Red alert: Pinarayi Vijayan is giving BJP a free pass into Kerala

A few months ago the BJP led a march from Kannur to Thiruvananthapuram. Amit Shah himself came for the padyatra but was shocked to see the lukewarm interest shown by the public. Today thousands are marching under the banner of Save Sabarimala yatra spearheaded by the BJP state president Sreedharan Pillai. And there lies the failure of the Congress and the CPM.

Just think of it. The BJP was, in a way, instrumental in getting women entry into the temple. They needed to show they were fair, especially at a time when they were pushing for laws to ban triple talaq, obviously targeted at the Muslims. Tripti Desai was backed to the hilt by the RSS and the BJP which helped women get entry into the Shani temple in Maharashtra. She also had to take a stand on Sabarimala.

Once the Supreme Court gave its verdict allowing women of all ages entry into Sabarimala, the BJP acted shrewdly. They have conveniently taken a U-turn in Kerala and launched a movement against women’s entry into Sabarimala, while the central leadership has sealed its lips. Whatever else, the BJP has shown they are very good at politics.

Now look at the Congress. They always backed the temple traditions. While in power, the party filed affidavits against breaking the tradition. And now in the opposition, it was caught off-guard, letting the BJP walk away with all the credit for protests.

Now come to the Hindu party of Kerala - the CPM. Its vote bank is essentially the backward castes and a little bit of upper castes, Christians and Muslims thrown in. The Left govt in the state is entrusted with implementing the Supreme Court order. But the party did read the pitch wrong. It is one thing to be progressive, but it is another thing to be blind to the mood on the ground. The turnout in the CPM bastion of Kannur for instance was quite big, enough to make heads turn. By the time the party thought of seeking talks with the protesters, it was too late.

The Kerala CPM, which is pragmatic in its economics, was found to be naive in its politics. One way to blunt religious fervour is to play on other divides like caste, gender. So far it hasn’t worked.

The Sabarimala protests give the BJP a glimmer of hope in Kerala. Almost every Hindu in the state worships Ayyappan. In Sabarimala, the BJP has found a Mandir issue tailor-made for the state. For that the BJP has to be thankful to the CPM.

Day in and day out, CPM’s social media is mocking, taunting believers. The cadres must understand they are not in a school debate, but in the actual business of winning and keeping votes. You don’t win friends by ridiculing them.

So what is it that drives Pinarayi Vijayan? Why didn’t he make any effort to pacify the devotees? Is it out of conviction or arrogance? If it is out of commitment to liberal values, to gender equality, he is a true icon. But if it is pure arrogance, he might be presiding over an irreversible decline of the CPM. Just remember Bengal every now and then.

The flood fighting hero has become the ‘Hindu hating’ villain, at least in perception. Three months is a long time in politics, Pinarayi Vijayan would have learnt by now.

Also read:
1) SC has got its Sabarimala ruling wrong, horribly wrong

2) In love with Ayyappan: The forgotten story of Leela

SC has got its Sabarimala ruling wrong, horribly wrong

There is no reason in religion. As we say in Malayalam, കഥയിൽ ചോദ്യമില്ല.

For instance, was Ayyappan born of Vishnu and Shiva, or as the story goes - of Mohini, a female incarnation of Vishnu? It is a belief that is the very foundation of the Sabarimala temple.

It is the same for all religions.

Will true followers of Islam find virgins waiting for them in heaven?

Does confessing before a priest wash away sins as Christians believe?

Faith is based on belief, how impossible they might sound.

The foundation of most religions are books written centuries ago, in an age women were indeed treated like chattel (to use Judge Chandrachud’s words in another verdict). These texts that prescribe how to live your life are mostly moral codes, scales tilted heavily in favour of men.

If the court were to apply the same rules of rationality to religions, all of them face a ban.

Every temple has a USP. A legend. A myth. A story.

Dharma Sastha, whose incarnation is Ayyappan thought to be, was happily married. He had not one, but two wives - Poorna and Pushkala.

Even Ayyappan in some stories is married to Prabha and has a son named Sathyakan.

The Lord we worship in Sabarimala is a brahmachari. He has a lover in Leela, who is waiting by his side for the day when no newcomer comes to see him. That is when he will marry her, he has told Leela. So he doesn’t even set his eyes on women. (You can read the story here)

As much as it is a story of Ayyappan’s brahmacharya it is also a story of platonic love, love without expectations, love without desire. A story of waiting and longing. A story of loneliness. A story of pain. A story of sacrifice...

Devotees who trek to Sabarimala are Ayyappans themselves. They have no sex for 40 days, they don’t shave, they don’t wear footwear, they don’t eat meat, they don’t drink alcohol, in short they live the life of a sanyasi.

Menstruation is not part of the story. It sneaked in somehow.

The court must be told, women in Kerala don’t go to temples when they menstruate. They don’t even light the lamp at home during their periods. What does the court plan to do about that? Ayyappan had nothing to do with any of this.

Now that women have been allowed entry into Sabarimala, will they still not go?

Of course they will. If not today, tomorrow. The same women who are pledging they will stop any women from going to the temple will at some point give up the fight and join the trek.

Will the activists who fought for women’s entry go? Some will, to prove a point. Most won’t, because they never believed in Ayyappan anyway.

What the court has done is kill the story. Yes, in the next hundred years or so, the story will adapt to accommodate women devotees. But it won’t be as romantic a story as that of Ayyappan and Leela. The Supreme Court has killed the romance of Sabarimala.

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PS: Sabarimala Ayyappan fell prey to a larger political game at play. When the Narendra Modi govt was pushing a ban on triple talaq, people asked questions about gender inequality in Hinduism. Sabarimala too was raked up. The RSS and the BJP advocated women’s entry, welcomed Supreme Court order and now, after sensing the mood on the ground, are protesting the very decision they supported.