Sabarimala gold: Oppn demands minister’s resignation, disrupts Kerala assembly

Opposition MLAs in Kerala stalled assembly proceedings for the second consecutive day on 7 October, Tuesday, demanding the resignation of the state Devaswom minister over alleged irregularities concerning gold-clad copper plates at the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple.

Speaker A.N. Shamseer initially attempted to continue with Question Hour despite the uproar from United Democratic Front (UDF) legislators, but was eventually forced to suspend the session as the protests escalated, with UDF members shouting slogans and holding up banners and placards near the Speaker’s podium.

The disruption began as soon as the session opened, with Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan citing the Kerala High Court’s recent observations on the matter. He described the court’s findings as “shocking”, stating that the gold covering the dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols at Sabarimala had allegedly been sold at an inflated price.

He accused the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which manages the shrine, of not only violating the temple’s sanctity but also betraying the faith of millions of Lord Ayyappa devotees.

“The Devaswom minister [V.N. Vasavan] must step down and the TDB should be dissolved. The government must make its position clear immediately,” Satheesan demanded.

In ‘response’, law minister P. Rajeev and parliamentary affairs minister M.B. Rajesh accused the Opposition of indulging in ‘drama’ for political mileage.

Rajeev argued that the government had already accepted the High Court’s order for a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the issue.

He went on to claim that the Opposition's stance suggested a refusal to accept the authority of the judiciary. “They are trying to hijack assembly proceedings for narrow political gains,” Rajeev alleged.

Rajesh echoed this sentiment, accusing the UDF of being afraid of the judiciary, the assembly and public scrutiny.

Despite repeated appeals from the Speaker thereafter, Opposition MLAs refused to return to their seats, however, forcing Shamseer to suspend the session temporarily.

A similar adjournment had occurred on 6 October, Monday, due to the ongoing row over the Sabarimala issue.

The Kerala High Court had on 6 October ordered the formation of an SIT to investigate the reported irregularities involving a significant reduction in the weight of the gold-clad copper plates on the dwarapalaka idols.

The decision came after the TDB Vigilance team submitted an interim report from its preliminary inquiry. The court had earlier instructed TDB Vigilance to look into the matter after it emerged that the idols — sent for electroplating to a Chennai-based firm in 2019 as part of a project funded by businessman Unnikrishnan Potty — had returned with a lower gold weight than expected.

With inputs from PTI