Nair Service Society (NSS) general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair on Sunday appeared to have spurned the reconciliatory offer of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to work in tandem with the social organisation.
In a sharply worded statement, Mr. Nair warned CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan against making light of the NSS.
Mr. Balakrishnan appeared to have touched a raw nerve when he stated that the majority of the NSS members agreed with the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and its progressive policies. The overwhelming support for the LDF had antagonised the NSS leadership against the government, he said.
However, the LDF did not view the NSS as an enemy. The LDF was willing to work alongside the NSS, he said.
Not on the same page
Mr. Nair dismissed Mr. Balakrishnan’s outreach and said the government and the NSS were not on the same page on the issue of protecting faith.
It had made its dissent unambiguously clear to the government. The NSS had no vested interest except that of believers. If the government viewed the NSS with antagonism, it would resist such political antipathy with the help of believers.
Mr. Balakrishnan’s claim that NSS members overwhelmingly supported the LDF was ‘unreasonable.’ Mr. Nair asked Mr. Balakrishnan to study the political fall of powers that arrogantly claimed that they had the support of the Nair community regardless of the stance of the NSS leadership.
Mr. Nair also appeared to be caustically critical of the social organisations that pitched in with the government in opposition to the NSS stance on the matter of faith. (Notably, the SNDP and the KPMS.) The culture of the NSS was different. It did not strike opportunistic alliances or make most of an occasion to ingratiate itself with powers that be for small favours.
