Haven't insulted Constitution, parts of the speech were taken and circulated to weaken CPM and LDF: Saji Cheriyan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Saji Cheriyan on Wednesday reiterated that he had not insulted the Constitution. He said this during a press conference announcing his resignation.

"I did not intend to criticize the Constitution in any way. I used my style of speech. I never imagined my words would be treated as an insult to the Constitution. A particular part from the one-hour speech was taken and the media fabricated it to weaken the CPIM and the LDF," he said.

"I am a public servant who respects the constitution and upholds constitutional values. The political movement I work for is trying to mount a formidable defense against the extraordinary challenges our Constitution is facing today. The CPM and the Left have taken the protection of the Constitution as their main political responsibility.," Saji Cheriyan said.

"In the seven-and-a-half decades since independence, we have seen that not only the democracy and civil liberties envisaged in the Constitution, but also the goals of economic justice have been subverted at various stages. CPM has played an important role in resisting such movements at all these stages. It is still resisting such movements. The CPM had been at the forefront of popular protests against moves such as the 1975-77 Emergency, the Citizenship Amendment Act introduced by the central government in 2019, the abrogation of Article 370 without due process and the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir. Both the Congress and the present ruling BJP have failed to uphold the essence of the Constitution at many points. Secular values are facing severe challenges nowadays. Recently we saw anti-democratic measures being taken against those who tried to expose those responsible for the Gujarat riots. I used my own language and style in making this criticism. I never thought that this could be interpreted as contempt for the Constitution," he added.