Sabarimala spot booking row; Govt likely to withdraw decision minding 2019 debacle

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Protests are spreading like wildfire over the government's decision to completely do away with spot booking for the Mandala- Makaravilakku pilgrimage at Sabarimala and allow only 80,000 visitors per day through online booking.

Taking lessons from the formerly held stance on women entry into the temple, it is likely that the government will withdraw from the decision.

With local and assembly elections coming up, sceptics believe CPM are scratching their heads with fire. The 2019 upheaval over the women's entry into Sabarimala benefited the Congress more than any other party. CPM would restrain themselves from committing the same blunder again.

In the last season, the pilgrims had to stand in queue for fifteen to twenty hours without even getting drinking water. Some devotees from neighbouring states gave up their mission midway due to heavy traffic snarls. They had to find solace by performing Neyabhishekam at Ayyappa temples at Pandalam and not the holy shrine.

ADGP Ajith Kumar, who was in charge of coordination, had taken a stand against spot booking that led to an altercation with the Devaswom Board officials. It is rumoured that Ajith Kumar is still behind the new decision.

The virtual queue system was controlled by the police till 2022. Up to 1.2 lakh people were able to seek darshan at the shrine through virtual queue on daily basis. The police generated huge revenue through the website. The Devaswom organizations approached the High Court against this and got the control handed over to them. Since then, the police have been accused of not cooperating wholeheartedly.