Bharat Mata row sparks street protests, war of words in Kerala-OxBig News Network

The Bharat Mata portrait row involving Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishawanath Arlekar triggered a series of street protests and a war of words on Saturday with the ruling CPI (M)’s official mouthpiece publishing a hard-hitting editorial against the Raj Bhavan.

The southern state has been witnessing a tussle between Arlekar and the Marxist party-led LDF government over the display of ‘Bharat Mata portrait’ during official events at the Raj Bhavan here.

In a strongly-worded editorial, Deshabhimani, the official organ of the Marxist party in the state, asserted that Raj Bhavan is not a “shakha” (unit) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

As per the latest photos released by Raj Bhavan, the Governor paid floral tributes to the portrait during the Yoga Day celebrations held there on Saturday.

The Left party’s trade union outfit, CITU, took out a protest march to the Raj Bhavan accusing the Governor of attempting to make it a centre of the RSS and violating the Constitution of the country.

The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) raised a banner in front of the Sanskrit College here, which is affiliated to the Kerala University, stating that Raj Bhavan is not the property of the RSS.

“We want to say something once more, Mr Governor…Raj Bhavan is not RSS’s ancestral property,” the banner read.

In Kozhikode, Yuva Morcha, the BJP’s youth wing, waved black flags against General Education Minister V Sivankutty, who recently boycotted an event at the Raj Bhavan in protest against the display of the Bharat Mata portrait there.

Though a morcha activist was taken into custody by the police soon, SFI activists, who rushed to the area, pushed and hit him at Thali in the northern district.

The area saw tense moments as the SFI workers, the BJP and the activists engaged in a scuffle on the street. Later, the right wing activists burnt an effigy of Sivankutty as a mark of protest against his walkout from a recent event held in Raj Bhavan.

In the evening, the BJP workers held a protest march to the MLA office of the General Education Minister at Pappanamcode here. They raised slogans against the minister and were involved in a minor scuffle with the police personnel in front of the office.

Tension prevailed in the area as the local CPI (M) activists confronted their saffron party workers and raised counter-slogans from inside the compound of the MLA office. The situation is under control now, police said.

Meanwhile, the BJP workers paid floral tributes to the portrait of ‘Bharat Mata’, similar to the one placed in Raj Bhavan, in various district centres as a mark of protest against the Left government’s stand in the matter.

In Thiruvananthapuram, the portrait was placed in front of Secretariat, the administrative hub while the protest event was held in Kota Maidan in Palakkad.

Speaking to media on the sidelines of the protest at Palakkad, senior BJP leader N Sivarajan demanded that the saffron flag be made the national flag of the country. He also made objectionable remarks against Minister Sivankutty.

Later, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the CPI (M), staged a protest in the district holding the copy of the Constitution in their hands seeking his resignation.

While Union Minister Suresh Gopi and BJP former state president K Surendran strongly justified the display of the portrait in Raj Bhavan events, Sivankutty continued to criticise Governor Arlekar over the practice.

Addressing reporters in Kochi, Gopi said the Governor has exercised his rights legally and accused the state government of creating an “unnecessary controversy” over it to hide something.

Surendran said in Kochi that the state ministers have no right to adopt a stand that the saffron flag and Bharat Mata portrait cannot be kept at Raj Bhavan.

He said the LDF government had earlier opposed the observance of Yoga Day, alleging it was Sangh Parivar agenda and now they are celebrating it.

In Kozhikode, Sivankutty said he walked out of the Raj Bhavan function to uphold the constitutional values.

Jose K Mani, chairman of the Kerala Congress (M), a front partner in LDF, also strongly objected to the display of Bharat Mata portrait in Raj Bhavan, calling it “unconstitutional”.

Earlier in the day, the Deshabhimani editorial accused the Governor of publicly challenging the Constitution of the country by making Raj Bhavan a venue to display and propagate RSS ideology. How else could this act be called other than the blatant violation of the constitutional norms, it asked.

“The Governor and his associates should understand that the Raj Bhavan is not an RSS shakha. The secular minds of the state are not ready to accept the concept of a nation put forward by the RSS,” the editorial further said.

A circumstance has been created in the country nowadays that it was natural for religion to interfere in politics and vice versa, it said.

“The floral tribute to the portrait of the woman who holds a saffron flag in her hand is the continuation of the same circumstance,” it said, and alleged that the objective of the act is to intensify the mission to realise the Hindu nation concept by the RSS.

That danger should be checked by upholding strong secular politics, the CPI(M) newspaper added.