Vellappally Natesan, a leader from Kerala’s Hindu Ezhava community, on Sunday said that girls and boys sitting together in classrooms was “against Indian culture” and “breeds anarchy”, PTI reported.

“We have a culture of our own,” he said. “We are not living in America or England. Our culture does not accept boys and girls hugging and sitting together. You do not see this happening in educational institutions of Christians and Muslims.”

He added that children sitting together or hugging was dangerous and because of these reasons colleges run by Hindu organisations were not getting good grades and funds from the University Grants Commission.

Natesan, the general secretary of Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam that manages education institutions, made the comments while responding to reporters’ questions on Kerala’s gender-neutral school uniforms.

He said that the ruling Left Democratic Front was sending a wrong message by backing down on its gender-neutral uniform policy.

On August 24, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the government has no intention to impose gender-neutral uniforms in school, The Hindu reported. The development came after some Muslim organisations said that the gender-neutral uniforms interfered with religious conventions.

The organisation were also against girls and boys sitting together in classrooms.

On Sunday, Natesan also said that it was unfortunate that the Kerala government was succumbing to religious pressure despite calling itself secular, PTI reported.