The ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] scrambled to defend itself against a growing chorus of accusations, discomfortingly amplified on social media, that top party leaders broadcast a disdainful view of Hindu beliefs while not daring to question the articles of faith cherished by other religions.
Speaker A.N. Shamseer’s appeal to school students to enshrine science over a literalist interpretation of religion in Kannur last week triggered a political storm that caught the CPI(M) in its eye and showed scarce signs of abating.
Seemingly keen to pre-empt religious passions from roiling State politics, CPI(M) State Secretary M.V. Govindan sought to clarify the party’s position on the debate. Mr. Govindan denied he had dismissed Hindu deities as “myths”. Instead, he had merely asked whether the lore that an avatar created Kerala’s land mass “was empirically confirmed scientific truth”.
