UDF signals non-cooperation with TDB’s Global Ayyappa Sangamam

The Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) has strongly signalled that it would not cooperate with the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB)-sponsored Global Ayyappa Sangamam Pampa on September 20.

The TDB has portrayed the Sangamam as an apolitical gathering of Ayyappa devotees from around the world, with an estimated 3,000 delegates, as an initial step towards developing a roadmap for Sabarimala development.

Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan appeared to convey the UDF’s hardline stance by rebuffing TDB President P.S. Prasanth’s request for a personal audience at the former official residence, Cantonment House, on Tuesday.

UDF leadership’s online meeting later would weigh the issue. Notably, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Kerala Congress (Joseph) have reportedly refused to see any politics in the Sangamam.

So far, major Hindu social organisations, including the Nair Service Society and the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam, have gestured support for the Sangamam with the rider that the TDB keep politics at bay and promise to protect Sabarimala’s ancient traditions, primarily the ban on women of the childbearing age entering the temple and the primacy of the Chief Priest (Tantri)  in religious matters.

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s apparent reluctance to withdraw the cases registered against Ayyappa devotees during the Save Sabarimala Campaign in 2018 has emerged as a significant sore point between the ruling front on one side and the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the other.

Both parties have also demanded that the government withdraw its affidavit in the Supreme Court, ostensibly favouring the entry of women of all ages into the temple.

Both the Congress and the BJP have also termed the Sangamam an LDF false flag political operation to woo Hindu votes, piggybacking on the Ayyappa faith, after minority communities spurned the ruling front’s overtures.

CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan reiterated that the development of Sabarimala and the welfare of Ayyappa devotees transcended the exigencies of electoral politics.

CPI(M) State committee member and former Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said the government had withdrawn minor infractions of law concerning the 2018 agitation. He said the administration would soon surmount the legal objections concerning withdrawal of cases entailing cognisable offences, including destruction of public property, rioting, attacks on police and arson, during the communally tense period.