Kerala speaker N Sakthan is in the eye of the storm for seeking the help of his driver to remove his slippers while attending a function in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday. Trouble started after a section of the media flashed video clippings which clearly show he poses for the driver to remove his slippers.
The incident occurred during a function held in connection with the harvesting of paddy cultivated on assembly premises. The driver bent and removed the straps of the slipper before he ventured into shredding the straw of paddy.
However the speaker justified his action saying the driver, Bjiu, was his relative and he never asked him to do this. “Due to health problems doctors had advised me not to bend frequently. My driver is a close relative of mine and I never asked him to this. Aware of my health problems he did this on his own,” he said, adding that a section the media blew it out of proportion.
The video footage, however, showed that he was bending clearly to sow paddy. Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan has criticised the move, saying it smacked of a legacy of colonial era.