'Metroman' E Sreedharan comes under attack from Left over images of voters washing, touching his feet

"Metro Man" E Sreedharan, the BJP candidate from Palakkad in the April 6 assembly polls, came under attack from the Left parties on Saturday after images of voters washing and touching his feet during his campaign went viral on the social media Sreedharan defended the act, saying they were expressing their respect towards him in the traditional Indian way.

CPI leader and Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam criticised the technocrat, saying it spoke volumes about the direction in which the BJP was taking the country.

The images circulated widely on the social media showed the voters receiving Sreedharan washing and touching his feet.


In one picture, a voter was seen kneeling before him, while another visual showed women touching his feet.

Asked about the controversy, Sreedharan said the images were clicked when he was being welcomed in a traditional Indian way.

Slamming his critics, the 88-year-old candidate said, "It is our Indian tradition. What is wrong with it? They were expressing their respect. They were not worshipping (me)."

Attacking Sreedharan, Viswam alleged that the technocrat "glorified" the act of washing his feet.

"He is saying it is Indian tradition. This is an example of the direction in which the BJP is taking our country, the political system and democratic values," he told reporters.

The CPI leader said India had looked at Sreedharan as "a torchbearer of modern technology", but he changed after entering into the "prison of the politics of the BJP and RSS".

Launching his campaign earlier this week, Sreedharan had said BJP is fighting the polls on the plank of development.

Sitting MLA Shafi Parambil of the Congress and CPI(M)'s C P Pramod are his main rivals in the election.