Thomas Isaac interview: Why CPI(M) changed Sabarimala stance amid BJP blitzkrieg

The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) is aiming to clinch its third consecutive term in the upcoming Assembly elections in Kerala on April 9. As the ruling party/alliance prepares to beat a decade-old anti-incumbency mood to retain power, one issue that could throw a major challenge to it in the battle of ballots is the Sabarimala women-entry issue, especially with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) witnessing a gradual rise in the southern state’s politics.

The Federal interviewed TM Thomas Isaac, member of the CPI(M)’s Central Committee and a former finance minister of Kerala, during which, among other things related to the upcoming elections, he spoke about the sensitive issue related to the shrine and how the Marxist party was making adjustments to its stance.

Also read: Elections 2026: Despite its progressive image, Kerala lags in women’s representation

When asked whether the BJP’s growing presence among certain communities is seen by the CPI(M) as a serious long-term threat, Isaac indirectly conceded that the saffron party has indeed benefited from the Sabarimala episode in making inroads into certain sections of the Left’s support base, besides backward castes.

‘Sabarimala has been a watershed for BJP’

“Till the Sabarimala episode in 2019, the inroad of the BJP was largely into the fold of the Congress and its UDF (United Democratic Front) and upper castes. But Sabarimala has been a watershed in the sense that they (BJP) could make advances into the backward castes. And in that sense, also attract certain segments of the Left support base,” the veteran leader, an economist and two-time minister, said.

This helped the BJP to increase its vote-share to 19 per cent in the Lok Sabha election of 2024, he added.

“This was something creditable. If you calculate as a ratio of the Hindu population in Kerala, which is the only segment they are addressing, it is very important,” Isaac said.

The CPI(M)-led Left sensed danger, and it made them “rethink”, the leader added.

Also read: Will infighting end Congress’ Kerala story? | AI With Sanket

“We also changed some of our stances. Times have changed, and therefore, you have to engage with those changed times. Some 30 years back, we had decided to withdraw from temples and caste organisations,” Thomas said, emphasising on the Left’s traditional political ideology that excludes religion.

But with the BJP’s rise, the party decided not to pursue its conventional stance anymore, as that could see the saffron party tap into the traditional Hindu voters’ sentiments.

‘It's vacating space for BJP’

“Today, such a policy will be disastrous — it is vacating the space for the BJP. So we have changed our stance,” Thomas said, adding that the course correction paid off, as the BJP’s vote share did not go further north and rather dropped to 15-16 per cent, as seen in the local self-government elections held in December last year.

The Sabarimala women's entry issue has been a critical one for the Left. Eight years ago, its government had welcomed a verdict given by the Supreme Court lifting the ban on women of menstruating age from entering the shrine.

However, ahead of the 2026 polls, the Pinarayi Vijayan government has turned its earlier stance into a more cautious one over support for unrestricted women’s entry into the temple. It has also urged the apex court to take views from religious scholars before taking a call on the Sabarimala review.

Also read: 70 pc Kerala MLAs face criminal cases, over half are crorepatis: ADR

The court has scheduled hearings from April 7 to consider review petitions against the 2018 ruling.

The Left, meanwhile, has faced flak from both the Congress and the BJP over its alleged ambiguity on the matter, even as the CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan said in February that the stance of the LDF government and the party on the contentious matter might not be identical.