Congress to approach High Court against CPM's MM Mani for anti-woman remarks

KOCHI: The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala decided to take legal action against the alleged anti-woman remarks in a speech made by state electricity minister MM Mani, a CPM leader.

This was decided at the UDF parliamentary party meeting held at Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. UDF parliamentary party secretary PT Thomas will file a separate petition against Mani in the Kerala High Court.

Speaking at the state assembly, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said the UDF would also continue its campaign against Mani until he resigned from the state cabinet.


The UDF will continue to boycott the minister both inside and outside the assembly, Chennithala said. But it will not stall proceedings in the house as many important decisions are pending before it.Congress president MM Hassan said there was something mysterious about the way chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan was giving protection to Mani.

Indirectly referring to the way Vijayan defended Mani inside the assembly – the CM had said Mani was misunderstood because of his “rustic” style of speech – Hassan asked then why the CPM took disciplinary action against the minister for the same speech. Mani had said he would not change his style as did not know any other style of speech. Mani’s alleged unsavoury remarks against ‘Pempilai Orumai’, the union of woman tea estate workers, had led to a protest strike by the workers against the minister. Several political parties and women’s organisations had also condemned Mani’s comments.