Thrissur (Kerala), Jan 22 (PTI) At a moment when the CPI(M) is working to regain the trust of the people after recent local election losses, a brief, innocuous, almost domestic gesture—washing a plate—by party general secretary M A Baby has triggered an unusually wide wave of debate in Kerala.
During a visit to a household in the Kodungallur area on Wednesday, Baby had lunch and, after finishing the meal “without leaving even a grain behind,” quietly went into the kitchen and washed the plate he had eaten from.
The moment was captured on video and later shared on CPI(M) social media handles, where it quickly went viral.
However, the video also attracted trolling on social media, prompting strong responses from senior CPI(M) leaders and ministers, who rallied behind Baby and hailed the act as an example of culture, equality, and the dignity of labour.
Sharing a photo of the woman at the house standing nearby while Baby was washing the plate, a user named Haris Arabi wrote on his Facebook page: “What obscenity is this! This is what I saw today—M A Baby went to someone’s house and is washing the plate.” He added, “The CPI(M) national secretary goes into people’s homes and starts doing kitchen work—what kind of politics is he trying to show? What political message is he trying to give?” Reacting sharply to such online attacks, Kerala Minister V Sivankutty on Thursday said the criticism revealed “the cultural emptiness and deeply entrenched feudal mindset” of those mocking the act.
“Washing one’s own plate is culture; those who mock it should at least flip through a class one textbook,” the general education minister said in a statement.
He pointed out that washing one’s own plate has long been a practice within the Communist movement.
“Whether at the AKG Bhavan in Delhi or the AKG Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, this has always been our practice and habit,” he said, adding that those close to Baby know that “wherever he may be, he has long had the habit of washing his own plate” and that he also knows how to cook.
In a statement, Sivankutty also spoke about “larger social attitudes” toward domestic work.
He alleged some people still believe that cooking, cleaning, and washing are “demeaning jobs meant only for women or people from lower social strata.” “They lack the maturity to understand that every form of labour has dignity and that taking care of one’s own needs is part of self-respect,” the minister said.
Addressing students directly, Sivankutty added, “doing one’s own work is never a disgrace; on the contrary, it is a great virtue.” He referred to a class one textbook lesson showing family members sharing household work, including a father saying, “I will clean the toilet myself.” Senior CPI(M) leader and Higher Education Minister R Bindu also defended Baby, calling his action “extremely admirable and exemplary.” She said it was not a new habit but one he had followed for decades.
“Even when he comes to our house, after eating, he washes his own plate and explains that this is how it should be done,” Bindu said in a Facebook post, recalling her experiences from the 1990s when she was a frequent visitor to Baby’s home.
In her Facebook post, social media influencer Dr Soumya Sarin said, “It is common decency for a person to wash the plate they have eaten from! It is their own responsibility. So why are people trolling Mr M A Baby for this?” She added that mocking or ridiculing someone just because “we don’t have the habit” is completely ridiculous.
“If possible, a society that values gender equality should encourage everyone to try doing the same,” she said. PTI TGB SSK TGB SSK SA
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