Sabarimala, The Sequel

The Congress and the BJP rekindle the Sabarimala issue, push the ruling LDF onto the back foot

- Cithara Paul

Recently, a huge billboard came up at Thiruvananthapuram’s Bakery Junction, a prominent spot in the state capital.

It featured a collage of photographs of BJP state president K. Surendran during the agitation against the Supreme Court verdict allowing women of menstrual age entry into the Sabarimala temple. The billboard was an indication that, with just two weeks left for the assembly elections, the shrine had re-entered the political discourse of the state.

And, the ruling Left Democratic Front is feeling the heat.

If one were to single out the biggest electoral mistake the Pinarayi Vijayan-led state government has made, it would be the “overzealousness” it showed in implementing the court verdict. The deity at the Sabarimala temple is a naishtika brahmachari (strict celibate), and the entry of women there angered a large group of believers. The left paid a huge price; it won only one of 20 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

While all political parties had welcomed the 2018 verdict as a “progressive step towards gender equality”, both the Congress and the BJP changed their tone sensing the pulse on the ground. They even hit the streets against the order.

But the LDF, especially Vijayan, decided to follow the verdict in letter and spirit. He saw it as an opportunity for a “second renaissance movement” in the state and as a huge step towards gender equality. He must have also sensed the possibility of a grand alliance of OBCs and dalits, along with minorities, even though the upper castes were vehemently against the verdict.