Thiruvananthapuram: Chengannur MLA and CPM state committee member Saji Cherian triggered a row after he said that politicians should retire by the age of 55 in a Facebook post.

His own party took objection to the statement and said that Saji had erred by putting up such a comment on social media.

Saji had put up the Facebook post on July 28, in which he said that he was 55 years old and this should be the age limit for those contesting elections.

The state committee meet, in which Saji also took part, pointed out that this was a needless comment at an inopportune moment. Saji too conceded that he had made a mistake.

The FB post triggered a series of debates, with some supporting the thought while others opposed it.

After CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan expressed his displeasure, the FB post was withdrawn and an explanatory note given the next day.

As the post was withdrawn, no action would be taken against Saji, according to party sources. The CPM has not set any such age limit. If Saji wanted to put forth such a suggestion, he should have done so in the state committee.

However, Saji replied that he merely wanted to initiate a discussion on giving more opportunities to the new generation and this was misconstrued.

Not alert enough on social media

The meet observed that the party members are not cautious enough while putting up posts on social media.

Steps will be taken at the organisational-level to curb needless comments on social media platforms. The party units will flag any violation of the central committee’s directives against making comments on social media that are not in line with the party policies. The move comes as the party is embroiled in a controversy over the cyber-attack against the journalists.