V D Satheesan
| Photo Credit: H.VIBHU
Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan on Friday (September 26, 2025) accused the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led government of giving space to communal forces in Kerala and reiterated that the UDF has taken up the political mission of exposing so-called “hypocritical bhakti groups” associated with the Sabarimala controversy.
Addressing the media in Kannur, he said that while community organisations such as the NSS and the SNDP were free to pursue their own stand, the UDF’s political position was “grounded firmly in defending secular values without compromise.”
Criticism of govt’s role in Sabarimala
Mr. Satheesan raised three major questions before the State government – whether it was willing to amend the affidavit filed supporting the violation of rituals at Sabarimala, whether it would withdraw thousands of cases registered against nama japa participants, NSS activists and political workers, and whether it would revoke pending cases registered before the Global Ayyappa Sanghamam.
He said the government’s “inaction for nine years had left devotees deceived”, while the UDF felt “duty-bound to expose those who present a master plan for Sabarimala year after year without real development works.”
According to him, the Global Ayyappa Sanghamam “collapsed” organisationally.
He criticised the Devaswom Minister, alleging that the latter was visibly excited after reading a message from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath during the gathering.
Mr. Satheesan questioned what the CPI(M’)s reaction would have been if a UDF Minister had done the same, and asked how BJP workers would view such a conduct.
Slams Pinarayi
He accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of aligning with leaders who spread hate speech and declared that the CPI(M) was allowing the BJP and right-wing forces to gain entry into Kerala’s political sphere.
“There is no doubt that Yogi Adityanath is a good friend of Pinarayi Vijayan,” Mr. Satheesan said, pledging to expose what he called “communalism misrepresented as devotion.”
‘No dispute’
Reiterating that there is “no dispute” with organisations such as the NSS and the SNDP, Mr. Satheesan said the UDF respected their freedom to take independent decisions and acknowledged the NSS’ leadership for “resisting communal infiltration.” At the same time, he underlined that the UDF would “oppose both majority and minority communalism” without hesitation.
“Whoever speaks communally, we will oppose without looking at their faces. We will not sell our secular positions for temporary profit,” he said, adding that the UDF had been committed to Kerala’s secular legacy across generations.
Accusing the CPI(M) of opportunism, Mr. Satheesan said that the party had for years appeased minorities before the last parliamentary elections and has now shifted to majority appeasement, thus “lacking any genuine commitment to secularism.”
He highlighted the “contradiction” of the CPI(M) once certifying the IUML as secular while now accommodating groups such as the Indian National League (INL) that had rejected the IUML’s secular tag.
Referring to flex boards of the Sabarimala event that only displayed Mr. Vijayan and Devaswom Minister V.N. Vasavan instead of Lord Ayyappa, Mr. Satheesan dismissed the CPI(M)’s approach as mere “political spectacle under the guise of devotion.”
Mr. Satheesan confirmed that the UDF’s position on these issues “remains unchanged for the parliamentary elections, after them and in times ahead.”
He insisted that Kerala was fundamentally secular and that both the older and the younger generations would rally behind constitutional values against divisive politics.
Published – September 26, 2025 03:54 pm IST
