The 13-day Assembly session, the most tumultuous during this LDF tenure and almost fully washed out in the name of Sabarimala, ended in the most unseemly manner on Thursday - with the ruling and opposition members very nearly coming to blows. Seniors on both sides intervened to eventually defuse the situation. Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan expressed helplessness. "What can I do except cut short proceedings before things get out of control," he said. The Speaker blamed both the LDF and UDF members and termed their behaviour "abnormal'.
The situation turned inflammable towards the end as the opposition walked out of the House in protest after their adjournment motion was cut off midway. From the media gallery, it looked like young CPM member M Swaraj said something that provoked Congress's Shafi Parambil. A sober-looking Shafi was seen walking towards Swaraj and exchanging words with him.
Shafi was soon pulled back by other UDF leaders. But by then, the UDF and LDF members had come uncomfortably close to each other. A scuffle ensued, with members pushing each other. CPM MLA V P Joy was seen rushing towards the UDF members, and sharp words were exchanged. The two groups were locked so close that it was difficult to see what was happening. However, senior leaders on both sides promptly intervened and managed to pull back their aggressive younger colleagues before anything untoward happened.
Not a word about Berlin
Earlier, the House imploded the moment Muslim League leader Dr M K Muneer uttered his first words while moving the adjournment motion against the 'Wall of Women' the government is planning to forge from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram on January 1. “If the wall the communists had built in Berlin could be pulled down, this communal wall too will be destroyed and removed,” Muneer said. The very mention of 'Berlin' apparently provoked the ruling benches; stray shouts were heard from the ruling side just when Berlin was mentioned. It was reminiscent of the iconic 'Poland' scene involving Sreenivasan and Jayaram in the film 'Sandesam'. It was after a pause that Muneer completed the sentence loaded with the 'communal' word.
But before he could complete, the LDF side erupted in anger, and members rushed to the front but stopped short of stepping into the well of the House. Shouting angrily, they demanded that Muneer withdraw the word 'communal' from his speech. The members kept shouting ignoring the Speaker's repeated pleas to get back to their seats.
Temporary suspension
Muneer was equally adamant. “I stand by what I said. I don't intend to change a word of what I had said,” he stated with vehemence. And then he further rubbed it on. “What else should I call an event organised by (C P) Sugathan (Hindu Parliament state general secretary) and Vellappally Natesan (SNDP Yogam general secretary),” he asked.
The ruling party members then cranked up the decibel level of their shouts. The Speaker tried to mollify them by saying he would examine Muneer's speech and remove from official records anything that was not based on fact. But this was not enough.
Speaker's plea, Muneer's defiance
When the ruling party members persisted with their shouts, the Speaker suspended the House and walked out. The House reconvened after 40 minutes. After he returned, it was a request that the Speaker first made. “Given that female members too had given me a complaint, will Dr Muneer agree to withdraw his comment and help in conduct the House smoothly,” he asked. Muneer said that the Speaker could remove his speech if he had said anything baseless. He took off from where he stopped.
The ruling party members once again rushed to the front shouting at Munner. The Muslim League leader, however, kept on with his speech. “What is your party's role in the renaissance movement,” Muneer asked. Chief minister Pinaryi Vijayan had earlier in his speech asked the Speaker not to entertain Muneer's adjournment motion. “Even AKG and EMS had participated in social reform movements in the state as Congress members,” Muneer said.
'Dividing people in the name of caste'
Muneer's charge was that the government was dividing people in the name of caste. “Why are Muslims and Christians kept out of this wall. Haven't people like Vakkom Moulavi and Christian missionaries like William Tobos and Chavara Achan taken part in Kerala's renaissance struggles. Why are their contributions being forgotten,” he asked and added: “What else should we call a wall that wants to keep out the Christians and Muslims.”
'Kar Sevak as renaissance leader'
Muneer's second line of attack was against the people chosen to lead the 'Wall of Women'. He said Sugathan, the joint convenor of the event, was someone who was both against women and the Constitution. He read out Sugathan's infamous statement that Hadiya, a medical graduate who had converted to Islam and married a Muslim, should be torn into two. “He had also taken part in Kar Seva at Ayodhya,” Muneer said.
The chief minister himself had spoken unflatteringly against Vellappaly Natesan, he said. “Pinarayi Vijayan has called Natesan a 'casteist spectre' in his book on renaissance,” Muneer said. He said that even LDF leaders like V S Achuthanandan had spoken against the wall. “CPI general secretary Kanam Rajendran asked what guarantee there was that those now taking part in the wall would not cross over to the other side,” Muneer said.
Who will pay for the wall?
The expenditure for the wall was also questioned. Muneer, and later opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala also, said that a circular was issued by the chief secretary in which it was said the Finance Department would provide the money required to promote the event. The chief minister had earlier in the day said that the event was not conducted with government money. “If so, can the chief minister say that the chief secretary's circular has been withdrawn,” Muneer asked.
