Nair Service Society (NSS) general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair has lambasted what he terms the policy of minority appeasement being followed by the United Democratic Front (UDF) government and the functioning of the Education Department.
Speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the budget session of the NSS general body here on Friday, Mr. Nair said the UDF, under pressure from minorities, had failed to analyse the real factors that played a crucial role in the Neyyattinkara by-election. Two key factors were: the backlash against the UDF following the fifth Minister controversy which resulted in its votes going to the Bharatiya Janata Party kitty, and the T.P. Chandrasekharan murder which saw the Communist Party of India (Marxist) losing its votes.
Rejecting the claims of ‘political victory’ at Neyyattinkara as made out by the ruling front, Mr. Nair said the victory was manoeuvred by engineering a communal divide among the voters. However, the front was not able to address the real issues on account of the pressure from the minorities, he alleged.
Education package
Taking a highly critical view of the functioning of the Education Department, Mr. Nair said this was one department where the change in administration had no impact. The policies being followed by the Education Department under the UDF were worst than those followed by the Left Democratic Front (LDF), he said and added that in spite of a favourable interim order from the High Court on the education package, aided school managements were stalled from making appointments based on the provisions of Kerala Education rules since a new circular had been issued redefining the qualifications of schoolteachers for permanent appointment to vacancies.
The NSS had submitted a letter delineating the anomalies in the provisions of the education package to the Chief Minister himself, but unfortunately the authorities had not shown the courtesy of replying to the letter. Such extreme adherence to communal appeasement would push the UDF into doom, he said.
Identifying Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala and Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan by names, the general secretary alleged that the trio had betrayed the NSS. He would not go into details but the three were well aware of the issues involved, Mr. Nair said.
