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Natesan slams IUML, calls journo ‘terrorist’
SNDP leader Vellappally Natesan sparked controversy by labeling a journalist a "terrorist" and accusing IUML of inciting communal tensions in Kerala.
Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam general secretary and Ezhava community leader Vellappally Natesan stoked controversy on Friday by calling a television journalist “terrorist” and accusing the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) of conspiring to incite communal riots in the state.
Natesan, the chieftain of the SNDP since 1996 and a vocal commentator on the state’s social and political subjects, has been, of late, a staunch critic of the Congress-led UDF, particularly its second biggest partner, IUML, accusing the party of not providing space in its citadel of Malappuram district for social outfits like SNDP to open educational institutions.
Speaking to reporters at his residence on Friday, Natesan claimed that the SNDP has only one unaided college in Malappuram district and challenged the IUML to conduct a soul-searching exercise on whether it carried out social justice in the district while being in power.
“In Malappuram, the League (IUML) has 48 unaided colleges. We have only one. The IUML is trying to spread anti-Ezhava sentiments within the Muslim community, create religious divisions and stoke communal riots. If they come to power again, they have an ulterior motive of creating yet another Marad riot,” he alleged. Marad riots refer to the communal clashes in a coastal village of Marad in Kozhikode district in January 2003 in which nine people were killed. It was the last recorded major communal riot in Kerala.
He claimed that the SNDP Yogam would annually file applications to open new educational institutions in Malappuram district, but that such petitions always returned rejected.
The Ezhava leader also elicited strong reactions from the media fraternity when he called a television journalist a “terrorist.”
When reporters questioned him on the allegation, Natesan said, “I have information that he is involved in terrorist activities. He wanted me to make a communal speech in Sivagiri so that it can be circulated widely online. He has been in the past a member of the MSF.”
Muslim Students Federation (MSF) is the student outfit of the IUML.
The Yogam leader also engaged in a war of words with journalists at the briefing over the accusation.
Leader of the Opposition VD Satheesan slammed Natesan for the remarks against IUML and accused Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan of using the community leader as his ‘mouthpiece.’
“He (CM) is using some persons in front to create communal divide in society. When the UDF was in power, permissions for numerous institutions were granted to the Yogam and SN Trust. He (Vellappally) himself has praised the government at the time. Today, Vellappally has called a journalist a terrorist. The CM is sheltering him and making him say these things,” he said.
The CPI(M) and CM Vijayan have not responded to Natesan’s remarks yet.
