“Some people remind me of my caste quite often. Yes, I am the son of a toddy tapper. My brothers were engaged in toddy tapping. So there are some people who believe that they should only do those jobs. What can we say about them? Those times are over. These are modern times. It’s good if these people can understand that.”
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told media when a journalist asked about casteist insults by BJP/RSS leaders at him.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who belongs to the Ezhava community, on Thursday said that people continued to talk about his caste.
On Wednesday, BJP state vice-president M Sivarajan had asked Pinarayi Vijayan to go climb coconut trees if he did not deem himself capable of protecting the traditions at Sabarimala. The comment was a crass dig at the Ezhava community who were traditionally engaged in plucking coconuts and tapping toddy trees.
Last week, a cartoon on the BJP mouthpiece Janmabhumi newspaper had similarly published at the chief minister using his caste. The Janmabhumi newspaper had portrayed two men discussing the privilege motion against chief minister for planning the “women’s wall” on the Sabarimala issue. The caption read: “This is what will happen if power is given to someone who should climb coconut trees.
