Thiruvananthapuram (Keralam) [India], May 21 (ANI): Amidst a row over caste surname, the Keralam chief minister on Monday again took his father’s name, Damodara Menon, while taking oath as an MLA in the Keralam Assembly.
This comes after the controversy that erupted after Satheesan during the May 18 swearing-in ceremony as the 13th Chief Minister of Keralam took oath with his full name ‘Vadasseri Damodara Menon Satheesan’.
Following this, some Congress leaders criticised him for using his caste surname “Menon.”
Congress leader Jinto John in post on Facebook said that a Congress party that does not carry caste surnames is more inclusive. He wrote that he would use ‘Jinto John’ instead of ‘Thekkumkattil John Roman Catholic Jinto’, invoking the name of the community he belongs to. “My politics is also shaped by my convictions, a slightly left-leaning Congress consciousness,” he added.
Similarly, another Congress leader VR Anoop in a social media posting suggested that the chief minister Satheesan should take more time to read Ambedkar.
Yesterday, addressing a press conference, Satheesan said that he had intentionally used his full name while swearing-in as the Chief Minister as he wanted to remember his late parents on the occasion.
“Why is it wrong if I mention my father’s name? Shouldn’t I remember him?” Satheesan asked.
“That is my father’s name. I am sad that I couldn’t take my mother’s name too. Both of them passed before I became an MLA. I took my father’s name. It is common to do that. Even in the passport it is written like that. Since there was no option to tell my mother’s name, I remembered her in my my mind. It is a matter of pride to speak my parents name,” the chief minister said.
Satheesan also spoke on the row following the recitation of the full version of ‘Vande Mataram’ during the oath-taking ceremony of the new UDF cabinet.
“We did not know that Vande Mataram would be rendered in full. The instructions came from Lok Bhavan. We realised it only when it began being sung in its entirety while we were standing there. It was not possible to interrupt it midway. Usually only the national anthem is sung by the end of the event. Now this too is included. We had no prior information,” the Keralam chief minister said while addressing reporters in Thiruvananthapuram yesterday.
In a statement on May 19, the CPI(M) had said that the rendering of the full version of Vande Mataram during the Kerala Cabinet swearing-in ceremony was “a wrong and inappropriate step.”
“It was the Congress Working Committee itself that took the position that rendering all portions of Vande Mataram was not suitable for a plural society. The portions were removed as part of the official resolution adopted by the Congress Working Committee on October 30, 1937. The portions that had been excluded in this manner were also rendered during the swearing-in ceremony,” it said.
On January 24, 1950, the Constituent Assembly had also made it clear that only the first eight lines of the version of Vande Mataram accepted by the Congress Working Committee in 1937 could be rendered as the National Song.
Certain portions of Vande Mataram reflect the beliefs of a particular religion alone. It was based on the view that accepting such portions as part of the National Song would not be appropriate for a plural society, and these changes were made. It was by setting aside this position that the full version, including the portions that had earlier been excluded, was rendered during the swearing-in ceremony.
It should be noted that even in West Bengal, where the BJP came to power, such a version of the song was not rendered during the swearing-in ceremony. The version now rendered in Kerala was not presented even there, the CPI (M) stated.
“No action that weakens a plural society should come from the side of the government. At a time when attempts to divide people on communal lines are becoming more active, no action that harms secularism should come from any side,” it said.
Meanwhile, the 16th Kerala Legislative Assembly on Thursday commenced its inaugural session with the swearing-in ceremony of its newly elected MLAs in Thiruvananthapuram.
The proceedings were administered by Pro-tem Speaker G Sudhakaran, with Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) legislator V E Abdul Gafoor being the first to take the oath.
The 21-member cabinet led by Chief Minister Satheesan was previously sworn in on May 18.
The newly constituted House will hold a special session to elect its Speaker and Deputy Speaker. The election for the Speaker is set for May 22, followed immediately by the election for the Deputy Speaker.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won three seats in the Kerala Assembly for the first time, will field its candidate in the election for the Speaker’s post, State party president Rajeev Chandrasekhar said today. Gopakumar submitted his nomination papers to Assembly Secretary Shaji C Baby on Wednesday. He was accompanied by BJP MLAs Rajeev Chandrasekhar and V Muraleedharan.
The Congress-led UDF has announced veteran leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan as its candidate for the Speaker’s post.
Ahead of being sworn in to the Assembly earlier today, the three BJP MLAs -Rajeev Chandrasekhar, V Muraleedharan, and B B Gopakumar -walked to the Assembly complex along with party workers and supporters. Before entering the premises, they paid floral tributes at the Martyrs Column in Palayam.
“I got the opportunity to take oath as an MP thrice, today I will take oath as an MLA for the first time. The people of Kerala have given me this opportunity, I will not disappoint them. We three BJP MLAs will raise the voice of the people of Kerala,” Chandrasekar told reporters ahead of his swearing-in ceremony.
Chandy Oommen, the son of former Keralam Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who won the Assembly elections from Puthuppally was seen arriving for the oath-taking ceremony on a bicycle. During campaigning he had regularly done so on his bicycle.
All 140 newly elected MLAs of the 16th Kerala Legislative Assembly were sworn in. The oath of office was administered by Pro-tem Speaker G Sudhakaran.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) secured 102 of the 140 seats in the Assembly elections, while the Left Democratic Front won 35 seats and the BJP won three seats. (ANI)
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