Chandy hits out at VS for branding him an RSS follower

Lambasting opposition leader V S Achuthanandan for 'branding' him as an RSS follower, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today said it was during the Left rule that two government employees had been dismissed from service for indulging in their creative pursuits.
Chandy said he had only tried to bring in more clarity to the existing order, which mandates that prior permission should be taken by employees for pursuing artistic endeavours.
The controverial order was frozen on November 23 after it created a furore.
The CPI(M) leader had hit out at the Chief Minister, alleging that by issuing the order, Chandy had proved that he was a follower of the RSS.

Chandy said he had only tried to bring in more clarity to an order that was in existence since 1960.
"If I had agreed to the findings in that file and just signed it, then it would have been what Kerala had witnessed in the five year rule of LDF and I would not have been branded as an RSS man," Chandy told reporters here.

However, since he had disagreed and tried to improve things, Chandy said he had been dubbed an 'RSS man'.
"It is only to bring more clarity in the already existing conditions with regard to the creative activities of the government employees that the order was issued," he said.

Chandy said cartoonist P K Manthri, a government employee was suspended by the EMS Namboodripad government in 1969 for his cartoons lampooning the government and V G Menon, a scientist, was sacked from the post of ANERT director for penning an aritcle criticising the LDF government.
Describing the order as an infringement on their creative independence, government employees under the banner of Joint council of state service organisations, had taken out a march to the Secretariat wearing black ribbons tied to their mouths.
As per the order issued recently by the Personnel and Administratiive Reforms Department, government employees who wish to publish a book would have to give it in writing details of the publisher, the persons who writes the preface, besides even the price of the book.

Curbs had also been laid on publishing of essays, writing research papers, being part of news and feature programmes in television channels, private radio programmes, game shows, film programmes, televised sports competitions, amateur drama.
The order had also mandated the employees give an affidavit stating that there was no anti national content and criticism of government's policies were there in the book.