Kerala Minister's anti-Constitution remarks rock assembly, force adjournment

Kerala Minister Saji Cheriyan's controversial remarks against the Constitution rocked the state assembly on Wednesday with the agitating opposition UDF forcing an adjournment for the day while the ruling CPI(M) held parleys at various levels on the issue.

Though the Congress-led UDF came prepared to take up the matter as an adjournment motion in the Assembly and raised slogans against Cheriyan charging him with 'humiliating' the Constitution and its architects, Speaker M B Rajesh suddenly announced that the House was adjourned for the day.

Terming the Speaker's action as ''unprecedented'', the opposition leaders later met him at his office and conveyed their displeasure over his sudden decision for the early adjournment and alleged that the government and the ruling front were trying to avoid their questions.

Amidst mounting pressure from the opposition for the resignation of Cheriyan, a senior leader who holds Cultural Affairs and Fisheries portfolios in the cabinet, top leaders of the CPI(M) met at the AKG Centre here to take stock of the situation.

At the same time, the party general secretary Sitaram Yechury told reporters in New Delhi that the matter was being discussed by the state leadership and ''appropriate action'' would be taken.

''The matter is under discussion...An appropriate action will be taken and an announcement will be made,'' Yechury said.

However, senior party leader and Local Self-Government Minister M V Govindan later said the available state secretariat of the party, which met at the party headquarter here, took no decision in this regard.

''The available state secretariat meeting is a daily exercise. The party has not taken any decision on the matter in today's meeting,'' he told the media.

The meeting was attended by a handful of top leaders including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, party state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, A Vijayaraghavan, Cheriyan himself and so on.

Emerging from the meeting, Cheriyan responded to questions on whether he would be resigning with a query of his own -- ''why?'' ''.. What is the problem? I already said what I had to say yesterday,'' he said in response to repeated queries by reporters outside the party headquarters on whether he would resign or if his resignation had been sought.

Meanwhile, KPCC Chief K Sudhakaran attacked Marxist party and its government for not taking any action against the Cultural Affairs Minister despite widespread criticism and said his party would intensify its protest programmes and would soon initiate legal action seeking Cheriyan's ouster from the cabinet.

''The CPI(M) should be ready to take action against Cheriyan who insulted the Constitution and violated the oath of office. Otherwise, we will take together our protests as well as legal measures pressing for this,'' he said.

The Congress also called to observe 'Save Constitution Day' on Friday.

As soon as the news reports regarding the controversial speech of Cheriyan came out on Tuesday, the Congress-UDF had sought his resignation and boycotted his speech in the Assembly.

The House witnessed strong opposition protests today also as they raised slogans against the minister and the government since the speaker arrived in the house to commence the proceedings in the morning.

The opposition members claimed they raised slogans from their respective seats and demanded Speaker Rajesh to take up the issue as adjournment motion after suspending the other businesses of the day.

They also claimed that it was some of the ruling front MLAs who first left their seats and only after that did some opposition members leave their seats.

It was only when the speaker suddenly announced the suspension of the zero hour and adjournment of the session for the day that the UDF members realised that their adjournment motion over the issue was not going to be taken up, an opposition member told PTI later.

Then only they trooped into the well of the House marking their protests, he claimed.

After staging a brief sit-in protest at the portal of the hall with placards, the UDF members later gathered in front of the statue of B R Ambedkar at the Assembly campus and raised slogans accusing Cheriyan of 'insulting' the architect of the Indian Constitution through his harsh remarks. Shouting 'jai bhim' slogan, the greeting used by the followers of Ambedkar, they marched out of the Assembly complex.

While addressing reporters, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan alleged that the CM and the CPI(M) leadership were protecting the minister, who had insulted the Constitution and humiliated its architects.

''They did not allow us to seek even the notice for the adjournment motion. We will not surrender before such an autocratic stand by the government. The opposition will continue its fight till Saji Cheriyan submits his resignation,'' he said.

The remarks of Cheriyan against the Constitution were similar to the views of RSS, the LoP further alleged.

Saji Cheriyan, the minister for Cultural Affairs and Fisheries, on Tuesday landed in trouble for his remarks against the Constitution, triggering a huge political row in the state, but expressed regret soon claiming that he is a public servant upholding the noble constitutional values.

In the visuals aired by the TV channels, the minister could be seen saying in a recent event that the Constitution of the country ''condones exploitation'' and is written in a way helping to ''plunder'' the people of the country, drawing sharp reaction from the opposition parties which sought his immediate removal from the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF cabinet.