Cherian Philip, former Congress leader and presently a CPI(M) fellow-traveler, on Sunday stirred up a controversy by alleging that several Congress women in Kerala had to “disrobe themselves secretly” in order to earn party tickets to contest elections. Philip, a former confidant of AK Antony, is known as a storehouse of Congress secrets.
The comment created furore in the Congress and State party chief VM Sudheeran and woman leaders wanted Philip to withdraw his statement and apologise to the people. He leveled the allegation through a posting on his facebook page while referring to a “shirtless” demonstration held by Youth Congress workers, who were protesting non-allocation of seats to youth in the civic poll.
Commenting on the protest held in Thrissur last week, Philip sarcastically wrote on his facebook page, “The disrobing agitation by the Youth Congress workers was indeed a model for others to emulate. The women who had held such agitation secretly in the Congress in the past had earned tickets to contest elections.”
State Congress president VM Sudheeran termed the comment as “one which humiliated the entire woman community” while Shanimol Usman and Bindu Krishna, former and present State chiefs of the Women’s Congress, described the FB post as “cruel”, adding that they would launch legal fight against him.
Despite the demands for his apology, Philip, who claimed that he had not intended to humiliate women through his facebook post on the Youth Congress demonstration, not only refused to apologise but intensified the allegation by saying that “stinking” truths would come out if Shanimol and Bindu were determined to move court against him.
“Cherian should withdraw his totally wrong statement that humiliated the entire woman community at the earliest and apologise to the society,” said Sudheeran. “It is a totally unacceptable statement. We are thinking of initiating legal proceedings against him for this,” said Bindu Krishna.
TN Seema, leader of the All India Democratic Women’s Association, women’s wing of the CPI(M), also protested against Cherian’s statement. “Such comments cannot be accepted at all. It should have been avoided. It should be withdrawn,” she said. However, the response to Cherian’s statement from the CPI(M) was mixed.
While nonagenarian Marxist and Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan slammed Philip for his statement saying that no person of culture could make such a comment, State CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan tried to defend him indirectly, saying, “Generally, he is not of the habit of making anti-women statements. But he is a person who knows secrets of the Congress.”
Responding to the criticisms, Philip said through Facebook posts that with the statement he was targeting Congress leaders who were making women their victims. “I have not made any anti-women comment… I haven’t so far disclosed many Congress secrets – even in my autobiography – just because of decency,” he said.
“I was the PCC general secretary when AK Antony was president… There are several stories of how certain Congress leaders had exploited women. I will have to disclose all those stories if they try to project me as an anti-woman person. I am sure even Sudheeran knows how several women had earned tickets for elections,” he said in a facebook post.