THIRUVANANTHAPURM: The UDF Government headed by Oommen Chandy, often described by political opponents as the offspring of the support of mainstream community organisations and groups in the state, is in a piquant situation as the derisive remarks passed by Government Chief Whip P C George against CPM MLA and former minister A K Balan on the latter’s ‘scheduled caste status’ and calling him a ‘fool’ is snowballing into a major controversy. With the LDF convening an emergency meet on Monday to fine-tune a legal course of action, the issue is poised to open legal floodgates apart from fuelling the dalit-upper caste divide. A slew of dalit organisations has also come out openly against the statement of George and it is bound to hit the Kerala Congress also to some extent as a political outfit which maintains an anti-dalit outlook. The LDF is all set to cash in on the opportune moment politically and the CPM and the CPI will definitely look forward to regain and consolidate its vote base. Dalit organisations had made a dent in the support base of the communist parties in the state in recent years in a big way and a crucified Balan could be of great help for retrieving the lost ground. Joining issue with P C George over his Pathanapuram speech, A K Balan and the CPM has sought legal opinion to strike back. “The remarks will definitely attract penal action by virtue of S.3 (10) of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989,” Balan said. The former minister will also file a complaint with Speaker G Karthikeyan on the imputations, which he terms as a conscious verbal assault by George. “I will fight it out legally. I have a responsibility to prove that I am not a fool. The Chief Minister should have ordered the police to file a case suo moto against George,” Balan said. The CPM has taken a strong view of the alleged casteist punch of George against Balan. Politburo member Brinda Karat has sought the resignation of George and K B Ganesh Kumar and asked the Chief Minister to act if both of them are not stepping down on their own. The party is also planning to raise a privilege issue on George’s juicy description of the alleged bodily assault on a woman watch and ward staff by two young CPM MLAs in the Assembly recently. “Tendering an apology alone would not solve the issues,” warned CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan. Amid the Opposition onslaught on the UDF mounting and the impact of the dalit animosity yet to come out in full, isolated attempts to hold ground are being made by a few Congress leaders. While KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala and UDF convener P P Thankchan disowned the statements of George and Ganesh Kumar, KPCC former president K Muraleedharan MLA, felt that Achuthanandan’s gestures and talks are also questionable.
Comments
0 comment