Kerala General Education Minister and Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State committee member V. Sivankutty on Thursday (July 31, 2025) demanded that the authorities prosecute former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Kerala State president K. Surendran on charges of seeking to undermine the dignity of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) communities in the country, and by extension, violating the Constitution and questioning the principle of reservation enshrined in it.
Mr. Sivankutty took strong exception to Mr. Surendran’s alleged imputation that the ruling front and Opposition MPs and MLAs elected from reserved constituencies in Kerala were SC/ST members “only in name.”
Mr. Surendran tagged his controversial social media post with the photographs of Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and MP from Mavelikara, a reserved constituency, Kodikunnil Suresh and CPI(M) leader P.K. Biju, who represented Alathur, a reserved Lok Sabha constituency, for two consecutive terms till 2019.
Mr. Sivankutty said the BJP leadership should compel Mr. Surendran to withdraw the “derogatory” statement, which the Minister said “reflected the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) Hindutva worldview.”
Mr. Sivankutty also termed Mr. Surendran’s post a manifestation of the RSS’ ambition to relegate Christians, Muslims, both minorities, and SC/ST communities as subaltern citizens in a Hindu majoritarian State that adheres to an oppressive caste hierarchy.
“However, such attempts would not pass muster in secular and progressive Kerala, which upholds the renaissance values of social reformers,” he added.
Published – July 31, 2025 12:24 pm IST
