Ahead of the Assembly elections in Kerala, Congress has raised the issue of women's entry into the Sabrimala temple again, and it has a multi-pronged strategy for doing so.
This move would put the ruling CPM-led left front in the defensive, counter the pro-Muslim tag being given to the Congress-led United Democratic Front and influence the Hindu majority vote banks.
The CPM has maintained a silence towards Congress’s assurance of a law to protect faiths over Sabarimala Ayyapa temple, while BJP national president J P Nadda said that the party’s stand on the issue has not changed.
Nadda, who is in Kerala to review the party’s election preparations on Wednesday, alleged that the Congress was backstabbing the people over the Sabarimala issue. The BJP leader said that Congress did nothing when women were allowed at Sabarimala and Rahul Gandhi had not uttered a single word on the matter so far. He added that over 250 cases were slapped against BJP leaders in connection with stirs against women entry. He called it the "height of hypocrisy" that the Congress is now assuring to bring in legislation to protect Sabarimala.
The CPM seems to be in a dilemma over how to address the issue with polls coming up. The mishandling of the Sabarimala issue, by trying to implement the SC order of 2018, which allowed women of all age groups to enter the temple, was considered to be a key reason for the debacle faced by the Left Front in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. But if the Front takes a stand to prevent women in the 10-50 age group from entering the temple, that would affect its progressive stature.
Meanwhile, political analysts pointed out that the main intention of the Congress behind raising the Sabarimala issue now was to resist the ongoing campaign by CPM that the Congress’s priority was appeasement of minority communities, especially Muslims. The grand old party also aims to refute the rumours that the Indian Union Muslim League was dictating terms for its functioning.
C A Josukutty, a senior political analyst, said that by offering legislation on Sabrimala, Congress seems to be sending a message that they are rgistering the concerns of Hindus also.