Spine in common non-medical parlance is byword for spunk or courage or strength of character. To accuse someone of not possessing one is the height of insult.
On Wednesday, when Speaker A N Shamseer refused even Opposition Leader V D Satheesan a chance to speak a few words, the Opposition UDF were apparently aghast. "No Speaker had ever done this," UDF members shouted. There were angry shouts at the Speaker from right under his podium but Shamseer looked the other way like it was beneath his dignity to even cast a glance at the Opposition.
The ruling members would have found this a spine-full feat by the Speaker.
But the UDF felt thoroughly thwarted. Congress's young Angamaly MLA Roji M John, who was already before the wooden frame of the podium, abandoned all decorum and monkeyed himself up to come face to face with the Speaker.
It was not just an impulsive move of an aggressive young Congress MLA. It was strategic, too. At that moment the Speaker was talking and his mike was on. When Roji came eye to eye with Shamseer, he had access to the Speaker's mike from the other side. "If you are the Speaker, you should show some spine. You should not remain a mere slave of Pinarayi," he shouted.
Realising that he was heard loud and clear, his angry voice amplified by the Speaker's mike, Roji repeatedly called the Speaker spineless.
At that precise moment, it was PWD minister P A Muhammad Riyas's turn to address the House. He came to the Speaker's defence: "Don't listen to what these spineless Opposition members are saying, sir. They have replaced their spine with banana stem. Don't listen to them, sir," he said to loud desk thumping by the ruling members. By then Roji had done enough damage. The Speaker looked clearly uneasy though he refrained from issuing any warning.
The spine challenge spilled outside the hall. Opposition Leader V D Satheesan, while talking to reporters in the Media Room of the Assembly, thought Riyas's remarks were outrageous.
He even got a bit personal. "What right has a person who became a minister under the management quota to insult the Opposition," he said.
It is not clear what Satheesan meant. By management he perhaps meant the CPM management led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. He was probably hinting that Riyas was made minister because he was the son-in-law of the Chief Minister.
Later, Riyas said it was Satheesan's ego that was talking. "I think he has a feeling that he became the Opposition Leader through the backdoor and it is this inferiority that he is taking out on us," Riyas said.
Since it all began with a mention of the spine, the PWD minister referred to Satheesan's spine in terms that are normally reserved for gold or land.
He said the Opposition Leader's spine, which was as flexible as banana stem, was pawned with the RSS. "He did not utter a word when the Union Budget was presented or when the price of LPG was increased nor did he allow other Congress leaders to speak against these RSS atrocities," Riyas said. "He is performing just the way the BJP wants and has betrayed the secular-minded Congress workers," he said.
Now, where he to leave it at this, Satheesan would really be possessing a spine of banana stem.
