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Line between religion, state getting thinner: Kerala CM as Ram temple inaugurated
On the day the idol of Ram Lalla was unveiled at the temple in Ayodhya, several temples in Kerala witnessed special poojas, offerings and recitation of bhajans.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Monday that the line demarcating religion and state in India seemed to be getting thinner and thinner, reacting to the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“As our first Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru has often opined, Indian secularism means the separation of religion and state. We even have a strong tradition of maintaining that separation. However, of late, the line that demarcates religion and state seems to be getting thinner and thinner. This is a major departure from the times when our constitutional office bearers have been cautioned from taking part in religious events, as it would cast aspersions on our credentials as a secular state,” the CM said in a statement.
The chief minister, referring to the Ayodhya temple’s consecration ceremony, said it was being celebrated as a state event and thus exhorted the public to remain committed to the Constitution’s secular credentials by declining to participate in it.
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“Most of us have been invited to participate in the rituals, by the trust in charge of it. As those who have pledged to preserve and protect our Constitution, let us reaffirm our commitment to its secular character, by declining to participate in the event, upholding our Constitutional responsibilities,” Vijayan, whose party the CPI(M) was one of the first to decline the invitation of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, underlined.
The Kerala CM stressed that religion is a private affair and that all persons in the country have the right to freely profess, practice, and propagate religion.
“As those who have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution of India, we ought to ensure that every person within our territories enjoys this right in equal measure. At the same time, we cannot be promoting one religion above all others, or demean one religion beneath every other,” he said.
Meanwhile, on a day the idol of Ram Lalla was unveiled at the temple in Ayodhya amid much fanfare, several temples in Kerala witnessed special poojas and offerings and recitation of bhajans by devotees on Monday.
The chief priest of the Sree Rama temple in Thriprayar in Thrissur district, which was visited by PM Modi last week, said special offerings were made to the deity, and in the evening, over 1 lakh lamps will be lit in the temple premises.
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“In the morning, inside the sanctum sanctorum, we arranged ‘sampoorna ney vilakku’ (ghee lamps) along with offering ‘paal payasam’ (a kind of sweet rice and milk pudding) to Lord Ram and ‘avil nivedyam’ (an offering made of flattened rice) to Lord Hanuman. In the evening, there will be special ‘deepalankaram’ in the temple premises with over 1 lakh lamps,” said Ravi Namboothiri, the chief priest.
While Governor Arif Muhammad Khan witnessed the Ayodhya ceremony on a big screen at a temple in Thiruvananthapuram, state BJP chief K Surendran was present at the famous Ramapuram Sree Rama temple in Kottayam district.
“The larger public of Kerala have dismissed the stand of the Congress and the Communists on the Ram temple. Both parties took the political stand asking people not to attend the ceremony or cooperate with it. It was unfortunate. But the devotees have rejected it,” said Surendran.
Actor Unni Mukundan, whom the BJP is wooing ostensibly to contest on its ticket in the Lok Sabha elections this year, lit a lamp in front of a photograph of Lord Ram on the sets of a film on Monday.
