There seems to be no end in sight to the raging war of words between the Nair Service Society and the Left Democratic Front(LDF), which took off to a start in the run-up to the recent assembly elections.
A day after the Chief Minister designate Pinarayi Vijayan accused the NSS General Secretary G.Sukumaran Nair of attempting to turn the community members against the LDF during the assembly elections, the community organisation on Tuesday reacted sharply to the accusation. In a statement, Mr. Nair termed the statement by the Chief Minister accusing him of attempting to send out a message against the LDF on the election day as untruthful.
Recollecting the exact remarks he made on the polling day, Mr.Nair also sought to stand by whatever he had said on the occasion.
According to him, it ill-behoves the Chief Minister to take these sentences out of context and use it for political gains by misleading people and turning them against the NSS leadership.
“As far as the NSS is concerned, the organisation has never raised any objections against the LDF government except in matters relating to the protection of faith. Neither the community organisation nor its General Secretary ever received any undue gains from the government,” asserted Mr.Nair.
The implementation of the 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections among the forward communities benefits as many as 160 communities. Nair community is just one among these. While the State government is liable to implement the decision by the Union government, the steps initiated in this direction are still incomplete.
“We also do not regard it a mistake to demand the inclusion of the holiday on Mannathu Padmanabhan’s birth anniversary under the Negotiable Instruments Act,” he added.
Holding that the cheap stance adopted by a few Left leaders including the Chief Minister against the NSS would be treated with due seriousness, the NSS also vowed to stand by its current position on faith.
“The NSS has every right to state its opinion irrespective of the coalition in power. We have always exercised this right and will continue to do so,” Mr.Nair said.
Starting with a conflict of narratives over the Sabarimala issue, the NSS and the LDF have been locked in a war of words since March this year.
The battle, triggered by an expression of regret by the former Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran over the Sabarimala issue, intensified with both sides continuing to corner each other in the run-up to the elections.
Meanwhile, Senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy and Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan on Tuesday came out in support of the NSS and criticised the LDF for attempting to corner the community organisation.
