Supreme Court's Sabarimala verdict a face-saver for Kerala BJP

The verdict delivered by a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court on November 14 to keep the final decision on the Sabarimala review and writ petitions in suspension mode until a seven-judge bench delivers a pronouncement on it has saved the BJP leaders in Kerala—who were at the forefront of the agitation against the September 2018 order of the apex court—from possible embarrassment and trouble. A day prior to the verdict, there were murmurs from some quarters in the party on how the Supreme Court would, most likely, reject petitions challenging its earlier verdict. Such a scenario would have led to a commotion in BJP’s Kerala unit, given that the Union government was unlikely to bring a law to bypass the top court order allowing women of all ages to enter the hill shrine as that would be considered anti-women in other parts of the country and the world. This, at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to project himself as a progressive leader the world over. 

“An ordinance was definitely not on the cards. Our party president [Amit Shah] had indicated the same time and again. We were worried of the apex court rejecting the petitions. In that scenario, there would have been immense pressure on us by the Ayyappa devotees to persuade the Centre to pass an ordinance or do something on those lines which, frankly speaking, would have been very difficult. People would have lost trust in us completely and our existence in Kerala would have been at stake. We are happy that such a situation did not arise. Now let the apex court take its time and decide on the issue,” said a party leader. 

The CPI(M)-led government in Kerala received a legal advice on Friday that it should not allow women of childbearing age to enter the Sabarimala temple and should let the prevalent customs continue, as the apex court had neither stayed nor upheld the original verdict of September 2018. “Women aged between 10 and 50 will not be allowed to enter the Sabarimala temple this year. Sabarimala will not be a place to demonstrate activism,” said Kadakampally Surendran, temple affairs minister. 

There were talks on how the BJP government at the Centre was mulling over a law that brings the Sabarimala temple under national pilgrimage centres. But Union minister V. Muraleedharan has denied it. “There is no provision in the Constitution that allows us to do it on our own. It is the state government that has to come up with a proposal to include a particular temple under national pilgrimage centres, only after which can we decide, according to the provisions, on how we can help the temple. The Centre cannot simply take over Sabarimala temple and its affairs,” said Muraleedharan to THE WEEK. 

When asked what his government would have done had the apex court rejected the petitions on November 14, said Muraleedharan, “We would not have brought an ordinance on Sabarimala temple, as it is a state subject, and the Constitution does not allow us to do that. The state government has to pass an ordinance first, which we can approve. I think people need further clarity on the issue. People fail to understand that the Centre cannot pass an ordinance on state subjects like Sabarimala temple. That, too, bypassing a Supreme Court verdict. So, an ordinance was out of question. But we are always with devotees and will always work in their interest,” he said. 

CPI(M)'s central committee member and former MP from Kannur P.K. Sreemathi said there was no change in the party’s stand on the Sabarimala issue. “We are always for equality to prevail everywhere, including in Sabarimala. We are for women of all ages entering the temple. What the state government decided today is according to the prevailing situation and on the basis of the legal advice it got. It has nothing to do with the party’s stand, which is very clear,” said Sreemathi to THE WEEK.

Kerala’s leader of opposition and senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala told THE WEEK that the latest order on Sabarimala vindicates his party's stand. “Neither the BJP nor the left parties want to bring an ordinance to protect the customs in Sabarimala temple. The first thing that the Congress-led UDF government in Kerala would do after coming back to power in 2021 is to pass an ordinance to protect the rituals and practices in Sabarimala.” He said the new order of the Supreme Court nullifies its earlier order. “There is no need for a stay on the earlier order. The state government should show the guts to withdraw its affidavit in the Supreme Court, where it said it supports the entry of women of all ages into the temple. Sabarimala devotees in Kerala know that it is only the Congress that genuinely stands by them,” said Chennithala, a front-runner to the CM post provided the Congress-led United Democratic Front comes to power in 2021, when Kerala goes to polls.