In another embarrassment for the Congress Party in Kerala, the official video released by the Kerala unit on the Sabarimala controversy of 2018, on their Facebook page, was withdrawn after the heavy criticism it received, as reported by Swarajya.
The video, made by the Kerala unit of the Congress, was to criticise the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s policies on the entry of women of menstruating age into the Sabarimala temple.
Earlier, the Congress had promised that they would bring in a legislation to protect the age-old traditions at Sabarimala temple if they were voted to power in the 2021 Kerala Assembly elections.
The video, which is one minute long, was part of the UDF campaign strategy to clarify Congress’ stand on the issue, says this report. In the video, a young woman is shown getting ready for a trip to Sabarimala by applying lipstick, putting on her headphones and picking up her trekking bag. There is a family of four men and two women shown in the video to be present in a house in traditional attire that prays and chants. It is clear in the video that the women in western attire is not going on a pilgrimage but a fun hike as she takes a selfie while two policemen are accompanying the woman.
The video gets more dramatic as the four men who had clearly followed the strict rituals giving way to her and the policemen move ahead before them. This video has been brilliantly shot with excellent messaging as the camera then shifts to the feet of the women in her footwear escorted by policemen in their uniform shoes, however, the other men are barefoot and are shown climbing steps leading to the Sabarimala temple. The video ends with the two traditionally dressed women shocked upon watching the same clip, and a slide with the UDF’s promise to formulate laws to “protect the interest of believers”, i.e. Hindus.
However, the UDF withdrew this video after it received criticism on social media. The reason given for the withdrawal was that the campaign video was published without due diligence or permission.
It must also be noted that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has become very desperate to win the alienated Hindu vote and its own leader and Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran has expressed regret over the incidents that took place at Sabarimala over women entry.
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