Nair Service Society seeks apology, resignation of Kerala Speaker over his remarks on Hindu deity

Kottayam, Jul 31 (PTI) The Nair Service Society (NSS), an organisation of Kerala’s Nair community, on Monday condemned the alleged controversial remarks of Assembly Speaker A N Shamseer about a Hindu deity and demanded his resignation.

In a statement, NSS General Secretary G Sukumaran Nair said the Speaker’s remarks were not acceptable, regardless of the circumstances or context in which they were made.

Reacting to the NSS general secretary’s statement, senior CPI(M) leader and party’s Central committee member, A K Balan said either Nair might have reacted without understanding what Shamseer has said or he might have become the mouthpiece of the Sangh parivar.

During an event organised at a school in Ernakulam district recently, Shamseer allegedly accused the Centre of trying to teach children Hindu myths instead of accomplishments in science and technology.

The BJP and outfits like the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) have already launched a strong campaign against Shamseer saying they are aggrieved over the Speaker’s remarks regarding Lord Ganesh and the mythical ‘pushpaka vimanam’.

“His statement went overboard. Each religion has its own beliefs. No one has the authority to question it. Any move to spread religious discord cannot be accepted,” the NSS said in a statement.

Nair said Shamseer was not eligible to continue in the post of Speaker.

“The Speaker should withdraw the statements which hurt the religious sentiments and apologise,” Nair said.

Balan said the BJP and the Sangh parivar were trying to create communal polarisation without understanding what Shamseer had said.

“It amounts to challenging the modern era to form a historical-scientific consciousness based on myths in an education system grounded in rationality and science. Shamseer reiterated what the prime minister had said and did not say anything that would hurt the sentiments of any religion or belief,” Balan said.

Balan also said that the current attitude of the NSS general secretary can only be seen as “a continuation of the depraved mind” that told the faithful in the state not to vote for the Communists on the last election day in 2021.

“However, in the elections, we saw the community itself rejecting his call. The society will not see his comments as a sentiment of community members,” Balan said.

The ruling CPI(M) had on Saturday strongly condemned the campaign by the Sangh Parivar against Shamseer over his reportedly controversial remarks.

Misinterpreting myths and beliefs and portraying them as scientific thoughts would only lead to the backtracking of the progress of society and check the development of science, the CPI(M) had said in a statement here.

Alleging that the ruling BJP at the Centre had launched a campaign to propagate myths as science and history, the CPI(M) further charged that several unscientific thoughts are being spread as part of it.