After years of strain, NSS finds common ground with government over Mannam Jayanti

After years of wrangling that often spilled over into open confrontation with the government, the Nair Service Society (NSS) has finally succeeded in persuading the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government to declare Mannam Jayanti a public holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act (NIA).

The government’s decision is widely seen as a direct outcome of its new-found bonhomie with the community organisation, a shift that first came to public attention in the run-up to the Global Ayyappa Sangamam held at Pampa in September.

In a formal statement on Saturday, the NSS expressed its gratitude to the government for accepting the long-pending demand. “Although Mannathu Padmanabhan’s birth anniversary had already been declared a holiday for institutions under the State government, it was a sad reality that many of the employees who revered, respected, and loved him could not attend the celebrations at Perunna. Therefore, the NSS had urged the government to declare January 2, his birth anniversary, as a public holiday by including it under the NIA. Based on this, the State government has now taken an ideal decision,” read a statement issued by NSS general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair.

The move assumes significance as earlier attempts by the NSS, which had maintained a confrontational stance against the government since the 2018 Sabarimala protests, elicited no favourable response. Ahead of the previous Assembly elections, the issue had even snowballed into a war of words between the two sides, as the organisation challenged the government’s rationale for not including the holiday under the NIA.

During Mannam Jayanti celebrations in 2022, the NSS general secretary launched a scathing attack on the LDF, accusing it of repeatedly rejecting the demand on flimsy grounds and warning that the government would have to face consequences if it failed to change its approach towards the NSS.

Meanwhile, official sources in the LDF have attributed the latest decision, coming ahead of the local body and Assembly elections in the State, to the government’s efforts to sustain its improved relations with the NSS.

“The NSS is one community organisation that stood by its decision to support the LDF even amid the turbulence over Sabarimala. In that context, accepting the one major demand it placed before the government is only a natural reaction,” noted a senior LDF leader.