Kerala temple painted in green changed to ivory after Hindu protest.

Thirumandhamkunnu temple at Angadipuram in Kerala’s Malappuram which was painted in the Pakistani flag color had to change to Ivory color due to a protest of Hindu Aikya Vedi. 

B Upendran | HENB |  Malappuram | March 22, 2023:: The temple committee of Thirumandhamkunnu Bhagavathy temple at Angadipuram in Malappuram infested with Communist and pro-Islamist elements, has painted the temple with the color of the Pakistani flag – green and white – ahead of the Pooram festival. Even more alarming is the sizable presence of Muslims on the festival committee as patrons and members. The first name on the panel is that of Muslim League leader and Member of Parliament Abdul Samad Samadani who was allegedly instrumental in the fraudulent conversion of eminent Malayalam writer Kamala Das. (Kamala Das was trapped in love jihad on the promise of marriage and after conversion, she was dumped).

Out of the 14 patrons, five are Muslims. The chairman of the committee is Manjalamkuzhi Ali, MLA. One of the vice-chairmen of the panel is Jose Varghese, a Christian.

Attaching the list of Temple Festival committee, one Ambika JK tweeted, “Angadipuram Thirumandhamkunn Puragosh Committee. Secularism can only be established if Hindu-Muslim is half-half. This is not right!”

The renowned Thirumandhamkunnu temple comes under the Malabar Devaswom Board. The green color of the temple has been the subject of communally charged discourses because of its use in religious and political flags, including the Indian Union Muslim League, associated with the Muslim community. It is also used to represent Islam in country flags including that of Pakistan. As such a reaction of the Hindu mindset was upsurged by the way.

Accordingly, Hindutva activists led by Hindu Aikya Vedi expressed their displeasure and threatened to repaint the temple with suitable color. After that, some of the walls of the Thirumandhamkunnu Bhagavathy Temple, a pilgrim destination which was sported green color had to repaint using ivory color on March 20.

In a Facebook post on March 20, KP Sasikala, state president of Hindu Aikya Vedi said members of the organization have reached the temple to submit a memorandum to temple administrators to change the color of the paint. “If the color is not changed we will change the paint. I don’t know how to paint but I would be there in the front to paint the walls,” said Sasikala. The walls were repainted on the same day and Sasikala shared pictures of it claiming that temple administrators did it on their own due to intervention by leaders of the Hindu Aikya Vedi.

Recently, the Kerala government banned the use of saffron color in the decoration of the Vellayani Bhadrakali temple located on the southern outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram ahead of the Kaliyootu Mahotsavam. Upset devotees, not only decorated the temple in saffron but set up a restroom for police using saffron clothes. But the police refused to use that facility.

The incidents of the onslaught on temples have increased ever since the CPI(M)-led government came to power in the state.

Malabar Devaswom Board president MR Murali told HENB  that light green was the existing color of these walls and it became brighter when a fresh coat of paint was applied. The repainting of the temple began in the first week of March. “But some people raised objection to the color as dark green and shared photographs in social media,” Murali said, adding that such a controversy that created misunderstandings among the devotees should not have happened in a great temple like this. “Some walls were repainted since the controversy broke out,” he said.

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__Inputs from Indus Scrolls and The News Minutes.