People have short memories, politicians want us to believe. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) might have cashed in to this theory to ‘embrace Hindu devotees’ now. The Global Ayyappa Sangamam, a religious summit, to be held on September 20 may officially be a Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) initiative. But in reality it is the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front government's desperate bid to win back the trust of a section of Hindu devotees, which it lost by facilitating the entry of two women to the globally renowned Ayyappa shrine. The incidents, following the Supreme Court's 2018 controversial verdict allowing women of menstruating age to worship at the shrine, had triggered massive protests. Those who hailed the progressive, daring move of the Left government, and those who paid the price for it feel betrayed now.
Kerala, a state of social reformers like Mahatma Ayyankali and Sree Narayana Guru, was in turmoil post the SC verdict, as the government stuck to the decision to implement it. Unprecedented events followed. Activist women vainly attempted to enter the shrine. Clamour by the Left, and the liberal Left to implement the apex court order grew stronger. On the other side, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had only one MLA and no MPs in Kerala, and the Opposition Congress party posed as protectors of faith.
The initial response of Ramesh Chennithala, the veteran Congress leader who helmed the Opposition, was that everyone was bound to obey the SC verdict. Later he wanted the TDB to file a review petition against the verdict. PS Sreedharan Pillai, who was the BJP’s state president, called it a golden opportunity. “Sabarimala is a golden opportunity. It is an issue. Settling the Sabarimala issue in a straight line is not possible. We put forward an agenda and everyone else surrendered to it, leaving only us and our enemies, the government and its parties,” he said.
Advocate Prerna Kumari, one among the five women petitioners, who filed a petition in the Supreme Court in 2006 demanding the entry of women into the Sabarimala temple, had BJP connections. In 2016, RSS General Secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi publicly supported allowing all women to enter the Sabarimala temple. But after the 2018 SC verdict, when entry of women into the temple became a hot potato, the RSS distanced itself from the cause.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, still basking under the popular mandate his party won in 2016, took on all voices of dissent. An all-party meeting he convened failed but he didn’t give up. A meeting of 190 socio-cultural and progressive Hindu organisations was called in the backdrop of objections to implement the verdict. Out of them, 176 organisations accepted the invitation. The word Navodhanam (renaissance) began to reverberate. Navodhana Samrakshana Samithi (Renaissance Protection Forum) was formed with the organisations who stood with the government. The CM announced a Women's Wall on the New Year Day of 2019. His long press meets ahead of the Women's Wall reminisced about the renaissance struggles of the state.
A land that fought for temple entry for all, the land of revolutionary Guruvayur and Vaikom Satyagrahams, was heralding a historical move. As Pinarayi doubled down, the protest against the government move became fierce too. A large number of people, including women, joined the Ayyappa Jyothi protest organised by the Sabarimala Karma Samithi. The state remained polarised as the progressive liberals, and the advocates of tradition showed no signs of relenting. Women activists who tried to enter the temple faced the music. Female journalists who were doing their job, reporting the story from Nilakkal and Pampa-were heckled, and even beaten up by the protestors.
Sabarimala Karma Samithi coordinated the protests. I was kilometers away from the temple, doing my job as a reporter for TNM, and was attacked by a mob. I was escorted to the Pampa police station along with Republic TV’s South India bureau chief Pooja Prasanna (now with TNM). The mob was furious and surrounded us ready to assault as if we were criminals. The Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Sangham (SNDP) representing the Ezhava community, and the Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha (KPMS) stood with the government while the Nair Service Society (NSS) wanted customs of the temple to be followed.
A series of renaissance initiatives culminated in the Women’s Wall on January 1, 2019. Women standing in long lines from the south to the north took a pledge to support renaissance. A day after, two women in their menstruating age, entered Sabarimala. For those who believed in the values of enlightenment it heralded a new era but others who believed in the primacy and non-negotiable nature of temple customs felt betrayed.
The women who made history were 42-year-old Bindu Ammini and 39-year-old Kanakadurga. Pinarayi’s image of being ‘irattachankan’ (a man with two hearts) got a further boost.
Months later, the LDF suffered a huge setback in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections managing to win a single seat. But the front wrote history with a resounding victory two years later in the 2021 Assembly elections.
The 2026 Assembly elections are months away. The CPI(M), in hardly five years, has metamorphosed from torchbearer of renaissance to protector of Hindu faith and customs. A statement from Devaswom Minister VN Vasavan said 3000 delegates from various countries will take part in the Global Ayyappa Sangamam and that it is a TDB initiative and not a government program. When a petition against the summit reached the Kerala High Court, they too wanted a clarification on the organiser. Was it the TDB, a supposedly autonomous body or the state government itself? The initial press statement by Vasavan on August 16 said the Ayyappa summit is organised jointly by the government and the Devaswom Board.
Once again, Pinarayi is in an unrelenting mood despite the widespread opposition to the government role in organising such an event. “Don’t threaten us, that can not stop the program,” he said as criticism grew from the Opposition, BJP leaders and some Hindu outfits.
His party colleague, CPI(M) State Secretary MV Govindan, gave a new definition to atheism. "Those who are communal do not have faith; they only use religion as a tool to retain power. Devotees themselves must take up a major role against communalists. His words that the summit was organised at the request of the Ayyappa devotees worldwide won't go down well even with hardcore believers. One would recall his predecessor, the late Kodiyeri Balakrishnan's words who asked the NSS to change its stand as it was against the spirit of renaissance values upheld by Mannath Padmanabhan who founded the organisation.
VN Vasavan took one more step ahead, stating that those who call for 'violation of customs and practices' in Sabarimala will not be allowed to attend the summit. His statement that the government has no intention to politicise the meeting also sounds dishonest.
The government, this time too, gained the support of organisations like the SNDP and the Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha, although SNDP general secretary Vellappally Natesan (who shares a good rapport with Pinarayi) demanded the withdrawal of cases registered against Ayyappa devotees during the 2018 protests. The NSS which was vehemently opposed to entry of women in Sabarimala has offered conditional support to the global meet.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) led by the Congress has termed the summit as a ploy by the government to reap political dividends ahead of elections. Opposition Leader VD Satheesan said the government was displaying hypocrisy towards Ayyappa devotees. Satheesan asked whether the LDF government's affidavit at SC, opposing the traditions of the Sabarimala temple over the women's entry issue, still remains? "Will the government withdraw it? Will the administration withdraw the wrongful cases filed against the peaceful protesters during the agitation in 2018?” he asked.
State BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar slammed the CM, accusing him of playing politics to mislead devotees ahead of local body elections.
However, more than their political rivals, it is to Bindu Ammini and Kanakadurga, and thousands of women who shared their sentiments, that the Left government and Pinarayi Vijayan owe a convincing explanation. Scores of people who were assaulted, and booked too have the right to know why the government shifted its stance. The two women have ever since been facing the wrath of many. Lawyer and activist Bindu Ammini was assaulted multiple times. Tired of the ostracisation, she left Kerala in 2023. Civil Supplies department employee Kanakadurga was attacked by her mother-in-law upon her return home after visiting Sabarimala. Her family refused to accept her, and she was shifted to a government-run shelter home. These women are not invited to the Ayyappa summit although Bindu Ammini wrote to the government expressing her desire to take part in it.
Election gimmicks are not new in politics. And why the party and its leadership keeps diluting the core values is for the CPI(M) to introspect. But they owe an apology to all those who feel betrayed.
(The author is a former journalist with The News Minute and was attacked by a mob while covering the protest against entry of women to Sabarimala in 2018 following a Supreme Court verdict.)