With elections looming, Kerala’s Left Front may back a review of the Sabarimala verdict it once championed — a move critics see as electoral pragmatism trumping ideology. As faith, gender rights and culture wars collide, the party walks a tightrope between secular principles and political survival.
Electoral arithmetic can do wonders. It can make even hardened Marxists bow to the charms of religiosity (“opium of the masses”, what's that?) and arcane religious traditions.