CPM may ask Kozhikode Mayor to step down for attending RSS event

Beena Philip
Beena Philip. Photo: Manorama

Thiruvananthapuram: Kozhikode Mayor and CPM leader Beena Philip attending an event organised by RSS-affiliated Balagokulam on Sunday has left her party fuming.

Going by the party precedence, she may be asked to quit the office of the Mayor, since her act of attending the programme was in violation of the CPM's proclaimed anti-right wing stand.

Earlier, CPM had made N Padmalochanan step down as Kollam Mayor for attending the inaugural function of the reception committee office of RSS's leadership meeting in February 2010. He was also suspended from the party. Padmalochanan was then a State secretariat member of the party.

Even as her attending the Balagokulam event snowballed into a political controversy, Beena Philip offered an excuse which, incidentally, was not new to the party. Padmalochanan, too, had given the same explanation, saying he had attended the event as the Mayor.

Justifying her attending the event as the Mayor, Beena Philip said she did not consider she needed the party's prior permission to participate in such programmes.

Padmalochanan's aberration was a more serious one since he was then the State secretariat member, who knew the party's policies vis-a-vis Sangh Parivar outfits. The CPM Kozhikode district committee may let Beena Philip off the hook with a rap, considering her inexperience as a branch committee member.

While Padmalochanan lit a lamp in the RSS event, Beena Philip offered a holy garland to a picture of Lord Krishna. Her speech at the programme, too, did not go down well with the CPM.

More than her attending the event and delivering the speech, the CPM took umbrage at her stand that she had not done anything wrong. Following her justification, the party denounced the Mayor.

The acerbic tone of the statement issued by the CPM's Kozhikode district committee secretary P Mohanan, reflected the seriousness the party has attached to the issue.

Incidentally, Beena Philip's act came at the wrong time for the CPM as the party has been targeting Opposition Leader V D Satheesan over an RSS event he had attended years ago. Satheesan lost no time in raising the Mayor's participation at the Balagokulam event to hit back at the CPM.

The CPM has been organising a two-week-long Constitution protection programme across the State. The party feels that the RSS may use the Mayor's participation in the event to counter the Left party.

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