Vox Populi on Sabarimala

              ( Sabarimala in the 1940's photographed by the  prince of the erstwhile Travancore)

I watched an NDTV interview of about a dozen men pilgrims at the Sanidhanam , Sabarimala. What is glaring are some disheartening facts, though the flip side is, almost all of them were against violence and the boorishness shown towards women venturing to the temple following the Supreme Court verdict. Presumably there were no true (sic) devotees  in that group!

None of them interviewed seem to have even basic knowledge of the Supreme Court verdict, the words used by the Court and the philosophy, the thought behind the Court’s judgment. Secondly the veiled misogyny was raising its hood in quite a few observations. While all of them were steadfast holding on to what they claim to be customs, sentiments  and tradition that they believe have been in force for centuries, their utter lack of the knowledge and awareness of the history of Sabarimala and even the recent history and happenings ( of the past 50 years) sounded dampening .

One gentleman even went on to say there are a thousand Ayappa temples world over and why could not women go there and leave Sabarimala to the glory of traditions and customs. Yet another went on to express the ungodliness around menstruation. Another bloke wanted Pinarayi Vijayan to demand the Center to bring an ordinance nullifying the Supreme Court verdict. He even cited the Jallikattu .  I felt ridiculous hearing his asinine talk and utter lack of knowledge about the matter. Dreadful it was one fellow even said that women should tend their home and look into other matters of social importance. The only sane voice sounded that, perhaps the Government ought to have bought more time from Courts.

Some even spoke about the glory of sentiments and customs over the Constitution and how popular sentiments must prevail over the Constitution.

I wished in the end I did not watch the damned interview. It was disheartening, very, very much. But then as it was after the Guruvayoor temple doors were thrown open to Dalits and untouchables in 1936 , it took 12 long years till 1948 for the first untouchable to enter that temple. Social change has been sparked off, the fuse is lit, but the time to the keg of powder that would bring down the wall of bigotry and obscurantism in smithereens will take a while.

Intolerance of Fascists

സംഘ്പരിവാർ -ബിജെപി /മാർക്സിസ്റ്റ്‌ കൾക്കു തമ്മിലുള്ള വ്യത്യാസം ചർമത്തിന്റെ ആഴത്തിൽ മാത്രമേയുള്ളു .ഇരുവരും അഭിപ്രായങ്ങളെയും ,എതിർ ചിന്താഗതികളെയും ഭയപ്പെടുന്നു .അവരുടെ ചിന്താഗതിയാണ് സത്യം ,അതാണ് വെളിച്ചമെന്ന് കണ്ണടച്ചു വിശ്വസിക്കുന്നതിനാൽ വെളിച്ചമെന്താണെന്ന് ആ കൂട്ടർക്ക് ഇനിയും മനസിലായിട്ടില്ല .

സുനിൽ ഇളയിടാത്തതിന്റെ നേരെയുള്ള നീച പ്രവർത്തി അവരുടെ അധമ സംസ്കാരത്തെയാണ് വിളിച്ചോതുന്നത്.പ്രതിയോഗിയെ കിട്ടിയിലെങ്കിൽ നാക്കെടുക്കാപ്രാണികളെ വരെ ചുട്ടെരിക്കുന്ന സംസ്കാരമാണെല്ലോ നമ്മൾ കണ്ടിട്ടുള്ളത്. പാപ്പിനിശ്ശേരി പാമ്പു വളർത്തൽ സങ്കേതത്തിൽ മാർക്സിസ്റ്റുകാർ കാട്ടിയ നിഷ്‌ഠുരത ഇനിയും അതിന്റെ പൈശാചിക രൂപത്തിൽ നമ്മളുടെയൊക്കെ മനസുകളിൽ തങ്ങിനിൽകുന്നില്ലേ ഇപ്പോഴും ?

എന്താണ് ഈ കൂട്ടർ ഭയക്കുന്നത്? ആശയങ്ങളെ ആശയങ്ങൾ കൊണ്ട് നേരിടാനുള്ള കഴിവുകേട്, ഭയം , to put it in simple words 'impotency ', അല്ലാതെ വേറെ എന്താണ് ? ബഹുസ്വരത അവരെ വിറളിപിടിപ്പിക്കുന്നു.!

എല്ലാത്തിനും ഒരു ഓമന പേരും, ന്യായവാദവും ഉണ്ടാവും - മനോവികാരത്തേ , വിശ്വാസത്തെ വ്രണപ്പെടുത്തി എന്ന് ! അയലത്തെ വീട്ടിലെ നായ് ഒന്ന് കുരച്ചാൽ തെറിച്ചു പോകുന്ന വിശ്വാസ പ്രമങ്ങളാണോ ഇവർ പേറി നടക്കുന്നത് ? ഹാ കഷ്ടം!

തൊടുപുഴ ന്യൂമാൻ കോളജിലെ അധ്യാപകന്റെ കൈത്തണ്ട ഛേദിച്ച പിശാശുക്കളും ഇവരും തമ്മിലുള്ള അകലം അവരുടെ പേരുകളിൽ , സംഘടനയുടെ പേരുകളിലുള്ള ലിപികളുടെ വ്യത്യാസം മാത്രമേയുള്ളു . ശ്രീ സുനിൽ ഇളയിടത്തിനു എല്ലാ വിധത്തിലുമുള്ള ധാർമികമായ ഐകമത്യം രേഖപ്പെടുത്തി കൊള്ളട്ടേ . അന്തരിച്ച ചിന്തകനും , പത്ര പ്രവർത്തകനുമായ Christopher Hitchens പറഞ്ഞപോലെ , “Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. The grave will supply plenty of time for silence.”

There is a welcome outcome from all this furore, madness and cacophony about women entering Sabarimala. The articles, the debates on TV channels, the arguments and suddenly the plethora of information on Sabarimala, its past, the Indian constitution and its haloed basic principles all have suddenly come out to the center stage. Indeed one may have noticed a few anti women-entry friends & acquaintances, some who unlike the Indo –Pak soldiers at the Wagha border gates  and their energetic theatrics frown at you for real and murmur, “damn you anti Hindu –hindu”.

What the Sangh & the BJP along with other fascist fringe elements that constitute the Hindutva dynasty have inadvertently done through their sudden U-turn and opposition to the question of women entering Sabarimala, is in hindsight favourable to the society. It may facilitate the ushering in of an unstoppable debate, liveliness and paradigm change in the social psyche of Kerala. A 21 st century renaissance, if I may! Conservative opposition apart, in the form of “nama japa yatras”, I doubt if the rightwing can sustain their vile and opportunistic campaign of falsehood. For the incessant debates, the profusion of information that aids unbiased and dispassionate judgments have also allowed people to understand the flagitious agenda of the BJP-Sangh combine. The despicable and sinister game plan came out of the evil mule’s (K. Sredharan Pilla- the BJP State supremo) mouth itself in the form of braggadocio and hopefully the gullible who heeded to his call for Hindutva jihadh will take notice.

The so called Royals of Pandalam may rue the day they voiced their objection against the Supreme Court judgment. Thus opened up this social consciousness which is now threatening to dispossess them of their self-proclaimed rights and reverse their appropriation of the Sabarimala. Their locus –standi is as questionable as the writ of the 500 odd princess in the post Independent India.

The Tantri clan has walked themselves into a snare set up by themselves and is now like crooks trapped in an oubliette. A possible contempt of Court stare at them as much as the story of how they purloined the Malayarayans and their rights over the shrine.

The narrative that the State Govt ought to have bought sometime to educate the masses on the SC judgment on the facts about the shrine and the falsehood of the so called customs cannot be ignored. Well though one cannot rubbish them , yet the question remains was there any recourse to the Govt other than abide by the SC ruling on the question that touched the basic principles enshrined in the constitution?