Sabarimala Issue: KPCC demands resignation of minister

KPCC demanded Devaswom Minister G Sudhakaran's resignation and dissolution of the Travancore Devaswom Board for the ‘inept handling’ of the Sabarimala pilgrimage.

KPCC on Friday demanded Devaswom Minister G Sudhakaran’s resignation and dissolution of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) for the ‘inept handling’ of the Sabarimala pilgrimage.

“The Government has not only failed to ensure a hassle-free pilgrimage but the words and deeds of the minister and TDB members have amounted to deeply hurting the sentiments of the devotees,” KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala told a press meet in Thiruvananthapuram.

The ‘mismanagement’ of the affairs at the hillshrine appeared to be part of the LDF Government’s ‘hidden agenda’ to hurt the sentiments of believers, he said.

Since the ‘mismanagement’ of Sabarimala pilgrimage came in the wake of complaints from Christian churches and organisations like the Nair Service Society (NSS) that the LDF Government had not been showing due respect to the sentiments of believers, one was forced to think that this had been part of a ‘hidden agenda’, he said.

As minister-in-charge of the temple affairs, Sudhakaran was primarily responsible for the hardships faced by the pilgrims, including the shortage of ‘aravana prasadam’. The TDB Presidents and its two members could not aquit themselves from the ‘muddle’ at the hill shrine, he said.

The ‘cold war’ between TDB president C K Guptan and two members- P Narayananan and P K Sumathikutty Ammma–had pushed the temple board into a serious crisis, affecting not only Sabarimala but also the 1200 other temples coming under the body, Chennithala said.

The only option left with the government was to dissolve the TDB and entrust the temple administration with a senior civil servant for the time being, he added.