The war of words between Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran over the Chief Minister’s refusal to share information on Cabinet decisions with the general public took a new turn on Thursday with Mr. Vijayan coming down heavily on Mr. Rajendran and the latter returning the compliment.
War of words
While the Chief Minister accused Mr. Rajendran of attempting to create a smokescreen over the issue, Mr. Rajendran said excluding Cabinet decisions from the ambit of the Right To Information Act did not behove the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.
The Chief Minister lashed out at Mr. Rajendran while inaugurating the pro-CPI(M) employees meeting of the Kerala Legislature Secretariat. His remarks were partly a retort to Mr. Rajendran’s strongly worded speech on the subject at a seminar in Kochi on Wednesday evening.
During his address at the seminar, organised by the Chavara Cultural Centre, the RTI Kerala Federation and various other organisations, Mr. Rajendran went so far as to demand withdrawal of the petition filed by the State government against the State Information Commission’s order that Cabinet decisions should be made public under the RTI Act. The Act was clear that only matters concerning national security should be kept under wraps. The Delhi High Court verdict of 2009 was clear on this, he pointed out.
Although he did not name Mr. Rajendran, Mr. Vijayan was scathing in his response. The critics, he said, must say which other State government was putting its Cabinet decisions on the website.
No sign of weakness
“We have nothing to hide. Why this attempt to create a smokescreen? For whom,” he asked and added that he had refrained from saying on the subject so far as he did not wish to be part of an unnecessary controversy. However, absence of any response from him should not be read as a sign of weakness, Mr. Vijayan said.
