‘Who is the one who built the golden palace, friends? Ayyappa…’ – A political hit song from Kerala that reached the Parliament!

In the recently concluded local body elections in Kerala, the Congress party has secured the majority of seats. The BJP has made significant progress. The CPM party has faced a setback. During the local body elections, Unnikrishnan Pottri was arrested in connection with the theft of gold that was placed on a bronze plate in the sculptures and procession at the Sabarimala Ayyappa Swamy temple's Dwara Balakars. A song that harshly criticized the ruling CPM party, linking it to this incident, became a hit. The phrase "Pallikkattu Sabarimalaikku kallum mullum kaalukku methai…" became popular.

In the famous song sung to that tune, the lyrics say, "Oh Praatri, Oh Kaetri, changing gold and copper, changing gold plates, pouring the wealth of Sastha, who is the one who tied the gold? It is the Sakhas, Ayyappa…" These lines imply that copper was called gold and gold plates were stolen, that the wealth of Dharmasastha was looted, and that it was the Sakhas who stole the gold, referring to Ayyappa. This song has gone viral on the internet even after the local body elections.

Following the Kerala state Congress MPs singing that song in the Parliament complex, the song has become a hit all the way to Delhi. The song was written by Kunjuptulla from Nadapuram, Kozhikode. Kunjuptulla, who studied up to the third grade, went to work in Qatar 46 years ago. From there, he wrote the song and sent it via WhatsApp to people from Kerala. Regarding this, Kunjuptulla said, "I have written about 600 songs for elections. When I learned that gold was being stolen from the sanctum doors of the Sabarimala temple, I wrote it into song lyrics. I did not write this song for any political party."

First, I sent that song to the Congress leaders and the Muslim League leaders. They did not accept it. In this situation, Habeeba Mudikkodan from Kozhikode added the tune of the song "Pallikkattu Sabarimalaikku" to those lines and turned it into music. The stage singer Danish Koottilangadi sang it as a song and made it a hit on social media," he said. The Congress MPs who sang and protested with the song in the Parliament premises, and since the Congress alliance parties and BJP used this song for the Kerala local body election campaign, it became famous.

In this context, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should resign over the Sabarimala gold theft issue, insisted Congress MP Dean Kuriakose, leading a protest by Kerala Pradesh Congress Party MPs in the Parliament complex yesterday. During the protest, they attracted attention by singing the song "Swarnam Kattavan Yaarappa Sakhaklane Ayyappa." MPs from other states watched this with surprise. The political satire song about the Sabarimala gold theft has become nationally famous.