wounds remain unhealed

#Wounds remain unhealed.

The LDF government under Pinarayi Vijayan has repeatedly shown arrogance and insensitivity towards the deeply held beliefs of crores of Ayyappa devotees. In 2018, by deliberately supporting the violation of Sabarimala’s age-old traditions and filing cases against innocent devotees, the government created wounds that still remain unhealed. 

Instead of respecting the sentiments of the faithful, Pinarayi Vijayan and his ministers ridiculed believers, dismissed their protests as political drama, and weaponized the police against ordinary pilgrims. Such actions exposed a government that placed its ideological stubbornness above the cultural and spiritual values of the people it was elected to serve.

Now, years later, the same rulers are trying to wear a mask of devotion by organizing expensive “Ayyappa meets” at Pampa with crores of taxpayers’ money. This hypocrisy has not gone unnoticed. Devotees clearly saw through the drama, as reflected in the success of the Pandalam Ayyappa protection meet compared to the flop show at Pampa. 

Spending huge sums to whitewash past mistakes will not erase the betrayal of 2018. The resurgence of people’s anger shows that the wound is still raw, and the government will be forced to face the consequences of its anti-devotee stance when the people deliver their verdict at the ballot box.

-K A Solaman