Kasaragod/Kannur, Aug 5 (PTI) The row over Kerala Assembly Speaker A N Shamseer’s recent remarks on Lord Ganesha is yet to die down as the opposition BJP on Saturday announced that it would take out a protest ‘namajapa’ procession to the Legislature complex in Thiruvananthapuram on August 10. Talking to reporters in Kerala’s northernmost district of Kasaragod, BJP state president K Surendran said the party would continue its strong agitation till Shamseer tenders an apology withdrawing his remarks. “The Yuva Morcha will take out a protest march to the Assembly on August 8. The BJP will hold a namajapa (mantra chanting) procession in front of the Assembly complex on August 10,” he said. During an event organised at a school in Ernakulam district recently, Shamseer allegedly accused the Centre of trying to teach children Hindu myths instead of accomplishments in science and technology.
Accusing the Congress-led UDF of having double standards on the matter, Surendran asked whether they would take part in the Assembly session under Speaker Shamseer or the front would be ready to boycott him in the House.
The BJP president also alleged that CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan’s statement that neither he nor Shamseer had ever said that Lord Ganesha is a myth, was an eyewash to cheat people.
Meanwhile, Public Works Minister P A Mohammed Riyas criticised the BJP over the remark row saying that attempts to implement the Sangh Parivar agenda is going on now in the state in the name of the issue.
The agenda of vested interests was to create communal division in Kerala society over the issue, he told reporters in Kozhikode.
Extending support to the Speaker, Riyas said Shamseer didn’t speak against the beliefs of any religious community.
Sharing similar views, senior CPI(M) leader and its Kannur district secretary M V Jayarajan said the Marxist party didn’t change its stance on the issue and it can view myth, history and science as such.
He said the CPI(M) is not a party that opposes religions and beliefs and it respects those who practise rituals as part of their respective religious faith.
However, the CPI(M) does not have a stand negating science, Jayarajan added.
Stung by raging attacks and widespread criticism from various quarters over Shamseer’s recent remarks, the CPI(M) on Friday clarified that he never said that the Hindu deity is a myth and that the party has always stood with the true believers.
Putting more pressure on the ruling party, the influential Sivagiri Mutt, a major spiritual centre of the state’s numerically strong Ezhava community, said the Speaker’s remarks had hurt the sentiments of the faithful and urged him to tender an unqualified apology in this regard.
CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan had said that neither he nor Shamseer ever said that Lord Ganesha is a myth, and alleged that a “false campaign” is being unleashed by political opponents and a section of the media on the issue.
Besides the speaker’s remarks, an explanation given by Govindan at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram three days ago to justify Shamseer’s words also didn’t go down well with his political opponents.
The BJP and right-wing outfits like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) have launched a campaign against Shamseer, saying they are aggrieved over the Speaker’s comments regarding Lord Ganesha and the mythical ‘pushpaka vimanam’. PTI LGK HDA
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