The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by the Communist Party of India (Marxists) has won the Konni seat in Pathanamthitta district in Kerala which was the epicentre of Sabarimala protest. The ‘door to door apology’ by CPI-M candidate and leadership, helped the party to regain the trust of voters. The party has decided to implement the Supreme Government’s order to allow women aged 10-50 years to enter the Ayyappa temple, and this led to a massive protest by Hindus. But, the party changed its stance a few months later and the candidates apologized to every family in the district.
The party candidate KU Janeesh Kumar bagged 54,099 votes against his nearest rival P Mohanraj of the Congress who got 44,146 votes.
The party has been able to wrest back the control of the seat after 23 years. It has been represented by senior Congress leader Adoor Prakash since 1996, who vacated the seat he was elected to Lok Sabha from Attingal constituency.
Political analyst G. Pramod Kumar, said, “A section of votes swung in favour of the BJP but the CPM proactively apologised, directly and indirectly, which has helped them in the seats they have won.”
The Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan tried every trick in his book to crush the peaceful protest of Bhagwan Ayyappa devotees on the Sabarimala issue but suffered an abject failure. The brutal action adopted by his government turned a peaceful and serene place of worship-Sabarimala Temple- into a war zone and this callous attitude towards Bhagwan Ayyappa devotees hurt the electoral fortunes of the party in 2019 Lok Sabha election.
The communist CM Vijayan remained insensitive towards the real devotees and their sentiments. Showcasing his biased and concocted form of secularism, he stated, “At a time when women are getting ready to go to Mars, some people are saying that women shouldn’t enter a temple. The aim of certain groups is to make sure that Sabarimala becomes a battlefield. Nobody can break the secular fabric of Kerala.”
CPM won only one seat out of 20 Lok Sabha constituencies of Kerala in 2019 general election. A. M. Ariff, the party candidate from Alappuzha constituency defeated Congress contestant by small margin, otherwise, CPM would had been wiped out of the state. All the other Left Democratic Front (LDF) parties, which had similar ideological stand on Sabarimala temple entry, lost all seats in the election.
Congress, which took pro-devotee stance on the issue, improved its tally from 8 seats in the previous election to 15 this time. “We are in favour of women empowerment… but women’s entry was a provocative act,” said Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram.
“The intensity of emotions on display have surprised many liberals, not least because so many women seem outraged that other women might be allowed to go into the Sabarimala temple and disturb its sanctity,” he wrote in an article in ThrPrint.
The electoral gains made by Congress and the loss of LDF in 2019 Lok Sabha elections brought the Communist parties back to their senses. The party leaders softened stance on entry of women in temple, and even apologized to voters. The Hindu voters forgave CPM and blessed them with victory in the by-polls.