Thiruvananthapuram | Keralam Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Wednesday asserted that there was no change in his stand on senior Islamic scholar Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliyar's remarks on women in public life, but made it clear that he had no objection to criticism of his position.
Addressing a press conference here after the weekly Cabinet meeting, Satheesan said he had not changed his position and would inform the media if he ever did so.
His statements came days after a video in which he had criticised the senior Islamic scholar over his alleged anti-women remarks disappeared from his Facebook page, with the Chief Minister's Office later attributing it to a technical issue.
Rejecting reports that the post was removed following protests by Sunni Muslim leaders associated with Kanthapuram, who met him at the Chief Minister's Office after his press conference last week, official sources had said the post had disappeared because of a technical issue arising from the linking of his Instagram and Facebook accounts.
Kanthapuram's recent remarks that bringing women onto public platforms would lead to "great destruction" had drawn a strong response from Satheesan, who had described such a view as an idea belonging to the 19th century.
Asked about the vehement criticism against him in Suprabhatam, the mouthpiece of the E K Sunni faction of Islamic scholars's body Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, following his remarks against Kanthapuram, Satheesan said they had every right to criticise him.
"I have taken a stand. Still I am on that stand. They have their freedom to make statements against me and to write articles against me. This is democracy," he said.
Satheesan said Keralam's civil society was watching the position he had taken, but stressed that he did not believe that the CM was beyond criticism.
"If someone criticises me, they do not become my enemies. Sometimes, I may be criticised for the right reasons. Sometimes, the criticism may be wrong. If it is correct criticism, I will correct myself," he said.
Satheesan said he did not question anyone's right to criticise him and that he also did not question the language used by his critics.
"The public will assess everything. I have no complaint," he added.
The Suprabhatam editorial had criticised Satheesan over his response to Kanthapuram's controversial remarks on women, alleging that he had based his response on an "experience of the blind men and the elephant" conveyed to him by some people from the Muslim community.
The editorial also alleged that those influencing Satheesan had failed to properly understand the Prophet, who, it said, had arrived as a liberator in an era when women were treated as slaves and baby girls were buried alive if they were born.
The Chief Minister on Wednesday also accused a section of media of creating false news on the issue of the alleged disappearance of a video of him criticising Kanthapuram's remarks from his Facebook page.
Satheesan explained that some portions of the video were cut while posting it on Instagram because the platform's posting algorithm was different.
"When it was cross-posted to Facebook, the complete version was already available there. So, it was deleted to avoid duplication," he said, adding that the video was still available on both platforms and that it had received a good response on Instagram.
The Chief Minister also alleged that reports regarding the visit of leaders of the A P Kanthapuram faction of Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, the body of Islamic scholars, were incorrect.
He said the meeting had been fixed nearly three weeks ago and had no connection with the stand he subsequently took on Kanthapuram's remarks.
"They were in Thiruvananthapuram when I held the press conference expressing my stand on Kanthapuram's statement," Satheesan said.
He said the leaders had left Kozhikode the previous day and were given time to meet him at his residence in the evening.
"Some sections of the media were campaigning in a manner suggesting that I changed my stand after meeting them," he alleged.