Case against Mamkootathil: Congress distances itself from party mouthpiece’s editorial defending MLA

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has firmly disowned an editorial in Veekshanam, its Congress’ official mouthpiece in Kerala, after it publicly backed suspended Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil. KPCC president Sunny Joseph said on Saturday that the article contradicted the party’s authorised stand and had been ordered to be corrected immediately.

Why the editorial sparked controversy

Sunny Joseph said the content published under the headline ‘Pappam cheyyathavar kallleriyatte’ (“Let the one who has not sinned be the one to throw stones.”) should never have appeared in the party’s mouthpiece. He stressed that the editorial did not reflect Congress policy or its collective decision-making.

The piece had argued that Mamkootathil was the target of a political conspiracy. It also attacked the CPM, alleging the party was using “a drop of cowdung on Congress’ shirt to deliver moral sermons”. The editorial further claimed that false sexual allegations against rivals had become the CPM’s “diarrhoea and vomiting” during elections.

KPCC reiterates suspension was a collective call

Addressing speculation, Sunny Joseph dismissed suggestions that the suspension of Mamkootathil was a unilateral move by him or Opposition Leader V.D. Satheesan. “It was a decision taken collectively by the top leadership of the Congress in Kerala. No one disagreed with it,” he said.

He added that once the leadership recognised that the editorial contradicted the party’s decision, instructions were issued to rectify it without delay.