7 months ago
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A caller contention surrounding the alleged misuse of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) surplus funds for organising the Global Ayyappa Sangamam astatine Pampa successful September appeared to canine the Left Democratic Front (LDF) authorities connected the eve of the Kerala Legislative Assembly league connected Monday (October 6, 2025).
Congress person and erstwhile Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan accused the authorities of illegally diverting the temple’s gross from devotees to organise a “pre-election governmental pageant with an oculus connected the votes of lakhs of Ayyappa devotees.”
Mr. Radhakrishnan alleged that the authorities had committed perjury by “falsely testifying” successful the High Court, portion seeking the court’s support for the meet, that it would not pat into the TDB funds for underwriting the authoritative event. He alleged that backstage contractors with authorities connections profited from the “illegal money diversion.”
No illegality involved: CPI(M)
Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State committee subordinate K. Anil Kumar stated that the TDB had informed the tribunal that it would remit the funds to the board’s treasury wrong a specified clip period, contingent upon outgo from the event’s sponsors. “There is nary illegality arsenic alleged. Those opposed to Sabarimala improvement are spreading the canards,” helium added.
Meanwhile, the contention surrounding the “misuse and theft of temple offerings astatine Sabarimala” besides seemed to render the authorities susceptible to disapproval from hindu societal organisations and Opposition parties up of the Assembly session.
In an sentiment portion successful Yoga Nadam, the mouthpiece of the influential Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam, the societal organisation’s wide caput Vellapally Natesan alleged that an entrenched cabal of corrupt officials, pilferers, and their agents had escaped rein successful Sabarimala, and the “mafia” exploited the religion of Ayyappa devotees for fiscal gain.
Recently, the SNDP Yogam and the Nair Service Society (NSS), different influential hindu societal organisation, had aligned itself with the government’s Devaswom argumentation aft the ruling beforehand promised to insulate the Sabarimala tradition, including the customary prohibition connected the introduction of women of childbearing property into the temple, and guarantee its aboriginal improvement into an planetary spiritual destination.
CBI probe
United Democratic Front (UDF) convener Adoor Prakash said the Opposition would instrumentality to the streets connected Monday, demanding a High Court-monitored Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the “Sabarimala temple theft scam.” Mr. Prakash signalled the UDF’s heavy distrust of a probe by Kerala’s instrumentality enforcement.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) person P.K. Krishnadas said that thousands of Ayyappa devotees, including women and children, would laic siege to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s authoritative residence astatine the Cliff House successful Thiruvananthapuram for a CBI probe.
