Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala BJP MLA V Muraleedharan’s distribution of sweets to students at a school for children from marginalised sections has come under sharp criticism from CPI(M) leader V Sivankutty, who called it “discriminatory” and “shameful.”
Hitting back at the former minister, the BJP legislator from Kazhakootam said he was not so unfortunate as to need to learn manners from “grandfather Sivankutty”, who allegedly damaged Assembly property more than a decade ago during a protest in the House when he was an MLA.
The war of words began after a video circulated showing Muraleedharan placing sweets on students’ tables by shaking them out of the cover, instead of handing them directly to the children.
The incident occurred on Monday at a school here, where the BJP MLA had gone to attend the reopening of the institution for the new academic session.
Former General Education Minister Sivankutty alleged that the MLA’s conduct of “insulting” students in this manner was surprising and condemnable.
“Such acts that hurt the self-esteem of children and cause great trauma to their minds are not acceptable in a civilised society,” he said in a statement.
He also claimed that the state minister present at the event did not intervene to correct the MLA’s conduct and instead stood as a “mute spectator”, which he called a “serious lapse”.
Sivankutty said such acts can never be condoned and demanded that Muraleedharan apologise, and that authorities ensure such incidents are not repeated.
In his defence, the BJP MLA said he was being wrongly accused of practising “untouchability” and called it propaganda by the CPI(M) mouthpiece.
Muraleedharan claimed that when he reached the venue, the minister and other officials were already waiting to inaugurate the event.
To avoid delay, he quickly distributed sweets by shaking a small quantity onto each table from the packet.
“The CPI(M) has tried to give this small incident the colour of caste hatred. They are trying to poison the minds of even small children,” he alleged in a Facebook post.
He said that despite suffering a major defeat at the hands of the people, the CPI(M) and its followers had not learned their lesson.
Thiruvananthapuram | Senior BJP leader and MLA V Muraleedharan on Tuesday criticised the CPI(M) over the recent controversy surrounding the rendition of Vande Mataram in the Kerala Assembly and alleged that the party had historically opposed the song and the concept of Bharat Mata.
He was speaking during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the governor’s policy address.
Referring to remarks made by former Finance Minister K N Balagopal on the Vande Mataram issue, Muraleedharan said a member had stated in the House that he opposed the worship of 'Bharatamba'.
“The communists have always opposed it. They opposed the Quit India Movement in 1942. They called Subhas Chandra Bose a bootlicker of the Japanese,” he alleged.
Muraleedharan said Bharatamba or Bharat Mata were not creations of the RSS, and that Vande Mataram was not introduced by the organisation.
“Bankim Chandra Chatterjee composed it as part of the struggle against the British,” he said.
The BJP leader warned that if the communists did not change their stand, they would be rejected by the people.
Earlier, criticising the governor’s policy address, Muraleedharan said the speech lacked realism.
He noted that the governor had referred to the state’s poor financial condition at the start of the address but had not explained how the later-announced projects would be implemented.
Muraleedharan’s remarks came amid a political controversy over the incomplete rendition of Vande Mataram ahead of Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar’s policy address in the Assembly.