PATHANAMTHITTA: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has alleged that CPM and BJP-RSS combine were playing politics by hurting the religious sentiments of the devotees in the wake of the Supreme Court order permitting women of all ages at Lord Ayyappa temple.
Inaugurating the day-long fast organised by the DCC at New Municipal Bus Station here on Friday, the Opposition leader lambasted the Pinrayi Vijayan government saying that LDF is not giving the least regards to rejection of the ongoing practices of Lord Ayyappa temple by turning down the demand of filing review petition against the Supreme Court order.
The Opposition leader dared the BJP to prevail upon the Union Government to come out with an ordinance on the same lines of Jeelllikettu in Tamil Nadu when the Supreme Court said no to the conduct of the ritual.
Ramesh Chennithala flayed the Pinarayi government for undue haste and speed in the implementation of Supreme Court order by hurting the sentiments of devotees by the speedy implementation of facilities to ensure entry of women in the restricted age into Lord Ayyappa temple.T
He questioned the vested interests of the government in the early implementation of the Supreme Court order against the centuries-old practices of the temple.
He said that the LDF Government was keen on the implementation of the court order that hurt the devotees, while the Government failed to implement court order in many cases, including the church cases. Chennithala said the Pinaryi Government wanted Sabarimala as tourist centre in the name of the court order. The Congress would not allow the Pinarayi Government to take advantage at the expenses of the Sabarimala devotees, he said.
BJP-RSS combine ditches devotees
The Opposition leader said that the BJP-RSS combine ditched crores of Sabarimala devotees by welcoming the Supreme Court order on the day when the Supreme Court delivered the verdict.
The BJP state president resorted to double-standards by hailing the verdict initially and then taken positively when the entire people of the State voiced their dissent on the court order.
By keeping silence over the issue of Supreme Court order on Sabarimala, the BJP Government wanted to come out with common civil code in the country, he added.
KPCC working president Kodikunnil Suresh, MP, delivered the key-note address, at the event presided over by DCC president Babu George. Anto Antony, MP, Adoor Prakash, MLA, AICC secretary P C Vishnunath, KPCC general secretary A P Anilkumar, Mahila Morcha state president Lathika Subash, former MLAs K Sivasdan Nair, Malethu Saraladevi, former DCC president P Mohanraj , KPCC secretaries Pazhakulam Madhu and Mannar Abdul Lathief, district panchayat president Annapoornadevi, municipal chairperson Geetha Suresh, Vettoor Jyothi Prasad, A Shamsudeen , A Sureshkumar and D Vijayakumar also spoke at the event.