Thrissur/Thiruvananthapuram: “When the comrade got up after finishing his meal, my wife and I stopped him, saying it wasn’t necessary. But he said that washing his own plate is his habit and walked into the kitchen area. After hearing that, we didn’t object. In fact, we felt respect,” said Naushad Karukappadam and his wife Rahmath, the hosts, as CPM General Secretary M A Baby’s ‘dish-washing’ became a topic of discussion and trolling on social media.

M A Baby, who arrived in Kodungallur on Monday as part of the CPM’s house-to-house visit, had lunch at the Azhikkode home of Naushad, a district panchayat member. After Baby washed his plate, others who got up followed suit and did the same. “If this change happened in every home, it would be a happy thing,” said Naushad’s wife Rahmath.

Allegations of election tactic

Some opposition social media groups seized on Baby washing plate, alleging it was an election tactic. In response, Left leaders came out in support of Baby. Washing one’s own plate is a matter of culture, and those mocking it should at least flip through a first-grade textbook, said Minister V Sivankutty. “Baby not only knows how to wash dishes, he also knows how to cook. Some people think washing dishes, doing laundry, cooking, cleaning the house and such tasks are inferior. Doing one’s own work is never inferior; it’s a great virtue. Boys learning cooking and dish-washing is part of good culture. No matter who washes it, a plate won’t take offence,” he said.

Baby also washes his own plate at home and in other familiar places, and they are proud of it, his wife Betty Baby wrote in a Facebook post.