Reacting sharply to an article by CPI(M) acting State secretary A. Vijayaraghavan critical of the Nair Service Society in the party organ Deshabhimani, NSS general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair on Friday said that the author appeared clearly unaware of the fact that the NSS, right from its inception, had extended maximum possible cooperation in matters relating to economic modernisation while also ensuring no room for communal forces.
Mr. Nair said that the article sought to proclaim that Kerala was the first State to implement the 10% reservation for the forward communities. Though the constitutional amendment enabling the reservation came into existence as early as January 2019, it took the State government nearly two years to make the necessary changes in the Kerala State and Subordinate Service Rules.
“At the same time, they should also hold a self-evaluation on whether they have actually implemented a system to ensure that the benefit of this reservation goes to the deserving,” he added.
Lame excuses
Though the State government had dismissed the NSS’ lone demand to include Mannathu Padmanabhan’s birth anniversary as a holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act (NIA) by citing lame excuses, the NSS had never sought to intervene in the affairs of this administration even once, said Mr. Nair.
To the accusation that Mr. Nair’s statement on Assembly election day triggered a discussion, the NSS general secretary said his response to a query posed by the media had nothing to do with politics or religion. “In fact, it was a statement by the Chief Minister [Pinarayi Vijayan] by connecting the issue to god that gave it a religious colour,” he said.
