Sabarimala gold issue: UDF disrupts House proceedings for fourth day

Thiruvananthapuram | The Congress-led UDF on Thursday disrupted the Kerala assembly proceedings for the fourth consecutive day over the issue of alleged irregularities in the gold-plating of 'Dwarpalaka' (guardian deity) idols at the Lord Ayyappa shrine in Sabarimala.

As the House proceedings commenced, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan stood up and said that the UDF will continue its protest on the issue which has been going on for the last three days.

Satheesan also raised the issue of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan allegedly making body-shaming remarks against an opposition MLA.

He accused Speaker A N Shamseer of not acting in an unbiased manner, as he was okay with "whatever the ministers say, but you keep interrupting when I am speaking".

He, thereafter, alleged that the original idols had been sold for a huge amount and demanded action against those involved in it.

The opposition also demanded that the state Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan should resign and the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) should be dissolved.

"Till then we will continue with our protest," he said, after which members of the opposition trooped into the well of the House and held up a banner which said --gold turned into copper -- before the Speaker's podium.

At the same time, the Assembly's watch-and-ward personnel also entered the House and stood as a shield in front of the Speaker's podium.

As the opposition legislators held up the banner in front of the Speaker's podium, Shamseer directed the watch-and-ward personnel to take it away as it was blocking his view of the House and the legislators would not be able to address him.

The opposition MLAs then held up the banner a little further away from the Speaker's podium.

They also shouted slogans against the ruling front, as the Assembly proceedings continued unabated.

Reacting to the opposition move, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister M B Rajesh said that Satheesan's statement was a "call for violence" and contended that his allegations against the CM were devoid of facts.

"The CM did not name anyone," he added.

Vijayan had on Wednesday mocked the short stature of an opposition MLA in the state assembly following the disruption of the House by the UDF.

During question hour a day ago, there was a scuffle between opposition MLAs and watch-and-ward staff, and shouting between ruling and opposition benches over the issue of "missing" gold from the 'Dwarapalaka' idols of the Sabarimala temple.

Referring to the opposition protest in the well of the House and their alleged scuffle with watch-and-ward staff, including women, the Chief Minister had mocked the alleged action of an opposition MLA without naming him.

Vijayan had used colloquial language to refer to the MLA's short stature and linked it to his alleged unruly behaviour in the Assembly.

He had added that the MLA acted aggressively, not because of his own physical strength, but by relying on the protection afforded to him as an MLA.

The Kerala Assembly has been witnessing an uproar, since Monday, from the opposition UDF members who have been protesting, demanding the resignation of the Devaswom minister over the Sabarimala gold-plating row.

On Wednesday, they had engaged in a scuffle with watch-and-ward personnel and boycotted the House proceedings later.

The opposition had announced in the Assembly in the morning that they would not cooperate with the House proceedings until Vasavan resigned over the alleged irregularities linked to the reduced weight of gold-plated coverings on 'Dwarapalaka' idols at the Lord Ayyappa temple.

The weight reduction was revealed during the proceedings in the Kerala High Court in connection with the claddings being again sent for gold-plating this year, but without informing the court.

During the proceedings, it was found that when the claddings were last taken out of the Lord Ayyappa shrine for gold-plating in 2019, there was a reduction in their weight by around 4.5 kg, which had not been reported by the Devaswom officials.