Thiruvananthapuram | The Congress-led UDF on Thursday said it has no dispute or differences of opinion with any community or religious organisation on the Sabarimala issue and that it avoided the Global Ayyappa Sangam for political reasons.
The statement was made by Congress leader V D Satheesan, a day after the two powerful Hindu caste outfits--Nair Service Society (NSS) and Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam -- came out in support of the ruling LDF stance on the Sabarimala issue.
"They (NSS and SNDP) have their own opinion, just like we are entitled to our views. We stand firm on the decision we took. It was a political decision taken by the Congress and UDF and we believe it was correct." "We are not in conflict with any religious organisation or community," he said.
According to Satheesan, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, it was the LDF government which not only did not try to protect the rituals of Sabarimala but actively violated the same by providing entry into the shrine to women under police escort.
"We were the only ones who tried to protect the rituals of Sabarimala," he claimed.
The Congress leader further said that if the Left government was with the devotees, it should have withdrawn the cases registered against thousands of NSS workers, including women, for protesting against women's entry to Sabarimala.
"The government had promised to do so. But it has not done that to date." He claimed that the Congress and UDF have always taken a secular stand and opposed both minority and majority communalism.
"However, before the Lok Sabha polls in 2024, Pinarayi Vijayan was appeasing minority communalism, and now, in the run-up to the state elections next year, he is trying to appease majority communalism," Satheesan alleged.
The LoP also questioned why the posters of the Ayyappa conclave carried pictures of Vijayan and State Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan, but not of the deity.
"That shows that they (government) misused the conclave for their own political gains," he contended.
Congress veteran leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan also spoke along similar lines, saying that the UDF and Congress have no dispute with the NSS.
"We have never had a dispute with them, and there is no need for that now," he said.
Radhakrishnan said that both the Congress-led UDF and the NSS are moving in the same direction -- protection of the rituals and beliefs connected with Sabarimala.
He said that the NSS always had a consistent stand and all that it has done till now was protecting the rituals and beliefs associated with Sabarimala.
"It is the government's stance which has seen a major change," he added.
The party and UDF responses come in the wake of NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair, who has been following an 'equidistant' policy towards the LDF and the opposition UDF, openly stating in multiple interviews that he trusts the government, which had assured NSS that the age-old rituals in Sabarimala would be preserved.
While criticising the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for its inaction' after the Supreme Court verdict allowing women's entry to the Sabarimala temple, he also blamed the Congress, saying it appears that the party does not want Hindu votes.
SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan had said he welcomed the issue-based stand of the NSS.
