The Sabarimala temple in Kerala.
Credit: PTI Photo
Thiruvananthapuram: The deepening mysteries over the missing of gold plating of Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in Kerala has taken the sheen off the Pinarayi Vijayan government's strategic move of organising the Global Ayyappa Sangamam to enhance rapport with Hindu outfits ahead of polls.
Already Sree Narayana Dharma Pariparala Yogam (SNDP), which represents the largest Hindu community in Kerala (Ezhava) that backed the Sangamam, has come out in the open against the government over the gold row.
The Nair Service Society leadership, which represents the second largest Hindu community (Nair), is learnt to be in a catch-22 situation for having supported the left front government during the Ayyappa Sangamam.
The Congress already started cashing in on the row by announcing a stir with the participation of devotees on Thursday over the gold missing row.
The BJP as well as Sangh Parivar outfits were also gearing up for major demonstrations over the issue, which could resemble the protests that the state witnessed in 2018-19 following attempts to enforce the Supreme Court order allowing women in the 10-50 age group to the temple.
The Sabarimala Karma Samathi and the Vishwa Hindu Parishat already filed police petitions seeking a case against those responsible for the gold "theft".
Incidentally, the row over the gold missing at the famed temple is snowballing into a major issue just ahead of the annual pilgrimage. The two month long annual pilgrimage of Sabarimala Ayyappa temple will begin in November.
The gold missing row is getting murkier day by day. Former officials of the Travancore Devaswom Board as well as those engaged in the gold plating of the temple had reiterated that the 'dwarapalaka' idols were gold plated with industrialist Vijay Mallya's sponsorship in 1998.
This further strengthens the mystery as the platings were mentioned as copper only even in the devaswom board's records, while those were removed in 2019 for gold plating with the sponsorship Bengaluru based Malayali Unnikrishnan Potti, who is now under a cloud of suspicion.
While Potti was quizzed by the devaswom vigilance on Saturday and Sunday, devaswom officials could also face the probe.
SNDP general secretary Vellappally Natesan alleged that 'secret groups' extorting wealth from temples were operating in the state and the mismanagement of 'devaswom' board should be ended. He said in SNDP mouthpiece 'Yoganadam' that the political interventions in temple management should be ended.
The CPM government is literally struggling to put up a defensive as the entire irregularities happened during the term of the CPM government only.