By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : A remark credited to Kerala Food and Civil Supplies Minister C. Divakaran has led to a novel protest from the Congress, offering people free eggs, milk and chicken in the capital Sunday.
A group of Youth Congress activists turned up in front of the State Secretariat and distributed eggs, a glass of milk and chicken fry to passers-by.
“The minister is a shame to Kerala. He must resign immediately. We are protesting against what he said on Thursday. A kilogram of rice now costs Rs.20. He has failed to ensure proper supplies at cheap rates, and then he asks people to have an egg, a glass of milk and also chicken curry,” said Abhilash, a Youth Congress office-bearer.
Divakaran of the Communist Party of India (CPI) allegedly said in Trissur Thursday: “People of Kerala should change their diet and replace rice with an egg, a glass of milk and chicken curry.”
State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala said this was an irresponsible statement from a minister and he should step down.
“Does he know what he is talking about? It is sad that we have a minister who speaks like this,” said Chennithala.
On Saturday, activists of a Kozhikode-based NGO offered to people milk, eggs and chicken.
Divakaran has been under fire from several quarters as the price of rice in open market has gone beyond Rs.20 for a kilogram.
Divakaran, however, denied he ever made the statement.
“I was inaugurating a cattle and poultry farmers’ meet and I only advised the farmers that they should produce more eggs and milk because Kerala imports 400 crores (4 billion) eggs a year from Tamil Nadu and three lakh (300,000) litres of milk every day from neighbouring states,” he said.
“My statement was misquoted by some. What I meant to tell the farmers was they need not be worried about the market if they produce more,” Divakaran told IANS.
“Kerala is a huge market, so I said they should not worry because people in Kerala will surely consume eggs, milk and meat.”
The minister added that he was visiting Andhra Pradesh to finalise purchase of 20,000 tones of rice.