Kasargod, Aug 29: A Kerala minister is in the eye of a storm over his remarks that lighting of lamps and singing of religious hymns at government programmes and functions at schools should be avoided.
"Our Constitution has no religion or caste.So there is no need to light 'nilavilakku' (traditional lamps) during the inauguration of the government programmes or at functions of schools," said Public Works minister G Sudhakaran while inaugurating a seminar,'Namukku Jathiyilla' (We are not caste driven) at Muthukulam in Alappuzha district last evening.
The senior CPI(M) leader said that the state government does not subscribe to any particular caste or religion.
The minister also claimed that he had recently seen a girl student reciting a prayer in praise of a goddess at a school function.
"Though it was inappropriate,singing of religious prayers and lighting of traditional lamps had become a common practice during official functions in the state now-a-days," he added.
He also suggested that patriotic songs be sung during public functions, instead of religious hymns.
Reacting to his remarks, several people trolled the minister on the social media.
Health Minister K K Shylaja, another senior member in the Pinarayi Vijayan government, had also courted controversy recently by voicing displeasure against the recitation of Sanskrit hymns during a yoga demonstration, organised in connection with the International Yoga Day on June 21.
The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
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What he said is 100% right. We are in a secular democratic country where the government will have any religion and which will allow its citizens to practice/preach or not to practice any particular religion
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