KOTTAYAM: In a major development that may have political implications in the state, two influential community organisations, Nair Service Society (NSS) and Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam, have shown signs of coming together.
NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair on Saturday, in an unprecedented move, endorsed the SNDP Yogam’s commitment to preserving the rituals and customs of Sabarimala hill shrine.
In a meeting of Nair delegates’ council at Perunna, Nair expressed gratitude to SNDP Yogam chief Vellappally Natesan for his involvement in protecting the faith. Vellappally had recently commended the NSS supremo’s stance on the Global Ayyappa Sangamam organised by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) held in Pampa.
The gesture is perceived as an indication of the two organisations uniting to safeguard the interests of the Hindu community amid increasingly polarised communal dynamics in Kerala. “The TDB’s initiatives to safeguard religious faith received strong backing from the state government, which offered its full support. Additionally, the SNDP Yogam expressed its endorsement of this initiative. We welcome the positions taken by both the government and the SNDP,” Nair told the meeting. He also explained that while the organisation continues its equidistance policy to all political parties, it took a “right distance” in the issue of faith.
Interestingly, Nair received unanimous backing from the 300-odd members of the delegates’ council of the organisation.
‘Our differences were purely ideological’
Sukumaran Nair confirmed that the NSS supports the stance taken by SNDP on the issue of protecting religious faith. “As I always stated, there is no personal animosity between me and Vellappally. Our differences have been purely ideological. I told this in today’s delegates’ meeting,” Nair told TNIE.
It is after a decade that the NSS and the SNDP Yogam are showing the signs of rapprochement, following the unsuccessful Hindu Grand Alliance that spanned from 2012 to 2014.
The outfits have been at odds for many decades over the issue of caste-based reservations. Although they temporarily set aside their differences to form an alliance in 2012, the initiative faltered in 2014 over the proposal to establish the Devaswom Recruitment Board.
Since then, tensions have persisted. Later that year, the NSS opposed the SNDP Yogam’s initiative to form a grand alliance of Hindu organisations, from ‘Nayadi to Namboothiri’, just before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, further straining their relationship.
Earlier, Vellappally welcomed the NSS’ stance on the Ayyappa meet. “The Yogam also concurs with the NSS’ stance on the Sabarimala women’s entry issue. The NSS bases its positions on issues rather than politics. Sukumaran Nair’s perspective is accurate. The NSS no longer needs to oppose the government. Whether it is an equidistance or right distance approach, it is indeed the correct one,” he told the media recently.