Nakkheeran Gopal hails unity of Keralites in facing issues
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The efforts of Kerala government in handling the issues of flood and Sabarimala in a well-balanced manner are appreciable, said journalist Nakkheeran Gopal. He was interacting with the students and faculty members of state-owned Kerala Media Academy in a special session at Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan as part of the inauguration of a sub-centre here on Monday.
“Unity of people in Kerala in facing issues is unparalleled. The state has co-ordinated the sensitive issues very well,” Gopal said. He advised the cub journos that journalism is a field only for the people who have the courage to fight and survive. There are many jobs in which the people can work from morning to evening on working days and go for a movie at weekends. But journalism is not their cup of tea. It is a job which needs a lot of courage and passion,” he said.
Gopal was recently in the news headlines after the Chennai city police had taken him into custody at Chennai airport for allegedly defaming Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit in a news report which came on his weekly, Nakkheeran. The police had slapped him with Section 124 of the Indian Penal Code, which refers to the assault on President or Governor to restrain them from exercising their lawful power. However, he was released soon after the Chennai court rejected a police request for remand of Gopal pointing out that Section 124 will not stand.
The offending articles published in Nakkheeran in May linked the Governor to Nirmala Devi, an assistant professor who was arrested for allegedly luring college girls to provide sexual favours to officials of Madurai Kamaraj University. He said that many of his staffs did not get bail in the case as the police have registered a case against 35 staffers including him in the case. “ Section 124 won’t stand.
If I had stopped the Governor physically, then Section 124 would stand in the court. I was falsely implicated. But the case is not over. I have to fight and I won’t back off from it,” Gopal said. He also shared his experience of publishing the exclusive news of Nithyananda scandal, the disproportionate case of former Chief Minister Jayalalitha and other sensational cases. Gopal was accompanied with his associate Prakash at the session. On a lighter note, Gopal said that his big moustache has helped him to survive in many incidents. R S Babu, chairman of Media Academy, was present.
Sabarimala
Gopal said the state government was doing the right thing and the BJP was exploiting the situation and they take this as an opportunity to politicise. “BJP is creating a political fiasco. It is a part of political narrow-mindedness,” he said. He said the BJP will not have a place in Tamil Nadu in the near future.
Veerappan
Replying to a question, Gopal reminisced the experiences of interviewing slain forest smuggler Veerappan and acting as a mediator to release actor Rajkumar. “The police version on Veerappan killing is completely wrong. They claimed of firing at him from 30 feet away. In fact, he was shot at point blank. The bullet pierced his forehead. Veerappan was taken into custody and assaulted for four days before murdering,” he said.