‘Saji Cherian is learning from Pinarayi Vijayan'; he is not fit to continue as minister, says K C Venugopal

KANNUR: AICC General Secretary K.C. Venugopal MP said that the recent statement made by Minister Saji Cherian is vulgar and damages the social fabric. He alleged that the minister is learning from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

"It is shameful that a Cultural Affairs Minister made such a degrading statement. The Chief Minister has an approach of justifying communal remarks for the sake of votes. The Cultural Affairs Minister, too, is standing by that approach. He is not fit to continue in office. If the Chief Minister has any integrity, he should remove Saji Cherian from the cabinet," Venugoapl said.

"I haven't heard even religious extremists making such statements. The right to vote is the beauty of democracy. The people of Kerala do not vote based on religion or community. Many Hindu candidates have won in Muslim-majority areas, and Muslim candidates have won in areas with the opposite demographic. Neither I nor others were elected to the Lok Sabha by relying on the votes of any single community," he said.

Venugopal further alleged that the Chief Minister’s decision to read out the parts of the policy address omitted by the Governor was nothing but an “election-sponsored drama.”

"The Governor and the Chief Minister are jointly staging a drama. The Governor was given the opportunity to strike out parts, while Pinarayi Vijayan was given the chance to correct it later," he added.