Even on April 6, the polling day, Lord Ayyappa dominated the headlines in God’s own country. Sabarimala has been a prominent issue throughout the month-long intense campaign for the assembly polls, and the raging debate exposed deep divisions on religious lines once again. If the war of words between the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the opposition parties over women’s entry into Sabarimala temple was anything to go by, whoever emerges the winner on May 2 has a tough task at hand. Though many aspects of the election will be pondered in the days ahead, the religio-sectarian narratives will be discussed the most—among them the verbal attack by opposition parties on chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan over his government’s decision to facilitate entry of women of all ages into the hill shrine at Sabarimala following the 2018 Supreme Court order.
This election is crucial for all three main players—the CPI(M)-led LDF, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). In the 2016 assembly election, the LDF romped home with 91 of the total 140 seats and the UDF bagged 47, while the BJP won its first-ever seat in the state. If the LDF government returns to power, it will be breaking the 44-year-old tradition of the LDF and the UDF replacing each other at the helm of the state government after every five years. As several pre-poll surveys predicted a return of the LDF government, the Congress and the BJP have pulled out all stops to prevent the ruling front from winning the election. No wonder Sabarimala became the major poll plank of the UDF and the NDA, both of which aimed to show the CPI(M) in poor light. Both fronts have proposed legislation to ban women’s entry into the temple. In its draft, the Congress even proposed to punish those who violate the temple’s traditions.
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