THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : UDF convener Benny Behanan has said that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is responsible for the crisis and violence in Sabarimala. He said that the Chief Minister cannot absolve himself from the current situation in the hill shrine, adding that the tactics of both the CPM and the BJP to convert Sabarimala into a riot zone is getting exposed by the day. He said that bringing two women to Sabarimala was a deliberate attempt to turn the temple into a riot zone as well as create communal clashes there.
He alleged that it was the police who had taken both the young women to the top. The UDF convener said the ladies had requested permission for entry to the temple the previous day and that the permission was granted either by the police or the district collector. He blamed it on the IG of police for bringing the women to the temple premises.
According to him, Chief Minister instructed from abroad to bring the women to the temple premises.
“Chief Minister has in an article in a vernacular daily stated that there are attempts to foist on upper caste dominance on the shrine, and this is a deliberate attempt to portray the Sabarimala issue as a caste issue without taking into consideration the deep belief of the devotees. On the other hand, the BJP is trying to create a communal issue,” Benny Behanan said.
He called upon the CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan to seek an explanation from the Chief Minister as to why the police had taken the young women with helmet and protective gears used by the force to create a confrontation and to turn Sabarimala into a riot zone.