The lynching of Adivasi youth Madhu in Attapadi, Palakkad by a mob on the charge of theft of some articles has caused shock and outrage across Kerala which has always been claiming to be the most civilized, educated and socially emancipated state in entire country.

People from various walks of life including politicians and cultural leaders condemned the killing by observing that the incident brought shame to the entire State that had made sparkling achievements in the social, cultural and educational fields.

“What civilization should we be proud of when a tribal youth is being beaten to death by a mob? Keralites are fast becoming a mob showing fascist tendencies,” said film director-actor Joy Mathew. “We shouldn’t call ourselves literate and educated when poor people are beaten to death in the name of theft of food,” he said.

“Human beings who don’t hesitate to beat to death starving fellow human beings and those who celebrate such moments of cruelty through selfies are a warning (to the society). Let us stop making claims about emancipation and literacy. The killers deserve no mercy,” wrote Kerala Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac in his Facebook page.

Most of the posts that appeared in the social media observed that the incident in Attapadi had brought into the open the hypocrisy of Keralites who never showed any hesitation to describe North Indian villages as dens of savages whenever reports of incidents of mob fury on hapless human beings came from there.

A sarcastic post on a Facebook page put the gist of the matter thus: “Why was he killed? Because he had stolen. Should one be killed for that? But he was black-complexioned, he was shabbily dressed, and, above all, he was hungry.” It is plain racism, said a social activist, adding that hypocrisy and cynicism were rampant among Keralites.

“Was Madhu killed because starving Adivasis are unwanted elements in No 1 Kerala?” asked Adivasi leader CK Janu, referring to the CPI(M)-led Government’s claim that Kerala is No 1 among Indian states. “This is not the first time an Adivasi has been killed in Kerala” she said in a Facebook post.

The incident has also set off a political storm in the State. Terming the atrocity as shocking and humiliation to entire Kerala society, Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress said that the incident was a telling example of the collapse of rule of law in the State. “Rule of law has collapsed. That is why mobs take law into their hands and kill people at will,” he said.

“If something like this had happened anywhere in North India, the Congress and the communists would have already demanded the resignation of Narendra Modi. In this case, nobody is raising voice because it has happened in Kerala and in the constituency of CPI(M)’s Lok Sabha member MB Rajesh,” said State BJP general secretary K Surendran.