Vasavan says govt stance on Sabarimala consistent; Cong, BJP call it dishonest

On Saturday, when the State government filed written submissions before the Supreme Court on the issue of entry of women of all age groups into the Sabarimala temple, the Congress and the BJP flayed the government for its alleged volte-face in view of the elections. 

Devaswom Minister V.N. Vasavan, however, said the State government’s stance on the issue was consistent with the affidavit it had filed in 2007 in the Supreme Court. 

“We filed an affidavit in 2007 stating that the issue should be decided by experts in ritualistic matters. We are still maintaining that stance,” he told the media. 

Mr. Vasavan said the Supreme Court had only sought clarification on certain constitutional aspects of the matter. “We have entrusted the Advocate General and constitutional experts in the Supreme Court to present the response,” he said. 

“The party’s stance is the same as the government’s. The government is with the devotees. We have always been with the devotees,” he said. 

Mr. Vasavan alleged that the 2018 verdict of the Supreme Court allowing women of all age groups entry into the temple came after women lawyers associated with the BJP approached the Supreme Court. “It was [a group of] BJP’s young lawyers who filed the case and received the verdict. They then called it a historic judgement. But they soon changed their position,” he argued. 

However, AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal, MP, alleged a change of stance on the part of the government in view of the assembly elections, which he described as a “desperate attempt to escape the difficult political situation it currently faces”. 

Talking to the media in Guruvayur, he called it a political U-turn driven by electoral compulsions. He said if the government had adopted a conciliatory approach soon after the Supreme Court verdict and informed the court about the practical difficulties in implementing the order, the State could have avoided the unrest and tensions that followed. 

“Devotees would not have faced hardships, properties would not have been damaged, and many people would not have been forced to face legal cases,” he said, blaming the CPI(M)’s “anti-faith” position for the crisis. 

Terming the government’s stance ‘hypocritical’, former State BJP president Kummanam Rajasekharan asked the government to urgently withdraw the cases filed against those who fought for the preservation of temple customs. Seeking to correct the affidavit without withdrawing the cases filed against Sabarimala devotees reeks of double standards, he argued. 

Former BJP State president V. Muraleedharan attacked the CPI(M) and the Congress for trying to fool the devotees on the issue. He said that while the government tried to create the impression that it had changed its stance on the issue of allowing women of all age groups into the temple, it was actually betraying the devotees. Instead of openly saying it opposes the entry of women, the government is saying that such decisions should be taken by experts, he said. 

The Congress, he said, initially sided with the devotees and then slowly withdrew from the scene.