Kerala’s Transport Minister C.P. John on Wednesday (August 5, 2026) apologised for appearing to suggest that women faked poverty to avail themselves of free-of-charge travel on Kerala State Road Transport Corporation’s (KSRTC) ordinary class buses under the United Democratic Front (UDF) government’s flagship Priyadarshini Free Travel (Women Empowerment) Scheme.

Mr John’s remark on Monday had unleashed a wave of social criticism, which threatened to submerge the UDF’s political pivot towards women empowerment, a main talking point in the ruling alliance’s 2026 Assembly election manifesto.

His comments had also sparked intense attacks against the UDF government from Opposition parties, with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing the UDF of slighting women by implying that they were trying to scrounge off the social security scheme.

It also seemed not to help Mr John that the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, had announced the key promise in the UDF manifesto at a high-profile rally during the heated campaign phase of the 2026 Assembly elections. Several Congress leaders had suggested that Mr John should have been more circumspect in his statements, especially those that risked making the UDF government’s social security programmes appear to be demeaning “almsgiving” exercises.

Notably, Mr John’s controversial remarks came at the State conference of the Kerala Bus Transport Association (KBTA), a trade body of private bus owners in the State, which vehemently opposes ticketless travel for women on KSRTC buses, citing a crippling drop in ticket collection revenues, in Palakkad on Monday.

The CPI(M) also accused Mr John of pandering to private bus owners’ interests. The CPI(M) alleged that the Priyadarshini scheme was “an election stunt, whose utility had expired after the polls.”

‘I have no false ego’

On Wednesday, Mr John told news reporters that he “should have been more cautious” at the meeting. “I was casual. It was a small conference, and there were no mainstream mediapersons present. I should not have said what I said, and if anyone felt distressed, I apologise to them publicly. I have no false ego”, he added.

Mr John said he sought to “make a political point” that poverty existed in Kerala, despite some entities (the previous LDF dispensation) claiming they had eradicated extreme privation.

On Tuesday, Mr John had clarified that he had attempted to spotlight “the poignancy of economic hardship and sadness of daily deprivations of life” faced by a large segment of homemakers in Kerala by pointing out that many chose to travel free on KSRTC buses to scrimp their meagre earnings for educating their children, “even in expensive private schools”.

Mr John said the UDF would not go back on its election manifesto promise and would “surprise naysayers” who claim that the free travel scheme was on a death spiral. He also denied that Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan had persuaded him to render a public apology.

Published - August 05, 2026 10:41 am IST