Bharat Mata row: Raj Bhavan no RSS ‘shakha’, slams CPI(M) Kerala
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Thiruvananthapuram: The Bharat Mata portrait row involving Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishawanath Arlekar triggered a series of street protests and a war of words on Saturday, with the ruling CPI (M)'s official mouthpiece publishing a hard-hitting editorial against the Raj Bhavan, PTI reported.
The southern state has been witnessing a tussle between Arlekar and the Marxist party-led LDF government over the display of the 'Bharat Mata portrait' during official events at the Raj Bhavan here.
In a strongly worded editorial, Deshabhimani, the official organ of the Marxist party in the state, asserted that Raj Bhavan is not a "shakha" (unit) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
As per the latest photos released by Raj Bhavan, the Governor paid floral tributes to the portrait during the Yoga Day celebrations held there on Saturday.
The Left party's trade union outfit, CITU, took out a protest march to the Raj Bhavan, accusing the Governor of attempting to make it a centre of the RSS and violating the Constitution of the country.
The Students' Federation of India (SFI) raised a banner in front of the Sanskrit College here, which is affiliated with Kerala University, stating that Raj Bhavan is not the property of the RSS.
"We want to say something once more, Mr Governor...Raj Bhavan is not RSS's ancestral property," the banner read.
In Kozhikode, Yuva Mocha, the BJP's youth wing, waved black flags against General Education Minister V Sivankutty, who recently boycotted an event at the Raj Bhavan in protest against the display of the Bharat Mata portrait there.
Though a Morch activist was taken into custody by the police soon, SFI activists, who rushed to the area, pushed and hit him at Thali in the northern district.
The area saw tense moments as the SFI workers, the BJP and the Morcha activists engaged in a scuffle on the street.
Later, the right-wing activists burnt an effigy of Sivankutty as a mark of protest against his walkout from a recent event held in Raj Bhavan.
In the evening, the BJP workers held a protest march at the MLA office of the General Education Minister at Pappanamcode.
