Huge rush of pilgrims at Kerala's Sabarimala takes a political turn

The chaos at Sabarimala owing to the heavy rush of pilgrims over the last few days is snowballing into a political row in Kerala with the Congress and the BJP using the issue to accuse the CPM-led Left Democratic Front government for lapses in crowd management.

There were reports that many pilgrims to the Ayyappa shrine from other states including Karnataka even returned without darshan owing to the heavy rush. Apart from standing in queues for long hours for darshan, pilgrims are also struggling to get transport buses from parking grounds to the temple. 

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who convened a high-level meeting to review the Sabarimala situations, said in a statement that the sudden rush of pilgrims was the reason for the difficulties in crowd control. While the average number of pilgrims during the initial 19 days of the pilgrimage was around 62,000, it increased to 88,000 from December 6. This led to a sudden rush of pilgrims. 

The Devaswom Bench of the Kerala High Court also intervened into the matter and directed that only those with virtual queue booking or spot booking for queues should not be allowed darshan.

Vijayan flayed that the Congress and BJP was trying to politicise the issue by exaggerating the situation. It was unfortunate that the recent death of a girl due to health issues while trekking was also misused by the opposition parties for political gains, he said.

Opposition leader V D Satheesan of the Congress said that despite Sabarimala being one of the important pilgrim centres in the country the government was not giving adequate attention to ensure a smooth pilgrimage. Congress-led United Democratic Front MPs also raised the matter in the Parliament on Tuesday. A UDF delegation visited Pamba and spoke to the pilgrims.

Union minister of state for external affairs and BJP leader from Kerala V Muraleedharan said that the CPM government was trying to sabotage Hindu pilgrim centres.

Various outfits of Congress and BJP also carried out demonstrations at various parts of the state to protest against the government over the issue.

It may be recalled that the CPM government in Kerala was caught up in a tight spot after the Supreme Court lifted the ban on entry of women in 10-50 age range to the hill shrine in 2018.