Opposition's protest in Kerala Assembly against M M Mani's remarks continues

When the question hour commenced at 9 AM, they placed placards in front of their seats. The placards read 'it was not fate' and 'it was a decision of the party court'

Congress-led UDF Opposition on Monday continued their protest in the Kerala Assembly against CPI(M) legislator M M Mani's controversial remarks against a woman MLA and the ruling front stand on the issue, by placing placards in front of their seats in the House. When the question hour commenced at 9 am, there was no shouting of slogans or entering of the well of the House by the opposition to disrupt proceedings of the assembly and instead they placed placards in front of their seats.

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The placards read "it was not fate" and "it was a decision of the party court", in apparent reference to the killing of T P Chandrasekharan, a CPI(M) rebel, who was hacked to death in May 2012 after he floated a parallel Left outfit called the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) in his home turf Onchiayam in north Kerala. Mani, recently in the assembly, had said that Chandrasekharan's wife became a widow "as it was her fate" and that neither the Left front nor the CPI(M) had anything to do with his killing.

Deputy Speaker Chittayam Gopakumar asked the opposition members to remove the placards, saying the same was in violation of the rules of conduct in the assembly. However, the opposition members did not remove the placards from their seats.