The postponement of poet Ayyappan's funeral to Tuesday following the intervention of the Kerala culture minister M A Baby has created furore in the state with several writers and thinkers coming out against the state government's decision.

Baby had told the press that the postponement was due to the second phase of polling which was slated for Monday and that as seven districts were going to polls, several of Ayyappan's friends who would have wanted to take attend the funeral would not be able to come .

Poet Ayyappan who was famous for his bohemian life style passed away at Thiruvannathapuram general hospital after he was found unconscious on the road side on Friday.

Paul Zacariah, writer and journalist said that the State government had insulted a person like Ayyappan who had led a bohemian life style and who was a wanderer. He said that  it was not a major task for Ayyappan's friends to afford the funeral charge of the electric crematorium in Kerala.