ALAPPUZHA: PWD Minister G. Sudhakaran has demanded the appointment of a non-Brahmin priest to the Chettikulangara temple and said that the TDB decision to shelve the order to post the Keezhsaanthi (assistant priest) to the temple was unacceptable.
“It’s the TDB which decided to cancel the order to transfer the priest (Sudhikumar) to the temple. It should change its decision. Otherwise, the government will intervene,” he told DC.
He said that non-Brahmins had entered the temples in Kerala even before the Supreme Court had pronounced its verdict in 2002. I don’t know why the priest was denied entry to the temple. However, my stand is that a non- Brahmin priest should be allowed to perform his duty,” the former devaswom minister said.
Alappuzha DCC president M. Liju has sent a letter to TDB president Prayar Gopalakrishnan demanding to implement the order appointing Sudhikumar. He alleged that the TDB was promoting the Sangh Parivar agenda joining hands with Sreedevi Vilasm Hindumatha Convention backed by the RSS against the priest.
The TDB was trying to take people back to the dark age of casteism which was abolished by popular movements, he said.
“You (Prayar Gopalakrishnan) had served as people’s representative of Indian National Congress which led legendary struggles such as Vaikom and Guruvayoor satyagrahas. So it does not suit your morality to deny a person’s right to job in the name of caste, taking regressive complaints into account. Being the TDB president, you have to take sincere steps to appoint Sudhikumar as Keezhsanthi at Chettikulangara temple itself,” he said in the letter sent on Friday.
