The Kerala Assembly on Thursday suspended three legislators from the Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front amid protests against alleged irregularities in the gold plating of idols in the Sabarimala temple, The Indian Express reported.

The row arose from claims that the gold-plated coverings on the idols of the dwarapalaka, or the guardian deity at the Ayyappa temple, were lighter than before. This came to light during proceedings in the Kerala High Court after the idols were reportedly re-plated without its knowledge.

Opposition parties have accused the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) government in the state of mismanagement and “looting” temple property.

The functioning of the Assembly was disrupted for the fourth day on Thursday.

The motion to suspend the three MLAs – Roji M John, M Vincent, and Saneesh Kumar Joseph – was introduced by state Parliamentary Affairs Minister MB Rajesh, The Hindu reported. He alleged that the Opposition MLAs had “crossed the point of no return” by injuring watch and ward personnel.

The minister claimed that Chief Marshal M Shibu was injured while attempting to prevent legislators from storming the Speaker’s dias. Shibu was scheduled to undergo an emergency surgery at the Government Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, he added.

The resolution was approved by the Assembly in the absence of the Opposition, which had boycotted the morning session to protest against the alleged irregularities in temple, The Indian Express reported.

Rajesh alleged that the Opposition had been disrupting proceedings in the Assembly since October 6 and had repeatedly violated House rules while also creating an atmosphere of violence, PTI reported.

He claimed that the legislators had boycotted a meeting called by Speaker AN Shamseer to make the situation in the Assembly more conducive for conducting business properly.

“The other day [Wednesday], they physically attacked the women watch-and-ward personnel in the House and some of them also sped towards the chief minister [Pinarayi Vijayan], violated Assembly rules of procedure and did not heed the directions of the speaker,” PTI quoted Rajesh as saying.

Condemning the “serious violation of rules” by the Opposition members, he added that John, Vincent and Joseph would be suspended for the rest of the ongoing session.

The current session of the Assembly began on September 15 and will end on Friday.

What is the row?

On September 9, R Jayakrishnan, the special commissioner for Sabarimala, told the High Court that the gold-plated copper coverings of the dwarapalaka idols at the temple’s sanctum sanctorum had been removed for renovation without notice, The Indian Express reported.

Jayakrishnan was appointed by the court in June 2024 for a two-year term to oversee temple affairs and provide reports to it.

He told the court that the gold platings were detached on September 7 and sent to Chennai for maintenance, noting that this was a departure from the usual practice of carrying out repairs within the temple premises under supervision, The News Minute reported.

It also violated instructions issued by the court in 2023 about when repairs to ornaments on the idols in the temple are undertaken. At the time, the court had said that the special commissioner must be informed before such activities are undertaken.

In 2019, a Chennai-based jewellery firm, Smart Creations, had undertaken the gold-plating of the Dwarapalaka idols and had also provided a 40-year warranty, The Indian Express reported.

Six years later, the Travancore Devaswom Board returned the valuables to the same company for repairs due to defects. The costs were covered by a man named Unnikrishnan Potty, who had sponsored the original plating of the idols with gold in 2019.

The Travancore Devaswom Board is an autonomous government body that administers several Hindu temples in Kerala.

During the hearing on September 9, the court questioned the rationale behind sending the valuables to Smart Creations, The Indian Express reported. It also directed that the repairs be halted and the items be returned to the temple immediately.

However, as an inquiry into the matter continued, several irregularities came to light.

In 1999, the Travancore Devaswom Board had undertaken the gold-plating of the Dwarapalakas at the entrance, among other items, according to The Indian Express. Five kilograms of gold were used to cover the Dwarapalakas.

In 2019, Potty had secured the approval of the board to sponsor the gold-plating of the temple’s idols and valuables at his own expense. However, the handover document did not mention the existing gold covering installed in 1999, according to the newspaper.

It instead described the items that were handed over as bearing “copper plates”.

After the gold-covered copper plates were brought back to the temple in 2019, there was an unexplained loss of 4.54 kg, The Indian Express reported. However, the Travancore Devaswom Board reportedly chose to overlook this discrepancy and entrusted Potty with the re-plating this year.

Earlier this week, the court appointed former judge KT Sankaran to prepare an inventory of temple valuables and directed the temple vigilance officer to investigate alleged malpractices at the temple.

BJP holds protests

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday organised protest marches in several cities, including outside the Kozhikode Collectorate and Ernakulam taluka office, against the alleged irregularities, The Indian Express reported.

Videos circulating on social media showed BJP workers climbing up police barricades. In Ernakulam, the police used water cannons to disperse the protesters.

Accusing the ruling CPI-M government of “looting” the gold, BJP leader K Surendran demanded that the case be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the newspaper reported.

BJP leader V Muraleedharan said that the chief minister had “chosen not to utter a single word” about the action being taken by the state government.

“This is highly deplorable,” The Indian Express reported him as saying. “Is it because it is an issue concerning the majority community of the state? Is it because this issue concerns a temple and not a place of worship of any other community?”

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