Thiruvananthapuram: SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellapally Natesan is on a mission to save the girls of Ezhava community from going astray. He has launched a girls’ wing, 'Kumari Sangham,' to ‘catch them young.’ This was born out of his realisation that several young girls from the community have undergone religious conversion and some have committed suicide after love failures.
Mr Vellapally launched Kumari Sangham in Thrissur on Tuesday when close to 8000 people from the community attended it. Thirteen keerthanas of social reformer Sreenarayana Guru were sung on the occasion. Girls aged between 12 – 21 years will be enrolled into the Kumari Sangham.
After the Akhila case snowballed into a major controversy after her marriage with Shefin Jahan, several SNDP unions had sought the intervention of Mr Vellapally to make the girls self-confident and stand on their own feet by inculcating in them the teachings of Guru.
“We have not taken any survey on Ezhava girls going astray. But from reports we realized that many of them are falling for religious conversion, visiting meditation centres and getting disappointed with their lives. My aim is to evolve the young girls to ‘Unniyarchas,’” said Mr Vellapally.
The youth wing of SNDP has more than 3,000 shakhas across the state and in the Gulf countries. There are 150 SNDP Yogam unions. According to the 2011 census, Ezhavas form the majority among the state’s population with 28 percent. Christians form 19 percent and Muslims 24-25 percent.
But Mr Vellapally denied that his latest move has any political aims. The voting age for general elections is 18 years now.
