Vijayan is gambling on the Sabarimala issue to win the most number of Lok Sabha seats. Limiting the Congress number will give the Left Front a say in government formation if a ‘Mahagathbandhan’ of opposition parties wins general elections 2019. The Congress wants to deny the LDF any such advantage. A good account in Kerala is essential for the Congress to be in a position to seat Rahul Gandhi in the Prime Minister’s chair ahead of the likes of Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee.

The chief minister is following a plan, the tactic to deprive Congress Lok Sabha seats built into the strategy. The Ayyappa devotee doesn’t figure in his reckoning. He has placed women’s rights and Navothana front and centre of the Left strategy to trounce the UDF in Kerala in GE 2019. The Congress willy-nilly is left standing with the Ayyappa devotees and by extension, the BJP. Pinarayi Vijayan is hoping to line up Muslim and Christian voters behind the left parties. That said, opinion polls place the Congress in a better position.

The Congress is banking on Hindu Ayyappa-bhaktas ditching the CPM en masse for facilitating the Wednesday entry of the two “activist women” into the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala shrine, insisting that it was the “obstinacy” of the chief minister to blame. Pinarayi in turn believes the BJP will cut into the Hindu vote bank of the Congress. It’s gamble for both fronts. They have four months to turn the tide against each other and time is running out.

The Congress has to ward off both the LDF and the BJP. The saffron party’s vote share has increased since Swami Ayyappan became an issue. Ex-CJI Dipak Misra helped make women’s rights and Sabarimala an election-plank. The right-leaning justice chose to exit with a liberal halo. Maybe at heart of heart he is a Marxist. Maybe he is not politically savvy. Maybe he just likes to leave everybody guessing. Whatever, blame for the Kerala turmoil is being put to him.

That said, it’s become imperative for Pinarayi that the Supreme Court rejects the review petitions on January 22. He believes the Supreme Court will take into account the “women’s breach” of Sabarimala while hearing the review petitions as also the “illegal” shutdown of the temple by chief tantri Kandararu Rajeevraru. The Travancore Devaswom Board is expected to “take action” against the chief tantri, which will add to the turmoil.

In the ongoing perception battle, lies have become the staple and Pinarayi Vijayan is no Harishchandra. Most of what he says is with a straight face. And nobody dares to challenge him. The Travancore Devaswom Board is in his pocket. Neither Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran nor Board President A Padmakumar has the liver or heart or whatever to stand up to him, and his diktats. He plays both like a fiddle and the music is martial, not romantic!

An atheist with such overwhelming control over religious affairs is unprecedented – a miracle! Pinarayi is one part arrogance, and one part ego. He’s tough-guy about town who once reportedly told media at a presser to “Get the hell out”, which they did! Thursday, he told media at another presser to “report with integrity and honesty.” The mild voice and the correct words did not in any way take the warning out of the delivery. Deception is part of the perception battle. Pinarayi does not have Stalin’s moustache, that’s all.(IPA Service)