Move to Hold Ayyappa Conclave Sparks Political Row

Thiruvananthapuram: The famed Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in Kerala has been drawn into an unseemly political row ahead of the commencement of the annual pilgrimage to the hill shrine, which sees the influx of millions of devotees.

The trigger for the current round of slanging matches—with scant respect for the sanctity of the temple held in high reverence by Ayyappa devotees—is the plan of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) to convene a ‘Global Ayyappa Samgamam.’

TDB administers major temples in the southern districts of the state, including the Sabarimala Sreedharma Sastha temple, popularly known as the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple.

The September 20 event is planned with the support of the LDF Government. It will be held on the banks of the Pampa, at the foothills of Sabarimala, where devotees converge before trekking up the hill tract, atop which the fabled shrine is located.

The conclave is conceived as a major gathering of Ayyappa devotees, representatives of various organisations and high-net-worth individuals, to build momentum for the sustainable development of Sabarimala as one of the world’s largest pilgrim centres.

As expected, the RSS, BJP and allied Hindu outfits have come out all guns blazing. Their leaders allege that this is part of an “unholy conspiracy” to defile the sanctity of Sabarimala by turning it into a commercial and tourism hub.

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The subtext of the LDF plan, which is obvious, is to gain political mileage as the state heads for assembly polls due early next year. It is vital for the front to regain eroded Hindu votes in its all-out attempt to secure a hat-trick victory. This is exactly what worries the BJP.

Though the BJP is unlikely to pull off a miracle so soon, it pins its hopes on securing a few seats in the assembly and raising its vote share.

BJP state president Rajiv Chandrasekhar slammed the government, calling this sheer hypocrisy, as the CPI(M)-led alliance has often sought to ride roughshod over the temple’s age-old traditions, including the restriction on the entry of women of menstruating age.

He took serious exception to the invitation extended to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin as an honoured guest at the event, citing that the DMK supremo and his close followers had never concealed their contempt for Hindu traditions.

Stalin, however, has turned down the invitation citing personal inconvenience and has deputed two of his cabinet colleagues to attend the event.

Rubbishing the BJP’s charge, Chief Minister Vijayan has extended total support to the temple board to organise the event on a grand scale. Invoking the eclectic traditions of the shrine, he asserted: “Sabarimala stands as a model for the entire country since its portals are open to all, blurring the religious barriers.”

Congress leaders have also stepped in, holding that both the CPI(M) and the BJP are out to take political advantage by defiling the holiness of the shrine.

The government, however, received support from two key community organisations—the Nair Service Society (NSS) and the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP), the socio-cultural outfit of the numerically strong Ezhava community.

According to TDB, the prime objective of the Ayyappa Samgamam is to draw focus to the inclusive vision enshrined in the ancient Indian message of “Tat Tvam Asi,” which broadly translates as “You are that.”

Political slanging match apart, Sabarimala is one of the world’s most highly revered shrines, drawing a massive footfall of over three crore devotees during the November–January pilgrimage, from all parts of the country and abroad.

Despite its sanctity and mass spiritual appeal, the hill shrine, located on the slopes of the Western Ghats, has often been caught in the vortex of controversies.

In 2018, a Supreme Court order lifted the bar on the entry of women of menstruating age to the temple, holding the practice “unconstitutional.” The ruling, however, was left for further scrutiny by a larger bench while considering a bunch of review petitions.

The ruling triggered a massive public outcry, which saw large sections of Hindus, cutting across political divides, rallying against the implementation of the order by the government. Initially, the LDF government sought to implement the order, but eventually beat a retreat in the face of strong public backlash.

Earlier, in 2006, the shrine was at the centre of a fierce row after Kannada cine actress Jayamala dropped a bombshell, claiming that she had visited the temple in the prime of her youth.

Amid strong public outcry, the matter was investigated and the actress was charge-sheeted. After prolonged wrangles, the issue gradually abated, and the Kerala High Court quashed the charges against the actress, citing lack of proper evidence to proceed.

Interestingly, Jayamala later became a minister in the JD(S)-Congress coalition ministry headed by H.D. Kumaraswamy, as a Congress nominee.

Beyond the political sound and fury, what worries millions of Ayyappa devotees is whether the holy precincts will be turned into a ground for narrow political point-scoring.