A day after former Minister and Kerala Congress (B) leader K.B. Ganesh Kumar launched a scathing attack on Nair Service Society (NSS) general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair, the latter hit back on Wednesday (August 12, 2026), accusing Mr. Kumar of “acting as a tail of those seeking to destroy the community organisation.”

Responding to Mr. Kumar’s allegations of a lack of democracy within the NSS, Mr. Nair said he was free to approach the court if he had any grievance. “There are several people going around filing cases with the intention of destroying the NSS. Ganesh Kumar is now speaking as their mouthpiece,” he said.

Mr. Nair, who said he had been associated with the NSS for 64 years, asserted that he had done nothing wrong and that no appointments had been made illegally by the organisation.

He said Mr. Kumar had begun questioning the democratic functioning of the NSS only after losing the positions he held in the organisation. “I did not come here illegally. I was elected through a democratic process. Even in the latest election, there was no one to oppose me,” Mr. Nair said.

Defends policy of equidistance

He also refused to be drawn into a debate over Mr. Kumar’s other actions, saying “people were watching us closely” and also defended the NSS’s policy of maintaining equidistance from political parties.

Referring to the controversy over the denial of permission for the Vice-President of India to enter the Mannam Samadhi, Mr. Nair clarified that the objection was only to the demand for bringing a dog inside the premises for security inspection.

On Tuesday, Mr. Kumar had alleged that the organisation founded by Mannathu Padmanabhan had been “hijacked by a few parasites and turned into a family fiefdom.” He had also alleged that appointments had been given to 43 members of a single family and questioned the NSS’s equidistance policy.

The latest war of words comes after the NSS dissolved its Pathanapuram taluk union committee in Kollam, headed by Mr. Kumar since 2021, in March this year.

Published - August 12, 2026 01:02 pm IST