NSS leader backs Left govt on Global Ayyappa Sangamam

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 29 (PTI) Amidst criticism from the BJP and the Congress over the holding of the Global Ayyappa Sangamam at Sabarimala next month, the Left government's decision to organise the event was on Friday backed by a prominent leader of the forward Nair community in Kerala.

Nair Service Society (NSS) vice president M Sangeeth Kumar said that the organisation has complete trust in the government that it will hold the event by safeguarding the rituals and beliefs associated with Sabarimala.

He told media here that the NSS has no difference of opinion with the government on the issue.

Kumar said that such a global event will become a platform for a comprehensive development of Sabarimala and resolving the problems faced there by devotees.

"That is what we believe," he said.

The NSS vice president said the main agenda of the organisation was to safeguard its faith and beliefs, and the government was duty-bound to ensure that.

"They (government) have given us assurances regarding that, and we have complete trust in the government," he added.

The Global Ayyappa Sangamam is being organised by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), as part of its 75th anniversary, in association with the Kerala government on September 20 at Pampa.

Recently, BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar had said that the party would resist the participation of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin in the programme.

It had prompted Vijayan to respond that threats by the saffron party would not prevent the event from taking place.

The Congress had contended that the Left government was trying to appease majority communities by holding the event, a claim which was rejected by the Kerala CM. PTI HMP HMP ROH