Correct distance within equidistance

CHANGANASERRY: NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair and president P K Narayana Panicker have said that the stance adopted by the organisation in the recent Assembly polls was a ‘correct distance within equidistance’, based on a protest against the style of functioning of the then Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan.“It was nothing personal or even political but against his style adopted in public on various issues. It was not against the LDF either,” they said. However, they added that the stance might have benefited the UDF. “It is true that the UDF had gained from such a stance. But, it was not the duty of the NSS to ensure the victory of UDF,” they claimed and said that the leaders of the front, especially the Congress, had recognised it. “But, they are unwilling to admit it may be owing to the community equations prevailing in the state”, they said while addressing a joint news conference along the sidelines of the NSS Budget meet here on Saturday.When pointed out that the UDF leaders were trying to be too secular even after gathering the support of the NSS in various polls, the leaders ridiculed that it may be owing to the ‘large-heartedness’ of such leaders. “It is good if they openly stated that they were the benefactors of the NSS stance. Again, it is for themselves to do it,” they said. They also maintained that the NSS would continue to maintain an issue-based stance like the one adopted in the granting of NOC’s for CBSE/ICSE schools, without looking at who is in power. On a thinking piloted by the Left camp that it was improper for community organisations to interfere in politics, Sukumaran Nair said the NSS also attested to it but asked whether a community alone can remain silent when all other communities were playing to have their pound of flesh. On the rating of the Oommen Chandy government, they said that it is too early to comment on it.