The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has been forced to cancel the motivational talk event, which was scheduled for Friday. The event was to be addressed by a spiritual leader Sri M, who was once called a “secular spiritual leader” who does not stand for a particular religion, by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The event was planned to help employees de-stress after a section of the staff decided to boycott the event. In the past too, the Board had gone back when Brahmakumaris were invited for a talk with the female employees was marred with protests and the event got cancelled.

An online meeting held on Wednesday by the KSEB Workers Association (KSEBWA), affiliated with CITU, issued a statement opposing the move to invite a spiritual guru to a government firm. It asked the KSEB authorities to withdraw from the unilateral decision, threatening to boycott the event if they do not comply. KSEBWA released a statement which said that the Board had gone back on such decisions in the past when Brahmakumaris were invited for a talk with the female employees, cancelling the event over protests.

The employees’ association pointed out that it was inappropriate to invite a spiritual guru who follows a particular belief, to a public sector firm like the KSEB where employees of different faiths work together.

Incidentally, Sri M was the mediator of the peace talks between the CPI(M) and RSS when political violence escalated last year.

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