Minister Sivankutty boycotts function after seeing Bharat Mata’s portrait in Raj Bhavan again

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Another controversy over Bharat Mata’s portrait at Raj Bhavan. Minister V Sivankutty, who came to attend a public event, boycotted the event after seeing the picture.

The minister had come to attend the Scout and Guides awards function. However, the minister said by the time he arrived, the function had already begun after paying floral tributes to the portrait of Bharat Mata. He expressed his disagreement through the microphone, saying that India is his country.

Paying tributes was not mentioned in the notice. When I reached there, saw paying floral tributes to the picture. The governor took a very arrogant stance. He made Raj Bhavan his own political center,’ the minister criticized.

Raj Bhavan had informed the minister's office that Mata’s picture would not be installed. It is reported that he attended the function only after that. However, the Raj Bhavan has clarified that the minister was not misled and that no one was assured that the picture of Bharat Mata would be removed from the event being held at the Raj Bhavan.

Minister P Prasad had earlier boycotted the event at the Environment Day function, citing that the picture of Bharat Mata was a violation of protocol. The Governor-Government relationship had deteriorated over the picture of Bharat Mata holding the RSS flag. Later, Governor R V Arlekar had given in to the government's persuasion. He had stated that the picture of Bharat Mata would be removed from government programmes at the Raj Bhavan. The decision was taken after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took the initiative to persuade him.

In addition to the pictures of Bharat Mata, Hedgewar and Golwarkar, the guest room at the Raj Bhavan also has pictures of Sree Narayana Gurudev, Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda, President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.