Musings

 

Kerala’s Cauldron of Lunacy: A Political and Social Critique

A century ago, Swami Vivekananda labeled Kerala a "lunatic asylum", a critique that still echoes in the state’s complex socio-political landscape. Swami Vivekananda and Sree Narayana Guru were contemporaries and the latter especially an influential figure in Kerala’s spiritual and social reform movements. Despite claims by self-proclaimed "international guru," no evidence—direct or indirect—substantiates a meeting between Vivekananda and Sree Narayana Guru, though their legacies converged through shared reformist ideals. Vivekananda’s 1892 Kerala visit inspired figures like Chattambi Swamikal and Dr. P. Palpu, indirectly supporting Narayana Guru’s anti-caste movement, which culminated in the founding of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP Yogam) in 1903. Today, the SNDP Yogam has been hijacked by charlatans and big money, while Kerala’s political arena remains a volatile mix of opportunism, ideological posturing, and a deceptive calm concealing simmering communal and caste tensions

Swami Vivekanada’s observation holds good even today amidst the chest thumping by the left and center vying for Guru’s legacy. I mentioned this to remind that Kerala is still a cauldron of lunatics and waiting to boil over – the Sangh and the BJP are doing whatever they could to accelerate that.

 

The Left, the Center, and the Sangh: A Brewing Storm

The state’s social fabric, strained by caste, religion, and economic distress, teeters on the edge- a stage to implement the “Gujarat or the Manipur’ models!

 Amidst this, Kerala’s Chief minister (‘Respected’) Pinarayi Vijayan’s silence on Rahul Gandhi’s 2025 "Vote Adhikar Yatra," which alleges voter list fraud by the Election Commission to upend opposition politically , should raise eyebrows .He remains mum on Gandhi’s campaign, which enjoys robust support from the INDIA alliance opposition  and leaders like Tamil Nadu’s MK Stalin. Is this a hint of a subtle understanding with the BJP, or merely hubris?

Ayyappa Sangamam: A Communist’s Religious Gambit

Enter the Ayyappa Sangamam, a conclave of Lord Ayyappa’s devotees, whose celibacy is fiercely guarded by fervent ‘bakths’- devotees!  In an unprecedented move for a Marxist government, ("Respected") Pinarayi Vijayan, the helmsman of the Left Democratic Front (LDF), has championed this religious event, with his comrades (aka) bakths cheering him on. This spectacle, reminiscent of the Maramon Convention on the banks of the Pampa River, is a thinly veiled political manoeuver to bolster the LDF’s image ahead of the November 2025 local body elections and the 2026 Kerala Assembly election. In a recent video clip, ("Respected") Pinarayi Vijayan claimed the conclave was not born overnight but is the product of years of meticulous planning. Planning, perhaps, sparked in the wake of the LDF’s disastrous drubbing in the 2019 and 2024 general elections? For a Communist leader to orchestrate a religious gathering is not just opportunistic—it’s a master class in ideological acrobatics, driven by political survival rather than democratic principles- utter hypocrisy. The trampling of democratic processes by a constitutional body, allegedly with political connivance, seems a trivial matter in comparison.

 

A Chequered Past and a Convenient Amnesia

(‘Respected’) "Pinarayi’s newfound veneration for Ayyappa devotees contrasts sharply with his actions after the 2018 Supreme Court verdict allowing women’s entry into Sabarimala.

Back then, his government unleashed police action against protesting devotees and facilitated the covert entry of women activists into the temple at night, despite a pending review petition. Many Hindus viewed this as an affront, a hubristic slap to their sentiments. Yet, (‘Respected’) Pinarayi’s survival as Chief Minister, weathering this and arrogance leading to the Silver Line fiasco, reflects the CPI(M)’s unwavering loyalty—or is it the cadre’s blind bakthi, akin to the Sanghi devotion to their Vishwa-Guru? The Ayyappa Sangamam seems a calculated bid to erase these memories, papering over past offenses to Hindu sentiments.

 

Kerala’s Real Crises Take a Backseat

While(‘Respected’) Pinarayi  Vijayan fixates on appeasing Ayyappa’s bakths , Kerala grapples with existential crises: a crippling debt burden, financial crunch exacerbated by the Union government’s unconstitutional and criminal intransigence, mounting social, ecological, and environmental distress. For the (‘Respected’) Chief Minister, these state-level challenges seem secondary to personal political consolidation. Critics might argue his governance veers toward Stalinist despotism, cloaked in the garb of Indian democracy, where power trumps principle. This man would have gone rampaging if Kerala was like UP said one comment. One could not blame such opinion. Could we?

Conclusion

Even one hundred years after Swami Vivekanandan’s assessment Kerala remains a lunatic asylum, not just for its historical caste rigidities but for its contemporary political absurdities – enlightenment and reformation on paper!  (‘Respected’) Pinarayi Vijayan’s Ayyappa Sangamam, far from a spiritual endeavour, is a cynical ploy to woo voters, the CPM lost to the Sabarimala fiasco. His silence on electoral fraud allegations, coupled with his past confrontations with Ayyappa devotees, paints a picture of a leader more concerned with power than democratic integrity. As the Sangh and BJP stir the pot, and the Left and Congress bicker over Narayana Guru’s legacy, Ayyapa Sangamam, and sexual escapades of politicians, Kerala’s cauldron of woes and perils simmers, waiting to boil over.

In this context one must take note that Kerala has not yet enacted a comprehensive law specifically targeting superstition, black magic, sorcery, or related inhuman practices, despite recommendations, draft bills, and court interventions. We have had a leftist government for almost ten years uninterrupted! One wonders if the "Respected" Pinarayi’s bakthi for Ayyappa will save him—or if it’s just another act in this theater of lunacy.