Sabarimala temple issue led to LS poll debacle: CPI(M)
Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 26: After the Lok Sabha poll drubbing in Kerala, where the LDF could win only a single seat, the ruling CPI(M) Wednesday admitted the entry of two women into the Sabarimala temple did cause a "big impact" at the hustings.
This was stated in a post-poll evaluation report, prepared by the party's central committee and discussed during the two-day state committee meeting here on Sunday and Monday, excerpts of which were published in party mouthpiece "Deshabhimani" on Wednesday.
A day after the human wall of women was organised by the ruling front on January 1, two women had trekked the holy hills and offered prayers at Sabarimala temple.
This was much used by the Opposition Congress-led UDF and the BJP during the election campaign, creating a "big impact" among party sympathisers, it was stated in the report.
This is the first time that the CPI(M) has openly admitted the entry of the two women Bindu and Kanakadurga (both in their forties) into the Lord Ayyappa temple on January 2 had contributed to the Front's defeat.
The Supreme Court had on September 28 last year allowed women of all age groups to offer prayers at the Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala, where earlier women and girls in the menstrual age were forbidden.
Protests had broken out in the state after the LDF government decided to implement the verdict.
Earlier, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had stated that Sabarimala women's entry issue was not the reason for the ruling Left front's rout in the LS polls and had claimed that many voted for Congress-led UDF, which won 19 seats, expecting it to form the government at the Centre.
While the CPI(M) and the LDF government decided to favour the SC court verdict, the Congress and the BJP first supported and later changed their stance.
They launched a "vicious" campaign against the LDF and succeeded in attracting the section of voters close to LDF, the report stated.
The fear that the BJP would ride to power at the Centre once again, created a pro-UDF wave among secular minds and led to votes being polled in favour of the UDF, it said.
The report said the CPI(M) failed to read the pulse of the people, which was a "serious" flaw.
Though there was good acceptance of the LDF government's performance among people, it, however, was not reflected in the poll outcome and this needed to be examined.
The report also stated that at the centre there was a need to form a secular government for which there was need to strengthen the Left presence.
However, the LDF could not garner the confidence of the electorate.
To ensure the defeat of CPI(M) and the LDF, the report alleged that in Thiruvananthapuram, Attingal, Pathnamthitta, Thrissur and Palakkad, the BJP gave a share of their votes in favour of UDF.
The report said even though it was the Left party which was at the receiving end of political violence in the state, the UDF, the BJP and the media succeeded in unleashing a campaign blaming the CPI(M) and LDF for the same.
Despite a chunk of its votes going to the UDF kitty, the BJP could garner 15.56 per cent votes and this has created a "big scare", it said adding to stall the saffron party's growth in the state, there is need to put up a united fight and be patient.
In some party strongholds, there has been an erosion in the votebank, and it needs to be examined why despite the party's efforts and the good performance of the government, the party failed to expand it voter base.
The report stated the party had failed to attract youngsters and wanted it to tap social media like the BJP.
It also expressed anguish over the erosion in its traditional vote bank in its strongholds.
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2 Indian nationals part of crew of luxury cruise ship that reported hantavirus outbreak
London (PTI): At least two Indian nationals are part of the crew of the Dutch vessel MV Hondius which reported a hantavirus outbreak with five confirmed cases and three deaths so far, according to the BBC.
The luxury cruise ship, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, began its journey on April 1 from Argentina’s Ushuaia and is expected to arrive in Spain’s Canary Islands on May 10.
About 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries were initially aboard the luxury cruise, but dozens disembarked on the island of St Helena on April 24, according to the report.
Of the 28 nationalities onboard, 38 are from the Philippines, 31 from the UK, 23 from the US, 16 from the Netherlands, 14 from Spain, nine from Germany, six from Canada, and two crew members from India, among others, the BBC reported.
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The World Health Organization said on Thursday that five of the eight suspected hantavirus cases had been confirmed.
A 69-year-old Dutch woman, confirmed to have the virus, has died; her Dutch husband and a German woman were also among the fatalities. Their cases are being investigated.
The UN health agency has said the outbreak is not the start of a pandemic.
Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at WHO, told a news briefing that the situation is not the same as six years ago with Covid-19 because hantavirus spreads through “close, intimate contact”.
Van Kerkhove said “this is not Covid, this is not influenza, it spreads very, very differently”. She said authorities had asked “everyone to wear a mask” on board the MV Hondius.
Those in contact with or caring for suspected cases, she added, should “wear a higher level of personal protective equipment”.
Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents - but in the latest outbreak the transmission between people was documented for the first time, the WHO said.
Meanwhile, health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who have recently disembarked from the Dutch vessel MV Hondius.
Oceanwide Expedition said 29 passengers, of at least 12 different nationalities, had left the MV Hondius in St Helena, the British Overseas Territory.
It also said the body of one deceased person—now known to be a Dutch man - was taken off the vessel.
Seven of those who left the cruise liner were British nationals.
