Thrissur Pooram saved, but tragedies may repeat

Thiruvananthapuram: Deft handling by Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has helped the Thrissur Pooram to go on and saved some votes for the Congress in the forthcoming Assembly elections.

Opinion was building in favour of ban on pyrotechnics in Kerala. The tantri and Chief priest (Melsanthi) of Sabarimala temple had stated that fireworks were not part of temple festivals. Swami Prakashananda, head of Sivagiri Mutt, Varkala, slammed pyrotechnics in temples noting the practice was wrong. Some temples dropped plans for pyrotechnics while some Christian churches banned it.

The Director General of Police (Kerala) T. P. Senkumar said that a ban on fireworks was needed as restrictions would not be effective. The High Court issued an interim stay on high decibel fireworks.

However, not all temple administrators and managing committees were in favour of ban besides a strong section of believers. There were also performers at festivals, contractors and the business community at large who did not want their earnings to suffer and many politicians were in alliance with them as they mattered more in electoral politics.

The devaswoms organising the Thrissur Pooram protested against any move to curtail fireworks at the Pooram and even threatened that the Pooram would be reduced to rites without any spectacle. But Pooram was too important culturally to be abandoned. There was a sit-in and even the Metropolitan Archbishop of Thrissur Mar Andrews Thazhath joined the protest citing the cultural import of the festival. (His stand was at variance with that of Kerala Catholic Bishops Council though he was making an exception in the case of Thrissur Pooram. It is to be noted that the Christian business community in Thrissur has a stake in the festival).

The situation was compounded by the Forest Department’s communication imposing restrictions on parading elephants at the Pooram. Elephants were not to be paraded for more than three hours in a day and not between 10 am and 5 pm. Minimum distance of three metres were to be maintained between elephants besides following other stipulations regarding feedings and transport. This would have brought some limitations in the conduct of Pooram as it is being practiced for years.

On complaints from the organisers, the Chief Minister intervened and Forest Minister Thiruvanachoor Radhakrishnan promptly withdrew the circular of the Department. In fact, the circular was in existence since 2007 though often observed in the breach. The Minister went to the extent of stating that the stipulations based on Captive Elephant (Management and Maintenance) Rules would no more be the law of the land.

Mr. Chandy also convened an all-party meeting to discuss the issue and the consensus was that no ban on fireworks should be imposed. Only restrictions needed to be imposed. The government also took this position before the High Court and the Court relented. Moreover, there was a Supreme Court order allowing fireworks at Thrissur Pooram.

To placate the agitating devaswoms, Mr. Chandy also travelled to Thrissur to hold discussions with them. The announcement at the end of the discussions was that the Pooram would be held in the traditional manner. But restrictions imposed by the High Court and safety precautions mandated by the law would be followed.

It was an n impeccable statement on the face of it. However, the climb down on Thrissur Pooram would mean that other places of worships would raise demands to carry on with their celebrations including fireworks. As the situation stand in Kerala, many of the rules would be observed in the breach and tragedies like the one in Paravoor would repeat. No one else knows that better than the Director General of Police of Kerala who recommended a ban.