Ker CM hits out at Opposition leader on "Women wall" remarks

: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Monday slammed opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala for his 'insulting' remarks against progressive outfits, with whom the ruling LDF had held talks on staging the "Women's Wall" on January 1 over the Sabarimala issue.

Vijayan wanted to know whether other leaders in the Congress and UDF share the same sentiments expressed by the Opposition leader.

The opposition leader had said here Sunday that the women's wall "is nothing, but poison with sugar coating." It would backfire if the government did not take all communities into confidence, he had said.

"Chennithala has insulted and defamed progressive outfits and its leaders and his remarks are unbecoming of his position.

 

With this, Chennithala has proved that he is with the RSS," Vijayan told reporters here.

Terming the senior Congress leader's statement on the "Women's wall" as "grossly anti-women", he said that women had played a great role in the progressive movement in the state's history.

So the proposed women's wall would become part of history, he said, adding that Kerala would never accept Chennithala's 'anti-women' and 'anti-progressive' stand.

Rejecting the charges, Chennithala told reporters that the 'women's wall' had already "developed cracks" as some organisations had withdrawn from it.

Minority community outfits had not been invited for talks called by the government, which showed that the Chief Minister was implementing the sangh parivar agenda, he said, adding that this was injustice to them.

The opposition leader also said that the CPI(M) had no role in the progressive movement.

The 'Women's Wall' would be formed from the northern district of Kasargode to the southern most district of Thiruvananthapuram to demonstrate the secular and progressive mindset of the state.

"No one can push back the progressive society of Kerala into the dark ages," Vijayan had said after a meeting with over 50 caste-based and socio-cultural organisations, including the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam.