Nair Service Society: ‘Hate speech’ sparks controversy in Kerala

The purported audio clip of the speech, apparently made at a local NSS meeting at Kollam’s Pathanapuram Saturday, came out on Monday.

Kerala Congress (B) chairman and leader of the Nair Service Society, R Balakrishna Pillai has landed in a controversy over his alleged hate speech against Muslims and Christians. Pillai’s son K B Ganesh Kumar is an MLA backing the LDF government.

The purported audio clip of the speech, apparently made at a local NSS meeting at Kollam’s Pathanapuram Saturday, came out on Monday.

“In Thiruvananthapuram, I am staying in the party office. In the past, I hadn’t seen Muslims in Thampanoor area, where there had only been Nairs,’’ he purportedly says in the clip.

Referring to the call to prayer from a mosque five times a day, he purportedly goes on to say that “there is barking of the dog five times a day” from a mosque that has opened nearby.

“In the past there was only one church at Palayam. Now, there are many. They come from Thiruvalla, Chenganoor.. Once they reach, they build a church. Whereas… we (Nairs) do not join NSS,’’ he allegedly said.

Pillai has not denied the audio clip, but claimed that he did not want to insult any religion. “ I meant it is necessary to make more local units of NSS. Don’t exactly remember what I said,” he said.

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