THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
It was theatre of the absurd at its worst at Sabarimala on Sunday, thanks to a
government which seems to have no clue whatsoever on handling the volatile
situation at the hill shrine when 11 women under the banner of Manithi, a
progressive women’s forum, attempted to have darshan.
The police provided protection to
the group right from the point of entry on Kerala-Tamil Nadu border. The group
managed to reach Pamba without being challenged. But at Pamba they ran into
problems.
The police, however, quite
inexplicably changed their mind and virtually let the group down. While
trekking to the shrine, they came face to face with a hostile group of devotees
bent upon stopping them. It was a dangerous situation. And but for the presence
of mind of the police, the women would have been lynched.
The dismayed women have blamed the
police for letting them down after promising protection. It was the police
which forced them to beat a hasty retreat in the face of the unruly mob, they
alleged. If they were not sure of providing protection, why did they allow them
to reach Pamba? That was their question for which the police had no answer.
The government has lost the will to
implement the Supreme Court order despite their oft-repeated declarations to
the contrary.
Evidently, the inept handling of the
situation has caused acute embarrassment to the government. If the government
did not have the nerve to tackle the situation, it should have stopped the
women at the Nilackal base camp. That would have averted the enactment of the
high-voltage drama at Pamba and the resultant loss of face for the beleaguered
government. .
The beneficiary of the government’s
pusillanimity was, of course, the BJP-RSS. The saffron brigade once again used
the incident to extract maximum mileage.
Not surprisingly, the opposition
took full advantage of the government’s discomfiture. The Congress leaders
claimed, and rightly so, that the government once again helped the BJP-RSS to
gain from the unfortunate episode. The saffron camp gleefully grabbed the
chance with both hands to infuse new life into a movement, which had all but
lost steam.
The episode also exposed the
government’s blow-hot-blow-cold stand on the sensitive issue. The government
continues to declare that it wants to implement the SC order. But when push
comes to shove, it develops cold feet and beats a hasty retreat, inviting
ridicule.
If the Vijayan government is really
keen on saving its face, it should stop the women in the 10-50 age group who
attempt to visit the shrine at the Nilackal camp. They should be told that in
view of the surcharged atmosphere, the government and the police are simply not
in a position to ensure their safety. That being the reality, the women must
wait for tempers and passions to cool down before they try to visit the shrine
again.
Hesitation to do so would only
encourage the Sangh Parivar and the Congress-led United Democratic Front to
twist their knives in the government’s wound. (IPA Service)
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