Vellappally Natesan, general secretary of SNDP Yogam, outfit of Hindu lower caste Ezhavas of Kerala, on Thursday said that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s name was dropped from the list of invitees for last Tuesday’s function in Kollam, at which Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a statue of former Chief Minister R Sankar, due to fear of protests erupting at the programme and not with any intention to insult or belittle him.
However, the Congress had tried to cash in on the issue though the Chief Minister, who was to preside over the function as per the original schedule, had agreed to stay away from the programme sincerely by saying that he did not want to do anything that might bring trouble to the Yogam secretary, Vellappally said.
Admitting that he himself had requested Chandy to stay away from the Prime Minister’s function, Vellappally said, “I had made my request to him sincerely. The programme’s grandeur would have been lost if some ‘foul sounds’ rose against the CM during it. However, some people (Congress leaders) had used this for gaining political mileage.”
The action of Vellappally of asking Chandy to stay away from the function after inviting him first and preparing the programme schedule had enraged the Congress, the left and several other quarters in Kerala. The Chief Minister himself had disclosed the development on December 12 but Vellappally had not given any explanation for his act all these days.
Chandy had the other day written to the Prime Minister complaining about the incident, asking him how he would have felt if he had to face such a situation when he was chief minister of Gujarat even as the Congress and the left carried out a campaign over the issue alleging Vellappally had acted under orders from Modi’s office and the Sangh Pariwar.
On Thursday, Vellappally confirmed that he himself was behind Chandy’s absence at the programme but claimed that the “decision was taken collectively” among the Yogam, Sree Narayana Trust which had organised the programme and the committee in charge of the making of the statue of Sankar, a former SNDP general secretary.
The Yogam general secretary who was critical of the Congress party for its approach to the issue, however, was all praise for Chandy. He said he held no ill feelings for Chandy and that he had acted in this way to ensure that “the smart, efficient and fortunate Chief Minister” did not suffer any embarrassment.
Vellappally explained that there was real fear of protests erupting against Chandy in the context of the registration of a case against him under Section 153 (a) for allegedly indulging in hate speech. Another reason for dropping him from the function was the scathing attack the PCC had carried out against the all-Kerala march he had led from November 23 to December 5, he said.
At the end of the march, Samathwa Munnetta Yatra, Vellappally had declared the formation of a party, Bharat Dharma Jana Sena, of the majority communities under the leadership of the Yogam, which had had an informal alliance with the BJP in the recent civic election. The new party is expected to strike an alliance with the BJP for next year’s Assembly poll.
The Prime Minister, after unveiling the statue, had said that Sankar, former State president of the Congress, had close links with Jana Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. According to Modi, Sankar had invited Mukherjee to a conference of the Hindu Maha Mandalam he had initiated with Mannathu Padmanabhan, founder of NSS, outfit of Hindu upper caste Nairs.
This claim of the Prime Minister had further enraged the Congress which alleged that this was part of a Sangh Pariwar effort to appropriate the legacy of Sankar to it as it had done in the case of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and BR Ambedkar.