THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s media secretary Prabha Varma kicked up a row on Friday after his reported participation in an upcoming Hindu conclave became the talking point in left circles. His name was included in the list of participants for a meeting organised by Kerala Hindus of North America (KHNA), to be held in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.
KHNA works for unification of Hindus and is openly participating in the Ram temple construction movement in Ayodhya. Though Varma denied any association with the organisation or the conclave, KHNA’s Kerala coordinator said otherwise.
The conclave will be inaugurated by Governor Arif Mohammed Khan. Director Adoor Gopalakrishnan is also among those invited. Union Minister for State V Muraleedharan, BJP leaders Kummanam Rajasekharan, Sandeep Varier, Sandeep Vachaspati and Hindu Aikya Vedi leader K P Sasikala are among the participants. Congress and CPM leaders have not been invited.
Varma’s name and photo were also included in the brochure of the conclave. Names of Adoor, V Madhusoodanan Nair and Soorya Krishnamurthy are also included.
“I am not participating in the programme,” Varma told TNIE. “They came to the CMO for an appointment with Pinarayi Vijayan, to invite him to the function. I told them that he won’t be available. Other than that they never met me or approached me,” he said.
However, P Sreekumar, KHNA’s coordinator in Kerala, said Varma told him that since he had a meeting of the Kendra Sahitya Akademi he could not participate. He said Varma was also part of the judging committee for ‘arsha darsana puraskaram’, given to those who propagate the essence of the Vedas through their writing. This year’s recipient is Sreekumaran Thampi. "Chairman C Radhakrishnan and K Jayakumar were the other members of the judging committee,” he said.
Varma said he did not know that the award was instituted by KHNA. “Radhakrishnan is very close to me. He asked me to be part of the committee,” Varma said.
Asked whether he enquired about the organisation’s name, Varma said Radhakrishnan told him it was for an organisation called Swathi.