Summary:
Kozhikode: As the Kerala Assembly election campaign enters the last fortnight, the issue of entry of women into the Sabarimala temple has returned to haunt the CPM.
The Opposition hopes to use the issue to push the CPM, particularly popular Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, into a corner.
Vijayan’s vociferous support to the 2018 Supreme Court decision allowing women of menstruating age into the temple — disregarding popular opinion against it and reluctance among own cadres — is believed to have played a big role in the rout of the CPM in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
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Kozhikode: As the Kerala Assembly election campaign enters the last fortnight, the issue of entry of women into the Sabarimala temple has returned to haunt the CPM.
The Opposition hopes to use the issue to push the CPM, particularly popular Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, into a corner.
Vijayan’s vociferous support to the 2018 Supreme Court decision allowing women of menstruating age into the temple — disregarding popular opinion against it and reluctance among own cadres — is believed to have played a big role in the rout of the CPM in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Vijayan has been trying to dodge the issue saying the matter rests with the Supreme Court (review petitions have been referred to a larger Bench).
The LDF manifesto is nebulous, saying the front will support “all activities to protect the faith”… “ensuring space for the atheist to live”.
However, under increasing pressure to take a stand, CPM leader and Temple Affairs Minister Kadakampally Surendran last week expressed regret over “the incidents of 2018 at the temple”, adding, “Everyone is sad over what happened there.”
Surendran is contesting from Kazhakuttam, where he faces the BJP’s Sobha Surendran, the face of its Sabarimala agitation.
CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury immediately distanced the party from Kadakampally’s statement saying there was no change in the LDF policy on Sabarimala — that the Supreme Court order was in line with renaissance traditions in Kerala — and that the government was duty bound to implement the apex court verdict.
Not just Kazhakuttam but across Central and South Kerala, the BJP is campaigning on the single-point issue of Sabarimala.