THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kuttiadi MLA Parakkal Abdulla's decision to appear in the Kerala Assembly wearing a mask and gloves kicked up a row on Monday after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Health Minister K K Shailaja mocked it as insulting.
A pandemonium broke out in the House with the UDF justifying the MLA's appearance as a symbolic act in view of the Nipah virus outbreak in north Kerala. It was during the question hour that the MLA made his entry donning the protective gear used in the Nipah-affected areas.
Though it did not raise any eyebrows immediately, the Health Minister was acerbic in her reply when Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan quipped whether the MLA was under instructions from her.
Shailaja promptly replied that it was insulting and, anyhow, the mask and gloves were worn under specific conditions. ''Either there should be patients here or the MLA himself should be infected. In the latter case, he shouldn't be here. What he is doing is wrong,'' she said.
Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala sprung to the Muslim League MLA's defence saying that he had intended it as a symbolic act as everyone in Nipah-hit Kozhikode was wearing the protective gear. ''There's no need to insult him,'' he said.
The Chief Minister, however, echoed Shailaja's sentiments saying that the MLA's action was ''slightly insulting'' as he had trivialised an incident that was viewed with all seriousness by the Kerala society.
With the house drowned in uproar, the Speaker tried to restore calm by telling Abdulla that he should have informed about his decision to wear the mask and gloves.