WWhen the Travancore Devaswom board announced in September its plan to organize the Global Ayyappa Sangamam, a global gathering of Sabarimala supporters, few expected it would expose a new fault line in Kerala's uneasy relationship between faith and politics. That a Democratic Left Front (LDF) government, which has long prided itself on its commitment to rationalism, embraced the language of faith and devotion sparked a wave of reactions ranging from skepticism and ridicule to outright opposition.
In 2018, the LDF had implemented the Supreme Court verdict that allowed women's entry into Sabarimala despite opposition from many devotees in the state. This cost the Left Front a lot in the 2019 elections. By organizing the Global Ayyappa Sangama, the LDF appeared to be conducting a re-branding exercise to regain goodwill from the wider Hindu community. To opponents, however, the event seemed opportunistic at best and desperate at worst.
The event saw an array of community organizations representing various Hindu groups on a public stage with Prime Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. There were several empty seats in the room, but for the government the optics were clearly more important than the turnout.
For a while, the LDF's strategy seemed to be working. The political discourse centered around the support provided to the government by key community organizations, especially the Nair Service Society (NSS). Realizing this, the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) rushed to mend ties with the NSS, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the NSS of “moving to the left”. For a while, it seemed that despite internal criticism, the NSS was even moving towards an informal agreement with the SNDP Yogam, another community organization that favors the LDF.
However, all this changed when a controversy suddenly broke out. The idols of the dwarapalakas or temple guards and their pedestals in the Sabarimala temple suddenly seemed to fall off. It seemed that the gold plating on the idols had disappeared. Immediately there were accusations of theft, manipulated data and a massive cover-up. The Kerala High Court has ordered a detailed probe into the matter.
The full details of the suspected irregularities are still not known. However, the ongoing inventory and expert inspection of the Sabarimala Temple's valuables is an important step towards more transparent management of the temple. At the same time, a special investigation team, constituted following an interim report of the vigilance wing of the Travancore Devaswom Board, is also conducting a probe.
The scale of the scandal has put several Board of Directors officials, including at least three Board chairmen appointed by the LDF government since 2016, in the line of fire. This new wave of accusations, spanning nearly 25 years of temple administration, has also thrown the government off balance just when it seemed to have struck a precarious balance with the Hindu community organizations. The controversy has exposed serious lapses by the authorities in overseeing the temple's affairs, as well as their inability to prevent a network of misconduct in Sabarimala, involving some TDB officials and some outsiders.
Meanwhile, the organizations that once sided with the LDF for the sake of Sabarimala, including the NSS, are being cornered. The NSS is facing increasing criticism from people at the grassroots for providing unconditional support to the LDF. Meanwhile, the SNDP Yogam, which is struggling to maintain its credibility amid growing public anger, has demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into all irregularities in Sabarimala; this was echoed by the UDF. The NSS has also now called for an impartial investigation and urged “punishment without mercy” for those found guilty.
The opposition has taken the opportunity to accuse misconduct by the administration and the government. The Congress has demanded that the Devaswom minister resign and the BJP, which has been watching the events unfold from the sidelines, has also gone into campaign mode.
For Kerala, the hill shrine has long symbolized the struggle to balance faith and politics. The latest episode underlines that struggle once again.
Published – Oct 13, 2025 01:16 AM IST
