BJP criticises Kerala Govt move to approach SC against President Murmu
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): The BJP on Sunday criticised the Left government in Kerala for its move to approach the Supreme Court against President Droupadi Murmu saying that it reflected the Marxist party's discrimination towards women and tribal communities.
The CPI(M) has always adopted an "anti-woman" stand and they had even opposed when Murmu had been nominated to the supreme post of the country, senior party leader and Union Minister V Muraleedharan alleged.
To prove his argument that the Marxist party's fundamental stand was anti-woman, he said there was no woman member in the Left party's polit bureau till 2022.
The saffron party's criticism came a day after the LDF government justified its move to approach the apex Court against Murmu for withholding assent to four bills passed by the state assembly, saying her action has "significant constitutional implications."
"If we look back into history, we can understand why the Marxist Party is moving against President Murmu...The innate objection of the CPI (M) leadership towards women is the basic reason for this," Muraleedharan told reporters here.
He said that it was not for the first time that bills were getting delayed in the country, but it was for the first time that someone is moving against the President.
Muraleedharan also said that the people of the country, who stand for social justice and equality, would oppose any move intended to humiliate President Murmu.
He said it was understood that the Chief Secretary of the state and senior CPI (M) leader T P Ramakrishnan had jointly filed the case against the President.
The minister questioned the legal sanctity of a civil service officer filing a case jointly with a political leader.
The BJP's statement came a day after the state government filed a plea in the Supreme Court, naming the Union government, the Secretary to the President of India, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, and his additional secretary as parties to the case.
In its plea, the state government requested that the President's refusal to grant assent to the bills--the University Laws (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2021; the Kerala Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022; the University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022; and the University Laws (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill, 2022-- without stating any reason, be declared unconstitutional .
Apart from other reliefs, the state government also sought direction to declare Governor Khan's action of reserving a total of seven bills, including these four, for the consideration of the President, as "illegal".
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MediaOne TV Facebook page restored after block linked to ‘government request’
Kochi: The official Facebook page of Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV has been restored after being blocked without prior notice, the broadcaster said on Wednesday.
The channel was quoted by Maktoob as saying that the restriction was lifted automatically, with Meta Platforms informing it that the action had been taken following a “government request” which has now expired or been reversed.
The development came shortly after the channel approached the Kerala High Court challenging the blocking of its page, terming it arbitrary and in violation of legal provisions and judicial precedents. The High Court had issued notice to Meta via email hours before the restriction was withdrawn.
In its petition, the channel said access to its Facebook page had been restricted for users in India without citing any specific content or alleged violation. It contended that while individual posts may be taken down under applicable a rule, blocking an entire page goes beyond the scope of such measures.
The incident followed an earlier action taken against the channel in 2022, when the Ministry of Information and transmitting prohibited it from transmitting. It cited national security concerns regarding the Ministry of Home Affairs' refusal of security clearance.
The Supreme Court of India in April 2023 set aside the ban, observing that national security claims cannot be made without substantive basis and that criticism of government policies does not render a media outlet anti-national.
