Is it politically and ideologically appropriate for a Marxist Minister, supposed to be a thorough materialist, to offer worship to the deity at a templeIJ Kerala’s ruling CPI(M) considers it as a forbidden act and any senior Marxist who does it has to be taken to task.
On Thursday, State CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told journalists that he would seek an explanation from party’s Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran — in-charge of temple affairs in Kerala — for offering worship at the famous Sri Krishna Temple at Guruvayur in Thrissur district on Tuesday on the occasion of the Sri Krishna Jayanthi.
“I don’t have exact information on what has happened. let me seek explanation from Kadakampally in this regard,” Kodiyeri said on Thursday. Senior CPI(M) leaders said Surendran, a State secretariat member of the party and its former Thiruvananthapuram district secretary, should not have committed such a ‘mistake’.
On his visit with family members to the temple on Tuesday as Minister in charge of temple affairs, Surendran had offered worship at the temple and had made offering of Pushpanjali to the deity. He had also made money offering at the temple. Visuals of Surendran offering prayers at the temple had appeared in the media.
He later said at a public meeting in Guruvayur that he was immensely satisfied by the temple visit. The BJP, which welcomed the Minister’s act, had made this an occasion to lash out at the CPI(M) for its alleged hypocrisy. BJP leader B Gopalakrishnan said, “It is high time the CPI(M) leaders stopped being hypocrites and allowed their workers to offer worship to God.”
Surendran had later said that some people intolerant to his achievements as Minister were behind the bid to trigger a controversy over his temple visit. He said that his family members had always been believers and that he had never tried to correct them. Former CPI(M) Devaswom Minister G Sudhakaran had never offered worship at the Guruvayur temple.
A CPI(M) plenum held at Palakkad in 2013 had resolved to ban party members from being office-bearers of religious and caste outfits and from visiting places of worship for offering worship. This step was taken as part of the efforts to eradicate all tendencies that were considered inappropriate for a Marxist-leninist party.
CPI(M)’s State secretariat member MV Govindan had reportedly unleashed scathing criticisms against Surendran at the meeting of a party forum on Wednesday. Govindan said that Surendran’s act was inappropriate for a senior Marxist leader whose political ideology was founded on dialectical materialism.
The CPI(M) is worried about the possibility of the senior Marxist leader’s act of offering worship at a temple publicly and therefore it is curious to ensure that the matter does not come up for discussion in the party conferences to be held from now on in preparation for the State conference and the party congress.
It also fears that the Opposition parties might make this a big campaign point during electioneering for the October 11 by-poll in the Vengara Assembly constituency. The State secretariat of the CPI(M) is expected to discuss the issue at its meeting on Friday and to find some way to settle the issue.