Rush At Sabarimala: How Right Wing Eco-System Used A Child’s Visuals To Attack Kerala (twitter.com/RShivshankar)
A recent video of a child, a Sabarimala pilgrim, seen crying and seeking help to locate his father and police personnel trying to console the child went viral on social media. Soon, Police found his father, and kid waved “bye” to police – a rather a good ending to otherwise traumatic story, however, is currently facing a lot of flak directed at Kerala state, the Communist government and administrative machinery in place. In many social media platforms, especially on right-wing Hindu handles, the video took a turn of communal flavour and being spread it as plight of Hindus in Kerala under the tag #Sabarimala.
In the rampant and vicious misinformation cycle, the video was given communal reading and misleading social media narrative that Hindu community is not safe under Pinarayi Vijayan-led Communist government. The fake news even went to the extent of accusing that Hindu devotees are being attacked under the LDF government. Some handles wrote that kid was taken into custody by police and was being taken in a police van, the information which Mohammed Zubair, fact-checker and co-founder of Alt news dismissed in his X handle and reported it is a Kerala Government bus with sharing the logo of the KSRTC bus.
Hello @MrSinha_ deleted your misleading tweet?
It is not a police van. It is a Kerala Govt bus and here is KSRTC bus Logo. 👋👋 @TheKeralaPolice https://t.co/mnxLZx27Uj pic.twitter.com/GG9GLvlWay— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) December 12, 2023
The overwhelming rush, Sabarimala witnesses every season is not unknown. Citing statistics, India Today reports that on an average, 62,000, pilgrims visited Sabarimala during the first 19 days of the Mandala Puja, and it increased to 88,000 in the four days beginning on December 6, which resulted in overcrowding. On Saturday, an unfortunate incident happened where an 11-year-old girl from Tamil Nadu collapses and dies due to breathing- issues while waiting in queue at the temple.
On Tuesday, the Kerala High Court pointed the state government to ensure safety and security to the Sabarimala Pilgrims, and execute crowd control measures. The mismanagement at the Sabarimala temple also resulted in protests by Congress and BJP in various parts of the state. Opposition Congress in Kerala slammed LDF government for this “mismanagement” and wrote on his X handle: “The Marxist government is trying to destroy Sabarimala, the holy land of believers irrespective of caste and creed.”
ശബരിമല വെറുമൊരു ക്ഷേത്രമല്ല. ഇന്ത്യയിലെ ഏറ്റവും വലിയ തീർഥാടന കേന്ദ്രമാണ്. 1200ൽ പരം ക്ഷേത്രങ്ങളുടെയും ദേവസ്വം ബോർഡിൻ്റെയും ചെലവുകൾ വഹിക്കുന്ന “രക്ഷാധികാരി”യാണ്. ജാതിമത ഭേദമെന്യേ വിശ്വാസികളുടെ പുണ്യഭൂമിയായ ശബരിമലയെ ഇല്ലാതാക്കാൻ ശ്രമിക്കുകയാണ് മാർക്സിസ്റ്റ് സർക്കാർ. #Sabarimala pic.twitter.com/gTtYU21Uj0
— Congress Kerala (@INCKerala) December 13, 2023
Similarly, V Muraleedharan, Union minister of state for external affairs and BJP leader from Kerala said that the CPM government was trying to sabotage Hindu pilgrim centres, Deccan Herald reports.
Meanwhile, to address the increasing flow of pilgrims visiting the Sabarimala, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan held a special review meeting on Wednesday to discuss concerning improved coordination and crowd management measures. He analysed the current situation and directed officers to secure that proper arrangements in order to avert any harm to the pilgrims. In purview of the situation, the darshan (worship) time at Sabarimala has been improved by one hour.
