Chandrika, the official mouthpiece of the Muslim league, second biggest party in Kerala’s Congress-led ruling UDF alliance, on Tuesday apologised for the editorial it published on Sunday attacking and humiliating the NSS, outfit of Hindu upper caste Nairs, but the NSS refused to relent saying that an apology in the newspaper was no solution to the humiliation it suffered.
“The article in the paper humiliated the NSS founder, the Nair community and me personally. That act is unpardonable. The apology offered by the newspaper is not a solution to that humiliation. We have issued a legal notice to Chandrika. The future course of action would depend on the reply they give us,” said NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair on Tuesday.
The article that appeared in the editorial space of Chandrika on Sunday had ridiculed the entire Nair community by calling them as Shudras who were not allowed even to listen to Veda Suktas as per the Chaturvarnya system. Appearing in the midst of a war between the NSS and the Congress, the Chandrika article immediately triggered a political and social controversy.
On Tuesday, the chief editor of the paper clarified through a note published on the front page that the controversial article was not an editorial written by anyone connected with it but it was authored of AP Kunhamu, a leftist columnist. It also said that the party had asked the authorities of the newspaper to explain how such a serious oversight had occurred.
“Chandrika has no hatred or enmity towards Sukumaran Nair or the NSS. The party deeply regrets if anything that came in print in the paper had caused hurt to the NSS or Sukumaran Nair. Chandrika’s policy is one of peaceful coexistence with all other communities,” said the note of apology published in the paper on Tuesday.
The article titled Puthiya Pada Nair (New Soldier Nair) had alleged that the “Nair Spirit” that others were attributing to Sukumaran Nair was nothing but “his capacity to turn any subject he takes up into a controversy”.