In the days following Assembly Speaker AN Shamseer’s “myths being taught as science” remark at a school in Ernakulam’s Kunnathunad, Kerala has been witnessing a heated exchange of words between prominent Communist Party of India (Marxist) – CPI(M) – and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. The BJP had filed a police complaint against Shamseer on July 24 for allegedly hurting Hindu religious sentiments, after he denounced the claim that plastic surgery was invented in India and the Hindu deity Ganapathy got his elephant head through such a procedure. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) also marked their protest over the Speaker’s comment.
During a march to Shamseer’s office in Kannur’s Thalassery, BJYM general secretary K Ganesh said, “Shamseer must be confident that he will not lose his hand like Prof Joseph did.” Ganesh was referring to the 2010 assault against TJ Joseph, then professor of Malayalam at Newman College in Idukki’s Thodupuzha, which resulted in his hand being chopped off by Popular Front of India (PFI) activists.
Responding to Ganesh’s threat while speaking at an event against the Manipur violence organised in Thalassery, senior CPI(M) leader P Jayarajan said that Yuva Morcha leaders would find themselves in the mortuary if they dared to harm Shamseer. The BJYM responded by filing a police complaint against the “death threat”, calling for Jayarajan’s arrest and claiming that his remarks were capable of “inciting political turmoil in Kannur.”
BJP state president K Surendran also came out against Jayarajan’s statement, reiterating the argument that the CPI(M) leader’s remarks amounted to death threats and that the BJP will respond to it with mass protests.
Meanwhile, Jayarajan issued a clarification, saying, “The Yuva Morcha threatened Shamseer with an experience similar to that of Prof Joseph. They compared themselves to the Popular Front terrorists who took revenge. I replied befittingly.”
Speaker Shamseer made the alleged “anti-Hindu” statement in Ernakulam district’s Kunnathunad on July 21. He was referring to a claim made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 that plastic surgery was invented in India, as Ganapathy is an elephant-headed deity on a human body. He also asked, “Who invented the aeroplane? When I studied, it was the Wright brothers. Now it is not. In the age of Hindutva, it is said to be the pushpaka vimanam. … Science is being replaced with myths. Textbooks promote myths instead of science. That is why answering the question about the invention of the aeroplane with ‘Wright brothers' becomes wrong.”
Jayarajan justified the Speaker saying, “Shamseer criticised those unscientific teachings in a public programme for children and presented a scientific point of view. No believer will feel hurt by it. Malayalis are capable of distinguishing between faith and the exploitations in the name of faith.”
After P Jayarajan’s mortuary remark sparked controversy, convener of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) EP Jayarajan came out in support of the CPI(M) leader. EP Jayarajan said that P Jayarajan used the word mortuary because it rhymes with Morcha. “It was only a figure of speech,” he said.