By
Sushil Kutty
Rafale is not the issue in Kerala.
Swami Ayyappa is. Unrest is on the move everywhere in the state after two
child-bearing age women entered the Sabarimala temple Wednesday morning.
Clashes between agitating Sangh Parivaar cadre and CPM workers claimed one life
Wednesday evening. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Thursday claimed stone-hit
Chandran Unnithan died of “cardiac arrest.” He also said Ayyappa devotees
“helped” Kanaka Durga and Bindu enter the shrine, a claim not supported with
evidence. He probably did not find the time in the moment to watch CCTV footage
the rest of Kerala saw.
Vijayan is gambling on the Sabarimala
issue to win the most number of Lok Sabha seats. Limiting the Congress number
will give the Left Front a say in government formation if a ‘Mahagathbandhan’
of opposition parties wins general elections 2019. The Congress wants to deny
the LDF any such advantage. A good account in Kerala is essential for the
Congress to be in a position to seat Rahul Gandhi in the Prime Minister’s chair
ahead of the likes of Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee.
The chief minister is following a
plan, the tactic to deprive Congress Lok Sabha seats built into the strategy.
The Ayyappa devotee doesn’t figure in his reckoning. He has placed women’s
rights and Navothana front and centre of the Left strategy to trounce the UDF
in Kerala in GE 2019. The Congress willy-nilly is left standing with the
Ayyappa devotees and by extension, the BJP. Pinarayi Vijayan is hoping to line
up Muslim and Christian voters behind the left parties. That said, opinion
polls place the Congress in a better position.
The Congress is banking on Hindu
Ayyappa-bhaktas ditching the CPM en masse for facilitating the Wednesday entry
of the two “activist women” into the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala
shrine, insisting that it was the “obstinacy” of the chief minister to blame.
Pinarayi in turn believes the BJP will cut into the Hindu vote bank of the
Congress. It’s gamble for both fronts. They have four months to turn the tide
against each other and time is running out.
The Congress has to ward off both the
LDF and the BJP. The saffron party’s vote share has increased since Swami
Ayyappan became an issue. Ex-CJI Dipak Misra helped make women’s rights and
Sabarimala an election-plank. The right-leaning justice chose to exit with a
liberal halo. Maybe at heart of heart he is a Marxist. Maybe he is not
politically savvy. Maybe he just likes to leave everybody guessing. Whatever,
blame for the Kerala turmoil is being put to him.
That said, it’s become imperative for
Pinarayi that the Supreme Court rejects the review petitions on January 22. He
believes the Supreme Court will take into account the “women’s breach” of
Sabarimala while hearing the review petitions as also the “illegal” shutdown of
the temple by chief tantri Kandararu Rajeevraru. The Travancore Devaswom Board
is expected to “take action” against the chief tantri, which will add to the
turmoil.
In the ongoing perception battle, lies
have become the staple and Pinarayi Vijayan is no Harishchandra. Most of what
he says is with a straight face. And nobody dares to challenge him. The
Travancore Devaswom Board is in his pocket. Neither Devaswom Minister
Kadakampally Surendran nor Board President A Padmakumar has the liver or heart
or whatever to stand up to him, and his diktats. He plays both like a fiddle
and the music is martial, not romantic!
An atheist with such overwhelming
control over religious affairs is unprecedented – a miracle! Pinarayi is one
part arrogance, and one part ego. He’s tough-guy about town who once reportedly
told media at a presser to “Get the hell out”, which they did! Thursday, he
told media at another presser to “report with integrity and honesty.” The mild
voice and the correct words did not in any way take the warning out of the
delivery. Deception is part of the perception battle. Pinarayi does not have
Stalin’s moustache, that’s all.(IPA
Service)
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