The potentially polarising controversy surrounding Speaker A.N. Shamsheer’s allegedly “irreverent anti-Hindu comments” continued to unsettle Kerala politics for the second consecutive day on Wednesday.
The prickly dispute raised public concern that “warlike statements” from CPI(M) and BJP leaders, amplified on social media, had vitiated Kerala’s social climate.
Meanwhile, the politically weighty Nair Service Society (NSS) dug its heels in on its demand for an apology from Mr. Shamsheer. NSS general secretary Sukumaran Nair said Mr. Shamsheer “wounded Hindu hearts, and his comments were unbecoming for a Speaker.”
Mr. Nair reminded the government that the NSS “Save Sabarimala” campaign in 2018 reflected its iron resolve to defend the faith at any cost.
“Faith prevails over science. The NSS welcomes political and social entities ill-disposed to the increasing trespasses on people’s faith to join its cause,” Mr. Nair said.
In a telling hark back to the socially tempestuous Sabarimala agitation that rocked the previous Pinarayi Vijayan government, hundreds of NSS volunteers held a high-profile “prayer march” in Thiruvananthapuram.
Nevertheless, the CPI(M) appeared unfazed by NSS’s forceful political positioning on the touchy debate.
CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan said Mr. Shamseer was not apologising. He said the Speaker stressed scientific temperament and reason over a blind and literal interpretation of lore.
Mr. Govindan said the Sangh Parivar “deviously” singled out Mr. Shamseer for vilification though he merely articulated the party line echoed by CPI(M) leaders from different religious backgrounds.
He alleged the BJP had defaulted to its go-to playbook tactic of playing to the subliminal religious biases in society to stir anti-government sentiment in the Hindu community ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress’ “soft-Hindutva” tack prevented it from taking a strong stance against the BJP’s schismatic religious intolerance.
The Congress waded into the controversy somewhat belatedly on Wednesday. It struck a line critical of Mr. Shamseer and empathetic to the NSS stance.
Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan accused the BJP and CPI(M) leaders of inflaming the sensitive situation by broadcasting pugnacious public statements.
He chided Mr. Shamseer for “lending ammunition to extremists on either side of the religious spectrum and laying the ground for the BJP to exploit the overwrought situation politically”.
BJP State president K. Surendran said Mr. Shamseer’s words dovetailed with the oft-resorted “CPI(M) tactic of berating the Hindu faith to further the Left’s appeasement politics”.
Meanwhile, the jury seemed still out on whether the testy controversy will linger, peter out, or be put to a relieving rest.
