THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The BJP which has been at the vanguard of the movement for protecting the practices and conventions at Sabarimala is treading a cautious path as the party does not want to convey the message it is trying to garner political mileage from the issue.
The party’s state chief P S Sreedharan Pillai told Express, “The BJP is not a party which derives political mileage from an issue involving belief. This is an issue in which an atheist government is trying to tamper with the religious beliefs, customs and practices of a sizeable section of people.”
“The manner in which an IG-rank officer escorted women non-believers clad in police camouflage, whose antecedents are suspicious, shows the directives issued to the police by the Chief Minister and the CPM is playing politics over Ayyappa devotees,” he said. Party general secretaries K Surendran, M T Ramesh and Shobha Surendran led several agitations at Nilakkal and the party is at the forefront of all the protests. K Surendran told Express, “ The BJP cannot consider the Sabarimala issue as a political one and it is something more than that and it close to our hearts since it is our beliefs and our customs. We will not try to derive political capital out of it.”
The direct intervention of the NSS and its general secretary Sukumaran Nair has led to a consolidation of the Nair community on the issue and the organisation has already filed a review petition in the apex court against the order.While the SNDP yogam is not directly taking part in the agitation, the BDJS, its political arm, is actively involved with its leader Thushar Velappally taking part in the Long March led by Sreedharan Pillai from Pandalam to Thiruvananthapuram.
With the NSS coming out in the open and the BDJS at the forefront of the agitations, a Hindu consolidation is emerging. The Yogakshema Sabha and a faction of the KPMS and BDJS already in the NDA fold, the party and the parivar is closely monitoring the NSS’ future course of action.
While the BJP is not directly taking any political recourse on the issue, the party feels the CPM and the LDF Government, especially the Chief Minister, are trying to rebuke and mock the beliefs of devotees and this will lead to several disgruntled elements from even the CPM gravitating towards the BJP.
Hindu Aikya Vedi Kannur district president V Manivarnan told Express, “There are several ardent Ayyappa devotees among the CPM cadre and they are totally disenchanted with the CPM and the Chief Minister. They have openly communicated their displeasure over the government’s anti-Hindu and anti-religious stance.”
”In the recent Nama Japa yatra held at Thalassery over 12,000 devotees, including local Congress leaders, participated,” he said.These are clear indicators there is an inclination towards the BJP politics but the party is waiting for the right time and treading cautiously as it does not want to be seen as deriving benefits out of the genuine agitation which the party is in.