KOTTAYAM: Eyeing a political opportunity in the wake of the controversy over Speaker A N Shamseer’s statement on myth and science, the Sangh Parivar on Thursday reached out to the Nair Service Society, visiting Perunna and held a closed-door discussion with NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair. The NSS, on its part, responded cautiously, purportedly to protect its turf and present its fight from being hijacked.
The visit by RSS pracharak S Sethumadhavan, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) state president Viji Thambi, Hindu Aikya Vedi state general secretary R V Babu and Sabarimala Karma Samithi general convener SJR Kumar came on the heels of Nair’s statement that NSS would join hands with all organisations to “protect the faith of Hindus”. It was the NSS that gave fresh impetus to the Sangh’s protest against Shamseer, after it showed signs of fizzling out.
Meanwhile, Cantonment police registered a case against NSS state vice-president Sangeeth Kumar and 1,000 workers, who were identified, for carrying out a protest-cum-prayer march to the state secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram.
Wednesday’s march was organised by the NSS taluk union, denouncing Shamseer’s speech criticising the practice of promoting religious myths over science.
BJP seized the opportunity, taking out protest marches in many parts of the state against the slapping of the case. State president K Surendran said his party will not allow any attempt to single out and attack the NSS. The NSS supremo, who refused to disclose the details of the one-and-a-half-hour-long talks he held with Sangh leaders, said they “came to appreciate the stance taken by the NSS on the Shamseer issue.”
No political discussions in meeting: Sukumaran Nair
“They also extended support for our fight to protect the faith of Hindus. There were no political discussions in the meeting,” Nair said. The Parivar considers it an opportunity to bury the hatchet and warm up to caste-based influential organisations.
“The RSS-BJP camp had been waiting to enter NSS headquarters for quite a while. Now they are trying to utilise the opportunity. However, this doesn’t mean that NSS will be joining the Sangh Parivar camp,” said sources close to Nair. “NSS has taken up a serious issue and we will accept the support of anyone. We won’t be part of any political party, though Nair community members are present in all political organisations,” they said.