Kerala High Court slams political performance at temple festival

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday expressed strong disapproval over music with political undertones being played at the Kadakkal Devi temple festival on March 10 [Adv. Vishnu Sunil Panthalam @ Vishnu Sunil v. The Kadakkal Temple Advisory Committee & Ors.].A Division Bench of Justices Anil K Narendran and Muralee Krishna S today minced no words in criticising the use of the temple premises for political and non-religious purposes."What kind of decorations have you done on stage? Is this a college festival? You took money from devotees to do this! ... This is a temple festival. Shouldn't it be for devotional song performances, not film songs?" the Court remarked.The Court proceeded to order the Travancore Devaswom Board to make sure such incident do not re-occur in any temple under their management. "The Travancore Devaswom Board shall ensure that such activities are not taking place in temple festivals in any temple under its management," the Court ordered. .This is a temple festival. Shouldn't it be for devotional song performances, not film songs?Kerala High Court.The Court passed the interim order after watching videos of the temple festival programme in question, where a singer named Aloshy had performed songs like Pushpame Ariyamo and Nooru Nooru Pookkale, which have revolutionary and political messages.The singer had reportedly performed the song on a stage where flags of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) and the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) were displayed. A lawyer, advocate Vishnu Sunil, filed the present petition before the High Court to register opposition to this turn of events. The petitioner contended that the performance at the temple festival was deeply unlawful and hurt the sentiments of temple devotees.The petitioner further claimed that the performance was also not part of the sanctioned temple festivities and was, therefore, an unwarranted and distressing intrusion into the sacred event.Pertinently, Sunil alleged that the advisory committee of the temple itself may be influenced by political interests.This amounts to a violation of the principle of secularism which is a part of the basic structure of the Constitution, the petitioner argued.The petition further stated that the Travancore Devaswom Board, under whose management the Kadakkal Devi temple falls, failed to take any action ensure that temple premises are not used for political purposes.Hence, he urged the High Court to restrain the use of the Kadakkal Devi Temple premises for the promotion, endorsement or facilitation of any political party or political activities.The Court today made it clear that such political activities cannot be permitted in a temple. "After seeing the video clip, we find that the activities at the annual festival on March 10 cannot be accepted in a temple ... We make it explicitly clear that programmes such as the one seen in the video clip cannot be permitted during the annual festival of any temple," the Court said in its order.The Court proceeded to formally admit the lawyer's petition in the matter and sought a reply from the Kadakkal Devi Temple Advisory Committee and other official respondents.During today's hearing, the counsel representing the Travancore Devaswom Board informed that the Chief Vigilance and Security Officer (a Sub-Inspector of police) has been directed to look into the incident and file a report. A show cause notice has been issued to the temple advisory committee as well, the Court was told. The Devaswom Board added that the music programme was organised by the temple advisory committee and that the Board was not given any notice. The Court, however, was not convinced by this stance. "We are prima facie not impressed by the stand taken by the board. As seen in the video, large amounts have been spent to make various arrangements on the stage which is fitted with LED screens and flashlights," it said. .The Court added that such misuse of temple funds could have been prevented if there were proper regulatory measures in place. It noted that in earlier judgments, the Court had already issued guidelines to protect funds collected by temple committees. It, therefore, ordered the Travancore Devaswom Board to file a counter affidavit explaining the facts and circumstances prevailing now, in light of the Court's previous judgments on such aspects. "No organisation or group of devotees shall be permitted to collect money from devotees or the public for conducting temple festivals. Any money collection has to be with the permission of the Board as normally done in case of construction activities and all funds collected shall be subjected to audits by the State," the Court further made it clear. The matter will be heard again next week. .The petitioner was represented by advocate Jomy K Jose..[Read Order].[Read Live Coverage]