Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan cautioned against the alleged attempts being made by certain quarters to divide society along the lines of caste and religion by undoing the social reformation that the State has achieved through the renaissance movement.
Inaugurating V.V. Dakshinamoorthy Bhavan, the headquarters of the Travancore Devaswom Employees Confederation, here on Thursday, Mr. Vijayan said that conservative groups have set out to revive an atmosphere of divisiveness and caste-based discrimination in the State for their political gains.
Referring to the recent controversy that surrounded women’s entry in Sabarimala, he said such groups attempted to push the State to unrest and lead the society through a path of degradation. Such efforts were aimed at reversing the painstaking efforts of several social reformers, who had braved the oppression of the orthodoxy before ridding the society of regressive customs and superstitions, he said.
Lashes out
Presiding over the function, Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran lashed out at the opposition parties for propagating falsehoods regarding the preparedness of the Travancore Devaswom Board for the annual pilgrim season at the Sabarimala shrine.
He, however, admitted that the government had failed to spread awareness regarding its stance prior to the general elections, in which it could win only one out of the 20 seats in the State. The Minister added that the employees of the Devaswom Board were also responsible in this regard by failing to counter false propaganda.
TDB president A. Padmakumar, members K.P. Sankaradas, N. Vijayakumar, CPI (M) central committee member K. Radhakrishnan, CPI (M) district secretary Anavoor Nagappan and Confederation president C.N. Raman were also present on the occasion.
