KOCHI: “It was one of the worst police excesses witnessed in Kerala. Armed Reserve Police barged into the temporary shed where devotees were peacefully protesting the Supreme Court order allowing young women into the Sabarimala temple. Hundreds, including elderly and women, sustained injuries and the police damaged hundreds of vehicles parked along the roadside. I have vowed not to visit the shrine until the Pinarayi government is ousted,” said Anil Vathikulam of the Hariharaputra Seva Trust.
Seven years have passed since state police escorted two young women to the hill shrine under the cover of darkness. In its aftermath, the state witnessed unprecedented protests in which 29,119 first information reports (FIRs) were registered and 10,000 cases were booked against nearly 16,000 persons. Over 4,000 were arrested and five, including C Venugopalan Nair, who self-immolated in front of the Secretariat, lost their lives.
The recent gold theft controversy has further exacerbated the pain felt by devotees, to the extent that many of them hold the view that Sabarimala will be a deciding factor in the upcoming assembly election.
And with the Ezhava community, which has historically been a votary of left politics in south Kerala, believed to be drifting away from the CPM over Sabarimala, the political lines could be further redrawn.
Sensing the mood and the threat it poses, the state government has altered its stance on the entry of women at the shrine. Recently, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) submitted an affidavit with the Supreme Court calling for the protection of traditional customs and practices at Sabarimala. The state government also informed the court that judicial review of ‘essential religious practices’ must be made in consultation with religious scholars.
Although 13 persons, including former TDB presidents A Padmakumar and N Vasu, were arrested in the gold theft case, all of them were granted bail as the special investigation team constituted by the High Court failed to file a chargesheet. The arrest of tantri Kandararu Rajeevaru raised allegations of political vendetta.
“Rajeevaru is the most respected priest in Kerala, revered by devotees as a representative of Ayyappa. The left government had threatened to remove him from the post of tantri in 2018 after he closed the sanctum sanctorum when police escorted an activist to the temple. Will the government dare to arrest the spiritual head of any other community. The SIT investigation is not impartial. The original case concerns the theft of gold but they have not recovered the gold even after five months,” said K Vasanthkumar, a resident of Ranni.
“Everybody knows that the tantri is not the custodian of temple assets. His role is limited to overseeing rituals and practices. But he was implicated in the case and subjected to mental torture. It is part of an attempt to destroy the sanctity of Sabarimala,” said Narayanan Namboothiri, a relative of Rajeevaru.
“We see the arrest of the tantri as a balancing act, as the credibility of the TDB administration was at stake. The liberal government is appointing non-believers as president and members of TDB and such people are looting temple property. Following protests, an attempt to take over the thiruvabharanam from the Pandalam royal family was dropped,” said Anoj, leader of the Sabarimala Achara Samrakshana Samithi.
“The government and TDB have politicised Sabarimala and deployed partymen at temples. The Sabarimala gold theft is only the tip of the iceberg. There was an attempt to take away the seven and a half elephant statuettes of Ettumanoor Mahadeva temple for gold plating, which was foiled following protests,” said Mohan K Nair, general secretary of the Ayyappa Seva Sangham.
“Colleges in Tamil Nadu used to deploy 3,600 students on rotation as volunteers at Sabarimala. These students were then awarded grace marks based on our certificate. This practice was stopped by the government. The free food distribution by NGOs has also been discontinued. Devotees are now made to wait in long queues for 8-12 hours without food and water,” he said.
There are also devotees who feel that Sabarimala it will not affect the poll verdict.
“Temple and devotion are different issues. I believe that Veena George has been most instrumental to bringing development to Pathanamthitta, since K K Nair. We have differences with the CPM, but we have to accept the development initiatives of the government,” said Ajay, a resident of Kadammanitta.