The ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have locked horns over the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s controversial order banning the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other outfits with “extreme ideology” from using temples administered by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) as a front for their martial training, political messaging, physical drills and indoctrination of impressionable youth.
The Devaswom Board commissioner issued the directive on October 20. It has provenance in an earlier Kerala High Court order relating to the RSS’s use of the Sarkara temple premises for holding “sakhas”. The decree would apply to 1,250 State-owned temples under the TDB.
On Friday, Devaswom Minister K. Radhakrishnan said the mandate did not seek to preclude any person or organisation from accessing temples for spiritual and religious purposes.
