An unholy mess: How BJP is using Sabarimala issue to make inroads in Kerala

The protests against Sabarimala verdict have exposed the ingrained obscurantism beneath the veneer of a progressive society and the cynical politics of religion that is at play

Kerala is under siege like never before in its volatile history. As the state struggles to get back on its feet after the worst floods in a century, it is convulsed in a violent religious campaign that belongs to another time and place. For the saffron brigade, the Supreme Court’s decision to allow the entry of women of all ages into the hilltop temple of Ayyappan in Sabarimala has come as a godsend, the perfect handle to reignite the regressive religious campaign that the RSS-BJP cohort has been pushing for decades in the last Left bastion in the country.

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