KOLLAM/T’PURAM: Perhaps in an indication of a change in the SNDP’s relationship with the ruling Left front and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan on Friday lambasted the government for “sidelining the Ezhava community” at the inaugural function of Sree Narayana Guru Open University (SNGOU). The outburst by Natesan, who was elected the secretary of the SN Trust for the ninth straight time on Thursday, comes after a long period of cordiality between the SNDP and LDF government. “This government has repeated the practice of ousting the backward classes from power,” Natesan said.
Open University can’t be confined to caste, religious equations, says CPM
Ponting out that the government turned the entire inaugural function of SNGOU into a political event, Vellappally said not even a single SNDP office-bearer was invited to the ceremony. What seemed to have annoyed him is the cabinet decision on Wednesday to appoint Mubarak Pasha as SNGOU’s first vice-chancellor. Pasha, a former director of Calicut University’s distance education wing, is currently the head of governance and strategic planning at Oman-based National University of Science and Technology.
“The VC’s appointment has tarnished the government’s image. Not even one person from the ‘Sreenarayaneeya’ community was considered for the post,” said Vellappally. He alleged that Higher Education Minister K T Jaleel was adamant in appointing an expatriate from Malabar instead, adding there was no need to go deep to realise his true sentiments. “Such a thing should not have happened at a time when a party that adopted renaissance as its slogan is in power. The CPM should not have stooped too low when the minorities mounted pressure on them,” he said.
Reacting to Vellappally’s criticism, CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said SNGOU cannot be confined to caste or religious equations. Naming the university after Sree Narayana Guru — a renaissance leader who exhorted people to rise above caste equations — was a significant decision by the state government, he said. “The criteria to assess those appointed to varsity should be based on their efficiency. Looking at it through the frame of caste and religion will be contradictory to the ideals propagated by Sree Narayana Guru,” he said. But the SNDP has the right to take its own stance, he added.