Kerala BJP MLA Tosses Sweets Instead of Handing Out to Tribal Students, Under Fire
The incident took place at the Kattela Model Residential Tribal School in Thiruvananthapuram, during the school’s reopening functions
Thiruvanathapuram: Kerala BJP MLA and former BJP state president V Muraleedharan has come under fire for the manner of distributing sweets at a tribal residential school, garnering allegations of him showing caste-based discrimination against marginal students.
The incident took place at the Kattela Model Residential Tribal School in Thiruvananthapuram, during the school’s reopening functions. Media footage of the event showed the BJP MLA, who was also the Minister of State of External Affairs in the Modi 2.0 government, was seen tossing toffees out of a packet on the desk in efforts to welcome the students by distributing sweets.
The MLA was attending the school event in his constituency, along with KA Thulasi, UDF Government’s Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Backward Classes.
The videos of this incident went viral, with responses questioning the method of him shaking out toffees instead of handing them out directly to the hands of students. Netizens, alleged feudal outlook of the BJP leader showed up and practised untouchability while distributing the sweets to the underprivileged ST students.
Reacting to the incident, former General Education Minister Sivankutty alleged that the MLA's conduct of "insulting" students in this manner was surprising and condemnable. "Such acts that hurt the self-esteem of children and cause great trauma to their minds are not acceptable in a civilised society," he said in a statement.
He also claimed that the state minister present at the event did not intervene to correct the MLA's conduct and instead stood as a "mute spectator", which he called a "serious lapse".
Sivankutty said such acts can never be condoned and demanded that Muraleedharan apologise, and that authorities ensure such incidents are not repeated.
The BJP MLA, in his defense, said he was being wrongly accused of practising "untouchability" and called it propaganda by the CPI(M) mouthpiece. Muraleedharan claimed that when he reached the venue, the minister and other officials were already waiting to inaugurate the event.
The MLA added that to avoid delay, he quickly distributed sweets by shaking a small quantity onto each table from the packet.
