KOCHI: On January 14, the Makara Vilakku day, a Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) employee was seen pushing and shoving devotees in front of the sanctum sanctorum of the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala.
As the Kerala High Court directed disciplinary action against the guard, he was relieved from duty and sent to Manacaud Devaswom, his home station. The guard, Arunkumar S, turned out to be a member of the employees union of the ruling CPM at the TDB.
Notably, pilgrims from other states who visit Sabarimala every year say the staff and policemen deployed at the hill shrine behave rudely.
Incidents of Devaswom staff manhandling employees have been reported at Guruvayur and Chottanikkara temples, too, recently. On January 6, two women devotees complained that they were assaulted by the staff at Chottanikkara temple. Similarly, an elderly woman had submitted a complaint regarding assault by guards in October.
Two months ago, a woman devotee had donated a four-sovereign gold chain to the Vadakkunnathan temple in Thrissur. The chain vanished mysteriously. Though the vigilance wing conducted an inquiry, the issue was hushed up. Recently the temple administration found discrepancies in its accounts, and a shortage of Rs 3 lakh was reported. The employees concerned returned the amount, and the issue was ‘settled’.
The job of a temple employee is more devotional than mechanical. However, the ruling dispensation nominates party leaders to the Devaswom boards and they, in turn, accommodate party workers in temple jobs.
Recently the Kerala Congress (Mani) and Nationalist Congress Party got representation in Guruvayur Devaswom Board. The party workers – appointed by party leaders – in temples owe allegiance to their political bosses, and not the deity.
Many of these political party members are atheists, and they perform temple rituals giving scant regard to its sanctity. There were incidents where employees were caught holding booze parties on temple premises!
It seems the pathetic state of affairs would continue until perhaps the court intervenes and liberates Devaswom boards from the clutches of politicians. Only true devotees should be provided jobs at Devaswom boards.