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Sabarimala stir looms over Kerala poll battle
Having learnt a bitter lesson in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in which it lost all but one of 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the ruling CPIM-led Left Democratic Front is worried --- unrest in Sabarimala was cited as main reason for its rout in those elections.
With less than a week left for crucial assembly elections in Kerala the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) is busy with its house-to-house contact programme to apprise believers of the “real situation in Sabarimala” even as people living around the revered shrine are disillusioned with the politics over the issue.
Having learnt a bitter lesson in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in which it lost all but one of 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the ruling CPIM-led Left Democratic Front is worried --- unrest in Sabarimala was cited as main reason for its rout in those elections.
The hill temple and surrounding areas witnessed unrest in 2018 after the state government tried to implement the Supreme Court verdict that removed restrictions on women between the ages of 10 and 50 entering the shrine. The state witnessed five shutdowns and two persons died in violence that rocked the state. Both the Congress (its grouping, the United Democratic Front is the main opposition in the state) and the Bharatiya Janata Party sought to leverage the issue to their advantage .
Chittar, a scenic village in Pathanamthitta district, at least 22 km away from the base camp for the Sabarimala temple , Pambha, is where the unrest against the verdict first began in 2018. People there say it was a spontaneous movement sans any political colour ; even Communists participated in the voluntary movement, they add.
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Interestingly, the initial response of even the Congress and BJP was to welcome the verdict. Then Congress president Rahul Gandhi and senior leaders of BJP including O Rajagopal termed it “historic”.
But as spontaneous protests broke out throughout the state, the parties were forced to change their position and stand with teeming believers.
State Congress leaders reportedly sent an SOS to the party high command pointing out that the BJP would reap the benefits of opposing the verdict. “I can see enough validity in the argument that tradition needs to be protected,” Gandhi later said, explaining the change in his position on Sabarimala. “It was a swift political move that paid rich dividends for the Congress. Otherwise, the BJP would have hijacked the whole issue,” said political analyst Sunnykutty Abraham.
The Congress won 15 seats in the Lok Sabha election; Gandhi himself was elected from Wayanad; he lost in his family’s pocket borough Amethi.
The issue created deep fissures in the state.
P Abhilash spent 53 days in jail after his arrest during a hymn-chanting session at Nilackkal, the second base camp of the temple in 2018. Once a Communist sympathizer he’s now in the BJP. “Since I was not identified with any political party nobody came to release me on bail. But I firmly stood with my faith,” he said.
Another BJP worker, Jayaprakash Chittar, who was in the hardware trade for two decades, lost his business after 17 cases were foisted on him. “Though the court gave its verdict in 2018 it never asked the state government to implement it immediately with force. Communists are known atheists and we all believe the government tried to impose the order in haste,” he said.
Another devotee K Aneesh said he spent six days in the deep forest surviving only on water to dodge the police. Last month, in a move clearly aimed at the elections, the government withdrew all cases, other than criminal ones, registered during the temple agitation. But the scars run deep.
“My uncle Chandran Unnithan (57) sacrificed his life for the movement three years ago when stones were pelted on him during a hymn- chanting session in Pandalam. We hope his sacrifice won’t be wasted,” said his niece P Mini. Unnithan died after allegedly being targeted by a group of CPI(M) workers at a fasting venue in Pandalam in Pathanamthitta. He suffered serious head injuries and succumbed in a local hospital.
Still, despite their continuing faith in tradition, and opposition to the verdict -- it will now be taken up by a Constitution Bench of the apex court, although it has not been stayed -- some of the faithful are wary of political parties. “During the 2019 parliament election, PM Modi said in Pathanamthitta that the Centre will intervene to protect tradition . Two years have passed since then. Despite the tall promises nothing has happened on the ground,” said Venugopalan Nair, a regular at the temple for the past five decades.
Like some others, Nair would rather politicians leave the issue alone.
Yet, Sabarimala tops the election manifestos of both the BJP and the Congress with the two rival national parties promising a special legislation to protect temple customs. The CPI (M) has tried to maintain a balance and said it will implement the final verdict only after consulting all stake holders and that the issue will now come up before a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court.
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On Tuesday, when chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan was asked about the temple issue, he said: “Why you are frequently asking this? Like opposition parties a section of the media also wants to fan it (the issue). Pilgrimage to the temple is going on peacefully for the last two years.”
His reference is to the unstated compromise that has been reached regarding the temple. The tradition of barring women in the reproductive age group continues; the state government has not tried to enforce the ruling; and no one has really tried to insist that the ruling be enforced.
“The opposition is bankrupt. They are raking up the temple issue because they don’t have anything else to talk. It is a ploy to turn believers against the government,” said CPI(M) acting secretary A Vijyaraghavan . Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala hit back saying that devotees were dealt with brutally at many places. “The CPI(M) wants to create an impression that nothing happened at the temple. ” he said.
G Sukumaran Nair, general secretary of Nair Service Society, a powerful socio-cultural body fighting for temple customs for many years, said that all parties were playing double game over the issue. “We have immense faith in the judiciary and we feel our customs and traditions will be protected,” he said.
In the 2019 parliament election the Congress Party’s Anto Antony retained the Pathanamthitta seat defeating CPI(M) and BJP candidates. The CPI(M) represents Ranni assembly constituency where the temple is situated. In adjoining Konni seat, BJP state president K Surendran is contesting . Surendran is the lone candidate in the state contesting in two seats, Konni in Pathanamthitta and Mancheswaram in north Kerala.
