress’s actions to them questioning how a person from a backward caste could speak on the sacred land of Lord Vadakkumnathan.

He also alleged that the Congress had previously used casteist slurs against the country’s President and Vice President. In a democracy, protests should be held in a respectful manner, he stressed. He added that such protests would not be tolerated under any circumstances.