THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Minister K Radhakrishnan, who had handled the portfolios of Devaswom and Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Tribes, resigned on Tuesday after being elected as a Parliament member. Before stepping down as the cabinet minister, Radhakrishnan signed the landmark order abolishing the practice of calling places predominantly inhabited by the members of the Scheduled Castes as ‘Colonies’.
The order is in line with the perspective of the outgoing minister and the left government, terming the places as ‘colonies’. Words like ‘sanketham’, and ‘ooru’ brought disrespect and hence alternative terms such as ‘nagar’. ‘unnathi’, ‘prakrithi’ should be used. The order further said that names evoking regional interests can also be used. However, the order said that the use of names of individuals should not be promoted, though those with such names will not be removed.
“The term is a symbol of subjugation. Several discussions were held on removing such names and we have finally decided to abolish such a usage. There have been demands from the scheduled caste community members on this front,” he said.
Radhakrishnan, meanwhile, filed his resignation as a cabinet minister before CM Pinarayi Vijayan. He also tendered his resignation as a Member of the Legislative Assembly before Assembly Speaker A N Shamseer.
Radhakrishnan had defeated Remya Haridas of UDF in the Alathur Lok Sabha constituency. He was the only CPM candidate, who was elected to the Parliament from the State.