CPI signals that Sabarimala gold theft scandal eclipsed LDF’s governance track record at local body poll hustings

The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Monday (December 15, 2025) signalled that the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple gold theft scandal implicating Communist Party of India-Marxist’s [CPI(M)] political appointees on the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) possibly aided the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in eclipsing the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF)’s track record as a pro-people government on the local body poll campaign trial. 

CPI leader P. Santosh Kumar, MP, noted that the Congress and the BJP used the Sabarimala theft case to cast suspicion about the government in the minds of the electorate. “Notably, Congress and the BJP set their campaign ditties assailing the government on the Sabarimala theft case to the tune of popular Ayyappa devotional song and succeeded in altering the arc of the political narrative to their respective advantage,” he added.

CPI State Secretary, Binoy Viswam, called on his CPI(M) counterpart, M.V. Govindan, before the State Secretariat meetings of the respective ruling front allies to grapple with the United Democratic Front (UDF)’s local body election sweep and the BJP’s emergence as a winning political force in the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation. 

Speaking to reporters outside the CPI(M) State headquarters at the AKG Centre in Thiruvananathapuram, Mr. Viswam doubted whether the uproar surrounding the Sabarimala theft scandal overshadowed the ruling front’s narrative about the State’s expanding social security net, improved public service delivery and rapid infrastructure development.

“It is erroneous to focus solely on Sabarimala. There are a few other factors that sowed confusion among voters about the LDF,” he said. 

Mr. Viswam said the CPI mouthpiece, Janayugam, had expounded on the LDF’s setback in its editorial on Monday (December 15, 2025). 

Notably, the editorial underscored that LDF failed in distancing itself democratically from leaders of social organisations championing schismatic religious and caste identity politics, primarily by demonising minorities. 

The editorial did not name any leader. However, it seemed to obliquely criticise the government for not calling out SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellapally Natesan’s contentious remarks, which drew intense criticism from Muslim social organisations. Moreover, the government accorded Mr. Natesan pride of place at the Global Ayyappa Sanghamam in Sabarimala in September. 

The editorial said the LDF appeared to be treading softly around casteist and communal forces, creating “suspicion” about the ruling front’s commitment to secularism among “some sections” of the people.

Moreover, the editorial noted that welfare pension doles, the LDF’s central campaign platform, were not the State’s charity and an inalienable right of the beneficiaries. It also seemed to be a slanted attack on CPI(M) leader M.M. Mani’s now-retracted statement blaming “ungrateful” welfare pension beneficiaries for the LDF’s failure. 

In what seems to be a reference to the arrest of CPI(M) leader and former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president A. Padmakumar in the Sabarimala theft case, the editorial stated that the LDF must face the political consequences for the wrongdoing of those entrusted with key responsibilities. The newspaper reminded readers that religious places of worship hold a prominent position in people’s minds.