LDF, UDF poised to draw battle lines over Sabarimala women’s entry issue

The ruling front and the Opposition appeared poised to draw new battle lines over the contentious issue of allowing women of menstruating age into the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple.

The Supreme Court’s decision to hear a series of petitions challenging the 2018 judgment allowing women of all ages to enter the temple appeared to give new political currency to the religiously emotive controversy, which sparked the combative ‘Save Sabarimala’ çampaign that rocked the first Pinarayi Vijayan government in 2019-21. 

Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan dared Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to withdraw the Kerala government’s affidavit in the Supreme Court supporting the demand to allow women to worship at the Ayyappa temple irrespective of their age. He said the government had equivocated too often in the past on issues concerning the conservation of Sabarimala traditions, despite a former Devaswom Minister admitting that escorting women activists to the temple was a mistake.

“If the Left Democratic Front (LDF) shows unwillingness to withdraw the affidavit offending devotees, the next United Democratic Front (UDF) government will file a fresh sworn statement opposing women’s entry,” he said.

Nair Service Society (NSS) general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair said the LDF government had expressed contrition that its handling of the issue was flawed. “The NSS has no inkling about the government’s stance regarding a temple custom that was essentially a religious practice,” he said.

Law Minister P. Rajeeve said the UDF was jumping the gun. “It is possible that the SC is hearing the case to constitute a Constitutional Bench to hear petitions challenging the 2018 order granting women entry,” he said. Mr. Rajeeve said Mr. Satheesan was showing unnecessary haste in aggressively politicising the emotive issue ahead of the Assembly polls, with little regard for the controversy’s social fallout. He said the UDF’s bid to take a page from the 2019 ‘Save Sabarimala’ campaign would only advantage forces that “are waiting patiently with vulture eyes to create social schism.” Mr. Rajeeve said Mr. Satheesan’s penchant for prescribing instant solutions to complex legal conundrums facing governments and courts would not pass muster. 

Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary M.V. Govindan said the government would constitutionally uphold the interests of devotees and there was no ground for any concern. When asked whether the CPI(M) would change its stance on the women’s entry issue, Mr. Govindan, somewhat cryptically, stated: “çhange is the only constant in the march of history.”