The communist regime in Kerala seems to be coming down heavily on the Sabarimala devotees who were protesting against the Supreme Court verdict lifting the bar on entry of all women including women within the age group of 10 to 50 years. The Vijayan government is now trying to take its revenge on the already disenchanted devotees. Kerala Police have arrested more than 1400 people in a crackdown on those allegedly involved in the Sabarimala protests. The BJP had warned of a mass stir across southern states against the attack on “believers”. 258 cases of violence were also registered and the Vijayan government seems to be in a hurry to take the protesting devotees to task.
Once the state government went ahead to implement the apex court verdict being completely insensitive to the sentiments of the devotees, scores of protestors took to streets in order to register their protest against the entry of women of all ages to the shrine. These protests were mostly led by women as they believed that the decision to allow entry of all women went against the tenets of Bhagwan Ayyappa’s celibacy. These rallies and protest marches signal that the Hindu residents of Kerala have finally started taking an interest in protecting their culture and traditions. The problem with Hindus in Kerala was that they had remained disunited in the largely communist state for a long period of time. But the Supreme Court verdict followed by the state government’s insistence on enforcing the verdict united the Hindus of Kerala. And this is exactly what the communist regime hated to the core. The communists have survived to whatever extent they have, only by dividing Hindus and appeasing the minority voting blocs. Vijayan’s staunch support for the Supreme Court verdict and insistence at implementing it enraged Bhagwan Ayyappa’s devotees and united Kerala Hindus which the Communist regime must have seen as a threat. On the top of this, chief minister Vijayan has also made anti-Hindu remarks and has also gone on to make derogatory remarks against the former chief priest of the Sabarimala Temple by bringing up a 12 year old unproven allegations against him that he had been involved in a prostitution case. The chief priest had been discharged by a local court but Vijayan still made these slanderous remarks. These careless remarks were bound to backfire in a big way against the communist regime in the state.
The communist regime in Kerala understands that the widespread anger among Bhagwan Ayyappa’s devotees and Hindus in general as well as stronger solidarity among Kerala Hindus was a massive threat for the incumbent government. It seems that in order to quell unity among Hindus, the Kerala government is now cracking down on the protestors even though there is no occasion to do so. However, in its attempt to do so the Communist government has crossed the line. One cannot help but compare this dastardly act by the Kerala government to the orders by Mulayam Singh government to open fire on Kar Sevaks in Ayodhya in 1991. This reeks of an element of intolerance towards Hindus and manifestation of their beliefs. There was no need or occasion to crack down on the Ayyappa devotees who were merely protesting for their religious traditions and demanding that their religious practices and beliefs be respected.