KOCHI: As the namajapa (prayer) protest organised by Sabarimala devotees and Sangh Parivar in front of the domestic terminal of Cochin International Airport (CIAL) completed eight hours, the airport authorities reviewed the situation at the airport. Though the protest is causing inconvenience to the passengers, the airport authorities have not initiated any steps to remove the protesters considering the volatile situation.
Airport Managing Director V J Kurian told Express that he is reviewing the situation. "It is a high security zone and no protest should be held on the airport premises. Though the protest has caused inconvenience it has not affected the operations of the airport. We have not asked police or CISF to remove the protesters," he said.
The Cochin airport witnessed an unprecedented protest at 4.45 am as activist Trupti Desai arrived at the airport for Sabarimala pilgrimage. Though the Supreme Court has allowed entry of young women to the hill shrine in its September 28 verdict, the devotees in Kerala has been protesting against implementing the order claiming that it is against the customs.
Around 5,000 devotees and Sangh Parivar activists have gathered in front of the airport terminal to foil any attempt by the activist to proceed to Sabarimala. BJP state general secretaries A N Radhakrishnan and K Surendran are present at the protest venue.
Trupti Desai arrived at the airport by an Indigo flight from Pune at 4.45 am. She came with a team of six women activists and was planning to go to Kottayam. However, she couldn't step out of the airport terminal as a large crowd gathered in front of the terminal and started chanting slogans. Though police tried to escort her outside, the attempt was dropped as the protesters said they will not allow her to proceed to Sabarimala.
An attempt to arrange a taxicab for her also failed as no taxi operator was willing to take her out. Realising that it will be an uphill task to escort the activist to Sabarimala, the police urged her to return to her native. However, Trupti Desai threatened that she will stage a sit in at the airport if the police failed to arrange security for her.
Meanwhile, Online Taxi Drivers Union president P J Paulson said, the union has refused to take Trupti Desai to Sabarimala as Online aggregators Ola refused to pay compensation to the owner of the car that was damaged by protesters in October.
"Ranjith, a member of our union had taken a news channel reporter to Sabarimala during the monthly poojas in October. However, the car was damaged by the protesters at Nilakkal. Ranjith suffered a loss of Rs 1.5 lakh and Ola refused to bear the expenses. So we decided not to take people to places where there are chances of violence," he said.