Image Courtesy:barandbench.com
Retired Kerala High Court judges P N Ravindran and V Chitambaresh and 18 others, including several Mahila Congress workers, have joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), reported The New Indian Express.
According to Bar & Bench, Justice Ravindran served as a Judge of the Kerala High Court from 2007 to 2018, and Justice Chitambaresh was elevated to the High Court in 2011 and served as a High Court judge until 2019, when he retired.
Justice V Chitambaresh, while speaking to TNIE, said, “I have been a fellow traveller of the BJP. Now, I have officially embraced the party. I couldn’t attend the function in Kochi as I am in Delhi.”
The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman welcomed them into the party in the presence of BJP Kerala State President K Surendran at the function held to accord reception to ‘Vijaya Yatra’ at Tripunithura, reported different media outlets.
In 2019, Justice V Chitambaresh had received criticism for his alleged casteist remarks at a Tamil Brahmin’s Global Meet in Kochi by Kerala Brahmana Mahasabha. He called Brahmins ‘twice born’ and described some characteristics of Brahmans saying that they have “clean habits, lofty thinking, sterling character, mostly a vegetarian, a lover of Carnatic music” and basically “all good qualities rolled into one”.
Though he said that it may not be proper for him to express any opinion, he called on the Brahman community to agitate for economic reservation saying that there is a platform for Brahmins to “agitate or to voice their concern about economic reservation alone, and not caste or communal reservation.”
He said, “Of course, there is a 10% reservation for economically backward classes. A son of a Brahman cook, even if he falls within the non-creamy layer zone, will not get any reservation. Whereas, a son of a timber merchant who belongs to other backward communities will get reservation if he is within the non-creamy layer zone. I am not expressing any opinion at all; it is for you to deliberate and put forward your opinion.”
Related: