‘slip of the tongue’; CPI(M) condemns Kerala’s ouster for remarks about the Constitution

The CPI(M) rejected the Opposition’s demand for Kerala Minister Saji Cherian’s resignation on Tuesday, calling his statements on the Constitution a ‘slip of the tongue’.  Kerala CPI(M) leader Saji Cherian sparked a significant stir by criticising the Indian Constitution, claiming that it has only served the purpose of ‘robbing’ the people of the country.

Opposition parties in Kerala have claimed that Cherian breached Schedule 3 of the Constitution, which is the basis on which a Minister takes an oath. Under the third schedule, a Minister taking the oath promises to b’ear true faith and loyalty to the Constitution of India’ and to protect the country’s sovereignty and integrity. While the BJP’s KJ Alphons has demanded the minister’s resignation, claiming that such ‘unconstitutional remarks’ were unbecoming of an elected representative, Kerala Assembly Leader of Opposition and Congress leader V D Satheesan has stated that if the CM fails to act against his Minister, the party will go to court.

Saji Cherian mocks Indian Constitution.
The CPI(M) leader stated during a speech at an event in Mallapally, Kerala’s Pathanamthitta municipality, that the Indian Constitution ‘aides the affluent by robbing the ordinary man’. Cherian is the Kerala State Fisheries and Culture Minister in CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s Cabinet.

‘Everyone agrees that India’s Constitution is magnificent and the most essential component of the country. However, I believe that the Indian Constitution was created to loot the average man. An Indian drafted a constitution that was approved by the British and has been in use in this country for the past 75 years. The Constitution has simply served to plunder the people’, Kerala’s Minister said.

Furthermore, Cherian argued that while democracy and secularism are written in every “nook and cranny” of the Constitution, their sole function is to exploit the people. In addition to naming a few corporate executives, the CPI(M) leader stated that the Constitution protects such wealthy individuals and that nothing can be done against them.’Those who are in power are in charge and are doing the work of protecting such powerful personalities’, he added.