Opposition leader V D Satheesan on Monday said the 2013 programme he had attended was not an RSS programme, as alleged by the BJP and the CPM, but a book release function organised by the think tank Bhartatheeya Vichara Kendram.
Further, he said the book on Swami Vivekananda written by then Bharatheeya Vichara Kendram director, P Parameshwaran, was originally released by the then opposition leader V S Achuthanandan a few days back.
"All the allegations the CPM now hurls at me would actually stick on their veteran leader, too," Satheesan said. "Are they now going to say that Achuthanandnan had attended the programme without the knowledge of the CPM," he said.
Satheesan said that it was not the RSS but a senior journalist of a leading vernacular who invited him to the programme. The Opposition Leader also argued that attending a function connected with P Parameshwaran should not be seen as political. "Parameshwarji is someone who is seen differently from other Sangh Parivar leaders. He is always seen as someone beyond politics. That is precisely why the Chief Minister himself attended his funeral and remarked that he led the exalted life of an ascetic," Satheesan said.
The Opposition Leader said that even during the occasion he was actually trying to differentiate between the Hindu as described by Swami Vivekananda and the Hindutva practised by the Sangh Parivar. “All my political life, I have been trying to make this difference,” Satheesan said.
Just when it was felt that Satheesan had sufficiently explained his presence at the 2013 event, an older picture has now surfaced showing him in another seemingly Sangh Parivar function, this time lighting a lamp in front of the photograph of M S Golwalkar, the second Sarsanghchalak of the RSS. The event took place in 2006, in a place called Manaykkappadi near Paravoor, Satheesan's constituency.
Satheesan is yet to account for this picture. The picture was first posted by Hindu Aikya Vedi leader R V Babu and later reproduced in the front page of the CPM mouthpiece Deshabhimani on July 11.
The Deshabhimani report alleges that Satheesan had sought the secret help of RSS ever since he lost his first Assembly fight in 1996. After this, the newspaper states that Satheesan has never lost, his majority growing with every election and the BJP vote share in Paravoor dwindling proportionately.
Satheesan told reporters that he had never sought the help of the Sangh Parivar. He said he had never pulled his punches when it came to taking on the RSS and the Sangh Parivar. "In 2013, it was after much research and study that I debunked inside the Assembly the Sangh Parivar narrative that governments had taken money from devaswom boards. Not just that, I also demonstrated that governments had in fact given money to the devaswom boards. I was attacked for this," he said.
Satheesan said the Sangh Parivar had organised a Hindu Maha Sangamam in Paravoor to ensure his defeat in 2016. "They vowed to push me into political 'vanvas'. My majority swelled from 11,349 to 28.097. The BJP and Sangh Parivar organisations have led the most number of attacks to my house," he added.
Further, Satheesan reiterated that his charge that Saji Cheriyan's remarks against the Constitution was similar in words and content to what Golwakar said in Vicharadhara (Bunch of Thoughts) had not been contested by either the BJP or the CPM.
Court issues notice to Satheesan
A local court in Kannur on Monday issued notice to Satheesan on a case filed by the RSS against his alleged remarks related to Golwalkar.
A Munsiff court here issued notice to the senior Congress leader and directed him to appear before it on August 12.
The case was filed by an office-bearer of RSS, K K Balaram alleging that Satheesan had compared the speech of former state minister Saji Cheriyan, containing alleged anti-Constitution remarks, with the content in Golwalkar's book, 'Bunch of Thoughts'.
