Vasavan should quit

#Vasavan should quit

Minister V.N. Vasavan seems to have taken his portfolio as “Devaswom” a little too literally, as if the gods themselves were meant to serve his convenience. Under his watch, the Travancore Devaswom Board finds itself in a golden scandal where temple ornaments apparently performed a divine metamorphosis from gold to copper! 

When the Kerala High Court takes notice and the opposition demands accountability, the minister’s only visible response is the art of denial. It seems Vasavan believes that devotion is best expressed not in service or transparency, but in silence and stubbornness. Perhaps he imagines that by ignoring the noise, the gods and the people will forgive him.

Then came the vallasadya at Aranmula, where Vasavan allegedly dined before the deity had been offered the meal, an act against conventional practice and ritual.. And if that wasn’t enough divine irony, his stoic stance behind President Murmu at Sabarimala, while she prayed with folded hands, revealed a man who could neither bow before faith nor rise to the dignity of his office. 

A minister of Devaswoms who cannot show reverence in the abode of the gods, nor responsibility in their administration, has surely lost his moral right to hold the post. It’s time for Vasavan to perform his own atonement starting with resignation.

-K A Solaman