BJP today hit out at CPI-M and its student outfit SFI for allegedly insulting a dalit woman college ex-Principal here on the day of her retirement by preparing a 'symbolic grave' for her.
The act allegedly by SFI students "is unexpected behaviour in a civil society," BJP leader and Union Minister, Rajiv Prasad Rudy, who is in Kerala as part of the saffron party's poll campaign, told reporters here.
The principal of the Government Victoria College, Dr T N Sarasu, had retired on March 31 and SFI students had allegedly prepared a 'symbolic grave' on the day of her retirement as a parting gift.
"People in Kerala and other parts of the country will condemn this behaviour and attitude towards a dalit woman teacher," Rudy, who visited Sarasu here, said.
Referring to the agitation by the left led by CPI-M over the suicide of research scholar Rohit Vemula in Hyderabad University, Rudy said it was quite contradictory that the marxist party's student's wing had insulted a woman teacher belonging to a dalit community.
"This is a contradiction... Their attitude, thought process gets reflected in this incident," he said.
Rudy also took a dig at CPI-M MP from Palakkad, M B Rajesh, who, he said, was silent on the issue.
Meanwhile, police arrested four CPI-M sympathisers in connection with the incident.
They were later let off, police said.
Following a complaint from Sarasu, police had registered a case under various IPC sections against some SFI students.
Sarasu alleged that the students had acted on the behest of "some members" of All Kerala Government College Teachers Union, owing allegiance to the Left.
In her complaint to police, Sarasu has named at least eight SFI students who had prepared the 'symbolic grave' inside the college campus and had strewn it with flowers and placed a wreath at about 7 am on March 31.
Some other students, who witnessed the act, informed the principal. She said she had not given in to their "unjust" demands which could have angered them.
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The Minister said "it is sad and surprising to note the double standards that CPI(M) MPs are following across regions within the nation."
"On the one hand they are fasting and demanding resignation of the Hyderabad Central University Vice Chancellor in the Rohith Vemula case and on the other, they are allowing humiliation to be suffered by the outgoing principal of Palakkad Government Victoria College, Dr T N Sarasu, at the hands of SFI students in Kerala - all in the name of casteism," he said in a statement.
This act reflects the "true face" of Communist politics, he said.
He also held the UDF government "responsible for failing" to protect the interest of Dalits in the state.
