Janmabhumi newspaper, mouthpiece of the BJP in Kerala, was accused of perpetuating casteism after a cartoon appeared in its daily column, alluding to the Sabarimala conundrum. The cartoon discusses the no-privilege motion against the chief minister, on the issue of the proposed women's wall. The caption beneath read: "This should have been kept in mind while giving responsibilities to someone who should climb coconut trees."
This was widely decried as a reference to the chief minister's Thiyya caste—traditionally toddy-tappers. The state finance minister Thomas Isaac wrote in a Facebook post: "It is a time when we should be taking special care to excise caste even from casual and intimate conversations. That is when the mouthpiece of the party ruling the country is publishing a casteist cartoon. This shows how culturally degraded the RSS is."
Women's Wall
Vijayan, earlier this month, had announced the'Women's Wall' would be formed on January 1 from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram "to demonstrate the secular and progressive mindset of the state".
He had announced the decision after a meeting with over 50 socio-cultural organisations here, convened in the wake of the Sabarimala women entry issue.
The opposition Congress-led UDF and BJP had flayed the Left government, saying it would create a 'communal divide' among the people and alleged that the government was misusing its machinery and welfare funds for the programme.
While considering petitions opposing the utilisation of public funds to organise the programme, the Kerala High Court on Thursday had directed the government to inform it of the expenditure incurred to conduct the programme.
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Hrishikesh Royand A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar, also recorded the government's statement that no flood relief fund would be used fororganising the programme.
The CPI(M)-led LDF government had submitted that there was no diversion of money from the flood relief fund for the 'vanitha mathil', which, it said, was a totally different programme under the Women and Child Development Department.
"The Vanitha Mathil is to be considered as a campaign or event of the government forempowerment of women and to bridge the gap of gender equality," the government said.
"An amount of Rs 50 crore is earmarked for various schemes aimed at preventing atrocities against women," it submitted.
(With PTI inputs)
