Hundreds of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers, on the 32nd day of their indefinite strike demanding minimum wages needed for subsistence, used the iconic Attukal Pongala festival to highlight their woes.

Scores of ASHA workers from across the state set up open hearths on the road in front of their agitation venue before the Secretariat here to cook the traditional Pongala offering to the Attukal Devi Temple deity as an act of defiance and a token of protest against the LDF government’s alleged apathy to their demands.

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While lakhs of devotees offered Pongala to Goddess Attukal on Thursday, ASHA workers held a Pongala protest in front of the Secretariat seeking the government’s mercy. An ASHA worker from Palakkad said that their  Pongala was an offering after 32 days of prayers for the success of their struggle for better livelihoods. Another worker said that she has been offering Pongala for the past 18 years at a temple near her home in Kottayam. “This time, we are here at the Secretariat, praying tearfully for the success of our struggle,” she said.

Union Minister of State for Tourism Suresh Gopi visited ASHA workers at the agitation venue and provided 100 Pongala kits to the women who have been sitting in protest before the Secretariat for the last 32 days. He later said that the Pongala offered by ASHA workers was not a protest, but a prayer for peace and harmony. However, Suresh Gopi questioned the LDF government’s negative response to the issue.

Every year, thousands of women devotees from across the state and even neighbouring states converge on Thiruvananthapuram to participate in the Attukal Pongala, a religious ritual where they offer a sweet dish made from rice, jaggery and other ingredients to the goddess at the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple.

The Attukal Bhagavathi Temple, situated in the heart of the Thiruvananthapuram city, is dedicated to Attukal Bhagavathi, believed to be an incarnation of Kannaki, the central character of the Tamil epic Silappadikaram. This year’s rituals at the Attukal Devi Temple began at 10.15 am when the temple thantri, Thekkedath Prameswaran Vasudevan Bhattathiri, handed over a lighted lamp to the melsanthi. The latter lighted the hearth at the valiya thidappally, the temple kitchen. He then handed over the lamp to his co-priest who lit the pandara aduppu, a large hearth set up on the temple courtyard. The lighting of the pandara aduppu marks the beginning of the community pongala ritual. The ritual ended with the pouring of blessed water on the cooked porridges at 1.45 pm.

The pongala ritual is held on the tenth day of the annual festival at the Attukal Devi temple. In 2009, the pongala ritual made it to the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest gathering of women.