Thiruvananthapuram: BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan on Friday said that his party had not insulted writer M T Vasudevan Nair for his comments over the impact of demonetisation.
Talking to the media here, Kummanam said that BJP and the writer were expressing their own views on the matter.
“The BJP was just expressing its opinion. Nobody should forget that minister Thomas Isaac had slammed actor Mohanlal for his comments on demonetisation. There is no issues when the criticism is from the CPI-M. That is not right. Everyone has freedom of expression,” the BJP leader said.
The BJP had attacked M T, a Jnanpith award winning, for his comments over the impact of demonetisation, questioning his motive and expertise to speak on the issue.
MT had said that common man faced a lot of problems on account of the Centre s demonetisation drive.
BJP state General Secretary A N Radhakrishnan hit out at him saying on what basis he made the remark. "He is no economist to react to the growing need for a cashless currency in the country. It could be understood if A Sethumadhavan, another writer who is a retired bank man, had given his opinion about demonetisation", he said.
He also said the writer 'kept mum' when when CPI(M) dissident leader T P Chandrasekharan was hacked to death and when 'triple talaq' was a raging issue.
BJP's attack drew a sharp response from state Finance Minister Thomas Isaac who likened it to a kind of threatening. "It is like only the BJP will decide on who is to speak and what to speak in the state. It is a kind of threatening," he told reporters.