Kozhikode: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has issued a clarification regarding the incident in which he told media personnel to “get out”. He explained that his remark was directed at those who had gone to a place where they had not been invited. One should only go where one is called, and it is not appropriate to be present in a place without invitation, the Chief Minister said.

“One should not go and sit where one is not called,” he emphasised. “If you sit there like that, instead of politely asking you to ‘please step outside’, I might have said, ‘get out’. That’s all,” he added.

The instruction telling journalists to “get out” occurred during a peace meeting held between the Chief Minister and BJP leaders in Thiruvananthapuram on July 31, 2017. The meeting was convened on the Governor’s direction following clashes between CPM and BJP/RSS at the time. On realising that media personnel were inside the room where the discussion was taking place, the Chief Minister asked everyone to leave. As the journalists were exiting, he told them sternly to “get out”.

For the current local body elections, the UDF had launched a campaign referring to this episode with the slogan “Ambalakkallanmaar (tainted people), get out”. It is following this that the Chief Minister has now offered a clarification regarding the old incident.