Shamseer invokes Sree Narayana Guru in clash with SNDP Yogam chief Natesan

A.N. Shamseer has responded to SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan's recent attack with a pointed Facebook post invoking Sree Narayana Guru, accusing those with "new purse-strings" of betraying the reformer's legacy.

The former Assembly Speaker shared an image of Sree Narayana Guru alongside text stating that "Gurudevan, who gave meaning to Advaita, is writhing and dying in the laps of those carrying new purse-strings". The post was widely interpreted as an indirect criticism of Natesan's stewardship of the Yogam, the organisation founded to uphold Sree Narayana Guru's principles of secularism and anti-communalism.

Political sparring escalates

The social media riposte follows Natesan's public attack on the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader days earlier. Natesan had alleged that Shamseer possessed "the mindset of the Indian Union Muslim League" rather than a communist background.

The CPI(M) has rallied behind Shamseer in the face of Natesan's remarks. Party State secretary M.V. Govindan publicly rejected the characterisation, asserting that it is not up to Natesan to decide who Shamseer is and strongly dismissing the SNDP leader's comments about the senior party figure.

The exchange marks the latest chapter in tensions between the SNDP Yogam leadership and the CPI(M), with Shamseer's invocation of Sree Narayana Guru's philosophical legacy positioning the dispute as one over the reformer's true inheritors. By framing Natesan's leadership as a departure from Guru's ideals, Shamseer has turned the controversy into a battle over cultural and political legitimacy within Keralam's Ezhava community.

Source: The Hindu