The ruling front and the opposition seemed poised to draw new battle lines over the contentious issue of allowing women of menstrual age to enter the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple.
The Supreme Court’s decision to hear a series of petitions challenging the 2018 judgment that allowed women of all ages to enter the temple appears to have given new political currency to the religiously emotive dispute that sparked the “Save Sabarimala” campaign that rocked the first Pinarayi Vijayan government in 2019-21.
Leader of the Opposition VD Satheesan dared Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to withdraw the Kerala government’s affidavit in the Supreme Court supporting the demand to allow women to worship at the Ayyappa temple irrespective of their age. He said the government has been too vocal in the past on issues related to the preservation of Sabarimala traditions, even as the former Devaswom minister admitted that accompanying women activists to the temple was a mistake.
“If the Left Democratic Front (LDF) shows reluctance to withdraw the affidavit of offending devotees, the next United Democratic Front (UDF) government will file a fresh affidavit against the entry of women,” he said.
Nair Service Society (NSS) general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair said the LDF government expressed regret that the handling of the matter was flawed. “The NSS has no idea about the government’s stand on the temple custom, which was essentially a religious practice,” he said.
Law Minister P. Rajeeve said the UDF is jumping the gun. “It is possible that the SC is hearing the case to constitute a constitution bench to hear the petitions challenging the 2018 order allowing entry of women,” he said. Mr Rajeeve said Mr Satheesan was showing undue haste in aggressively politicizing an emotive issue ahead of the parliamentary polls, with little regard for the social impact of the dispute. He said the UDF’s offer to take a page from the ‘Save Sabarimala’ campaign in 2019 would only favor forces that are “patiently waiting with vulture eyes to create a social schism”. Mr. Rajeeve said Mr. Satheesan’s penchant for prescribing instant solutions to complex legal conundrums facing governments and courts will not go down well.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) State Secretary MV Govindan said the government will constitutionally support the interests of devotees and there is no cause for concern. Asked if the CPI(M) would change its stand on the issue of women’s entry, Mr. Govindan said somewhat cryptically: “Change is the only constant in the march of history.”
Published – 15 February 2026 21:00 IST