NSS Slams Door on IUML

Nair Service Society (NSS) has said that the organization was not inclined to welcome anyone to assuage its sentiments in the current controversy following the induction of the fifth minister for the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). In a press note issued at Perunna, NSS general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair rejected the scope for any talks on the matter as he believed that those who are part of the problem cannot be part of the solution.


Taking a serious view of the comments made from IUML quarters on NSS stand on the ‘fifth minister issue’ and the slogans raised by IUML activists against the NSS during their ‘victory parade’ following the induction of Manjalamkuzhi Ali into the cabinet, which according to him was not conducive to communal harmony, the Mr Nair said that the NSS had kept restraint even in the face of such provocations.



The NSS had a clear stand on the issue of cabinet expansion, he said and pointed out that the organization had not questioned the demand for the fifth cabinet berth for IUML. At a time when gross communal imbalance existed in the administrative level, if the cabinet reshuffle was implemented in such a way that it intensified the already existing imbalance that will lead to communal polarization and challenge the secular, democratic credentials of the nation.


“As such, NSS wanted the reorganization of the cabinet to be carried out in such a way that the delicate communal balance was not affected,” he said. Whether it was the inflexible stance taken by the IUML or not, or the weakness of the Congress (I) in taking decisions, the way the issue was handled went against the wishes of the majority community. The decision has not only disturbed the communal harmony but also the functioning of the administrative machinery. The reshuffle which followed has only helped to worsen the situation, Mr Nair said.


The NSS has no specific interest in the issues related to the fifth cabinet berth for the IUML or the cabinet reshuffle that followed.


Those who criticised the stance taken by the NSS did it with the eye on establishing their own sectarian interests, he alleged. NSS was committed to safeguard the democratic principles, secularism and communal harmony in the country and would not fail to speak out if found necessary, the general secretary said.