Thiruvananthapuram: The BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai said he was just being a lawyer and offering “legal opinion” when the 'tantri' called him up to discuss closing the Sabarimala temple. A video clip of the BJP state chief's speech, in which he takes credit for emboldening the 'tantri' to issue the threat of closure in the event of a female entry, had put both the party and the 'tantri' family on the back foot.
“Doesn't Sreedharan Pillai have the right to provide legal opinion,” he asked reporters here on Monday and added: “There is no party in the state that has not sought my legal opinion on issues.”
As to Sabarimala presenting the BJP a “golden opportunity”, Pillai said that he was referring to the opportunity to serve the people. “I was not exhorting the party to exploit the issue politically. I was telling them to see this as an opportunity to show our commitment to the people,” Pillai said.
A leaked video of Pillai speaking at a closed-door meeting of Yuva Morcha state committee in Kozhikode on November 4 (Sunday) had stirred a controversy. During his speech, Pillai was heard telling his audience that Sabarimala was a “golden opportunity” for the BJP. Pillai also said that others were falling for the BJP's agenda. However, the most embarrassing part, for the party and also for the 'tantri', was Pillai's statement that it was he who reassured the 'tantri' that it was alright to issue the threat of shutting down the Sabarimala temple.
Pillai's argument was that the Yuva Morcha meeting on November 4 was not a private affair. “It was reported widely in the press,” he said. “They have brought this today to deflect attention from the atrocities the government had unleashed at Sabarimala,” he said. Though the phone call of the 'tantri' was reported, Pillai's “golden opportunity” and “agenda” comments were exposed only in the leaked video clip.
The BJP state chief also alleged that a “CPM fraction” was alive among the media fraternity. He was trying to hint that the video clip leak was the handiwork of the fraction. He said it was a fraction of 12 journalists that had implicated the RSS in the attack on the CM's office in Delhi on June 8, 2017. “It was known that an extremist outfit with no links to the RSS was involved in the attack. Still, some papers here unnecessarily said the RSS was responsible,” Pillai said.
When he was told that the 'tantri' had called him not as a lawyer but as the president of the BJP, Sreedharan Pillai shot back. “I was picked as special public prosecutor by the Left-led government in 12 cases. When I was given the appointment were they not aware that I was also holding responsible positions in the BJP,” he said. He said the CPM had even approached him to defend them in the T P Chandrasekharan murder case. "I did not take up the case as my party was against it," Pillai said.
The BJP presdient said it was he who advised the CPM that it was legally possible to file a petition in the court without the Speaker's consent in the issue related to the chaos that erupted in the Assembly following the CPM's attempt to block K M Mani from presenting the Budget in 2015. “I was totally against what the CPM did. My party, too. Still, when they sought an opinion, I obliged,” he said. Again, Pillai said it was he who secured a stay from the High Court that allowed certain SFI leaders to appear for their examinations.
