Thiruvananthapuram: Finally, after repeatedly refusing to apologise, CPM's Udumbanchola MLA and former power minister M M Mani withdrew his remark against RMP MLA K K Rema.
"I had said that Rema's widowhood was her fate. As a communist I should not have said such a thing. I withdraw the sentence," Mani told the Assembly on Wednesday.
Besides the fate remark, Mani had also said that his party was not responsible for what happened to Rema's husband, T P Chandrasekharan.
Mani was responding to Speaker M B Rajesh's appeal to his better judgment.
"It is the Chair's considered opinion that a wrong idea is inherent in Mani's speech. What he said does not sit well with progressive values," the Speaker said in his ruling.
However, he said that as per Assembly rules explicitly unparliamentary remarks were removed by the Speaker but others that are not unparliamentary but still offensive would have to be withdrawn by the member himself.
The Speaker also gave the example of Congress MLA M Vincent who withdrew a comparison he had made after CPM MLA Kanathil Jameela called it anti-women and offensive.
"The Chair hopes that Mani, on the basis of the observations made by the Chair, would withdraw the improper remarks he had made," the Speaker said.
Right after the Speaker's ruling, Mani stood up and said he respected the Chair's observations and went on to withdraw his remarks. "I had no intention of insulting anyone," he added.
The Speaker in his ruling said that even if unparliamentary words were not used, certain remarks could be considered improper and unacceptable.
"Even words and phrases that were used commonly some time ago are considered unspeakable now. The meaning of words and their roots are formed in a social context. The same word will not hold the same meaning in a different social context. Words represent the value system that holds good at the moment," the Speaker said.
He then hinted that Mani's remarks originated from a feudal mindset. "The words and usages of a feudal past is anathema to the value system of a modern democratic system. This is why the proverbs, jokes and local usages that were once used universally had become obsolete and unusable," the Speaker said.
He then listed a set of human conditions that cannot be ridiculed, made fun of or undermined: A person's colour, physical limitations, occupation, family background, caste, religion, gender peculiarities and conditions of life. Making jokes out of such human conditions, the Speaker said was primitive. Chauvinist declarations, too, he termed as primitive.
"There is a growing realisation that such remarks are to be avoided for the growth of the society and the expansion of the democratic spirit," the Speaker said, and added: "However, many people's representatives are yet to understand these changes."
