Row over pork challenge to raise funds for Wayanad landslide survivors

Thiruvananthapuram: Pork challenges being organised by the CPM' youth outfit the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) in Kerala has triggered a row.

While a fake statement of a popular Muslim clergy criticising the pork challenge was initially doing the rounds, now some Islamic leaders have now openly expressed concerns.

Their main contention is that a large number of victims and survivors of the Wayanad landslide are from the Muslim community. Hence it is improper to raise funds for them by selling pork, which is considered taboo by the community.

Sunni Yuvajana Sangham state secretary Nasar Faizy Koodathai said in a social media post that a large number of people hit by the landslide were considering pork as a  taboo as per their religious belief. Hence DYFI's decision to raise funds for helping them through pork challenges could be considered as an insult to their beliefs, especially since there are many other food options to conduct fund-raising challenges.

DYFI state president V Vaseef told DH that the pork challenge was only one of the many fund-raising initiatives being carried out by the party.

"The pork challenges were conducted at couple of places considering the local demand for pork. A section is deliberately trying to communalise it. DYFI had also conducted various other similar initiatives like beef challenge earlier," he said.

Meanwhile, DYFI's decision also triggered heated debates in the social media. Many were pointing out that beef challenges were also often organised by political parties for raising funds for charity. While many were backing the DYFI's decision to conduct pork challenge, many were criticising it.

The first pork challenge was organised by DYFI on August 10 at Rajapuram in Kasargod. Around Rs. 1.25 lakhs was reportedly raised from it. The pork challenge organised at Kothamangalam on the suburbs of Kochi on Saturday also reportedly received good response.