THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The opposition created a furore in the assembly, seeking an apology over the tasteless remarks of SC/ST and law minister A K
Balan about the infant deaths in Attappadi.
Raising the issue as a point of order, opposition member P T
Thomas
said that Balan's comments should be removed from the assembly records. He added that such comments are a shame for the Malayali community as a whole.
Balan replied that when he gave the reply in the assembly, no one had raised any objection. It was after some people raised criticism in the social media that the opposition and the mainstream media took up the issue. He said that the video recording of his comments can be examined by the speaker and the opposition leader in this regard.
Meanwhile, opposition leader
Ramesh Chennithala
said that the minister should render apology for his comments. Protesting the minister's stance of not withdrawing his comments, the opposition staged a walk-out. Meanwhile, Hibi Eden's notice for the breach of privilege over the same issue was set aside by speaker
P Sreeramakrishnan
to be considered later.
Replying to a question in the assembly on Friday, Balan said that only four infant deaths had been reported in the last three months. He also had passed the responsibility on to the UDF government. "One of them got pregnant during your time and she had abortion recently. I'm not responsible for that. Another had a valve complaint, she also got pregnant during your time and has delivered a child now," the minister had casually remarked.
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