Governing Body Sings CPM Changed Tunes on Sabarimala

“Our Renaissance leaders have taught us that some customs are meant to be broken.” Thus spoke the topmost CPI(M) leader and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in 2018. The custom that was broken was the ban on the entry of women of menstruating age to the Sabarimala temple. 

Cut to 2026. State Secretary of the CPI(M), M. V. Govindan, says the interests of the devotees must be protected, adding that ‘no stand was permanently fixed.’ What he left unsaid was that the party and the government may not now support the entry of women aged 10-50 years to the abode of Lord Ayyappan, a brahmachari.

Vijayan’s unmistakable words came after the September 28, 2018, verdict of the Supreme Court when the five-Judge Bench, in its majority judgement, held that the practice of excluding women of menstruating age from entering Sabarimala was unconstitutional. The party and the government led by CPI(M) went full steam to implement the apex court verdict. In fact, two women were practically led to the Sabarimala under police protection, though the government denied any role in this development. What happened during the interregnum that led the Communist Party to shift its stance?

The Left Democratic Front lost most of the by-elections in the State since 2021. The United Democratic Front, led by the Congress, swept the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. The LDF was unceremoniously ousted from a majority of the three-tier local bodies in last year's elections.   

Two of the most powerful sections of the Hindu community – Nairs and Ezhavas – opposed the government’s ‘cruelty to the faithful’ tooth and nail. The organizations which represent the two communities – Nair Service Society and Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Sangam – went hammer and tongs against the CPI (M) and the government led by it. Unless these powerful sections of the majority community are brought back to its fold, the LDF is sure to sit in the Opposition after the Assembly elections slated to take place in less than two months.

The CPI(M), the leading constituent of the Front, is seeking measures to recapture the lost ground. It started with the Global Ayyappa Sangamam convened by the Kerala government in association with the Travancore Devasom Board on September 20, 2025 at Pamba, the base camp from where the Ayyappa devotees start the five-km trek to the temple. But the ‘mission to curry favour with the devotees’ seems to have boomeranged.

The Sangamam is in the news now for all the wrong reasons. The High Court has come down heavily on the Devasom Board for the reported irregularities and misappropriation of funds in conducting the Sangamam. During its last hearing, the court tore the Board to pieces for failing to submit a transparent account along with all documents.

The government seems to be clutching at a straw before going into the abysmal depths of defeat. The Travancore Devasom Board, which administers the Sabarimala temple along with scores of others, passed a resolution early this week maintaining that the ban on the entry of women in the 10 to 50 age group should continue.

“The Board would inform the Supreme Court of its decision,” said TDB president K Jayakumar. The voice of the Devaswom Board is the voice of the government. Its president and members are the appointees of the government. In fact, a former president of the Board, A Padmakumar, who is presently in jail in connection with the Sabarimala gold theft case, was a CPI(M) MLA.

A Nine-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court is hearing a review petition against its 2018 verdict. The U-turn by the Devaswom Board and the Government on their earlier stand could have a bearing on the apex court's decision.

The bigger question is the opportunism of the Communist Party and the government on issues vital to people’s lives and beliefs. But ideology takes a backseat when the chair slips from under one's bottom, irrespective of the colours.