'Temple festival, not college annual day'; HC raps organisers for allowing revolutionary songs during Kadakkal temple festival

KOCHI: The High Court condemned the incident of singing revolutionary songs glorifying communism during a musical event at the Kadakkal Devi Temple festival in Kollam. In its remark, the court said the temple was not an ideal place to shower praise on communism and sing paeans for them. The court remarked that such an incident could have been avoided. Singer Aloshi performed the revolutionary songs at the temple festival on March 10, while the LED screens in the background showed flags of communism. The incident drew flak from people while the Devaswom board also initiated investigation against the organizers of the event.

“This is a temple festival. It is not a college annual day or a political party event. In Temple ceremonies, the beliefs of people should be respected. This is not a place to sing revolutionary songs of any political party. Is ‘DYFI Zindabad’ the often used slogan inside temples?” said the court. The Devaswom Secretary has also been made a party in the case.

In its reply to the High Court, the Travancore Devaswom said that the event was organized by the temple advisory committee. The court has also sought the government's position. The Devaswom Secretary is likely to inform the court of the government's position when the case is considered the next time. The court's criticism came after examining the visuals of the event.

The court after inspecting the expensive lighting arrangements of the show, quizzed the organizers of restraining from providing free food for the devotees during the festival if they had such money for the event.