THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Three members of the Tamil Nadu-based progressive women’s forum Maniti, who came to the capital to meet Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, returned on Monday amidst protests.
Maniti team members - Yathra, Muthulakshmi and Vasumathi - could not meet the chief minister who left for Kozhikode in the morning. The Maniti members had been trying to meet Pinarayi since they reached Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday evening. However, the chief minister’s office denied permission since they had not taken prior appointment.
Since their arrival, the women stayed at the dormitory of the Central Railway Station and did not venture out fearing attack from BJP workers. Tension prevailed at the station after BJP workers came on Monday morning raising slogans against “breaking traditions at Sabarimala”.
Police helped the women to board the Thiruvananthapuram-Thiruchirappalli Intercity Express which left the station around 11.45 am. BJP workers, led by district president S Suresh, also tried to barge into the train. Women were also part of the protests.
The BJP workers also questioned the RPF for allowing the women to travel in the coach for differently-abled persons.
An 11-member team of Manithi had made an unsuccessful attempt to visit the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple on Sunday. After ten-hour-long tension and violence at the Pampa base camp the team members returned without trekking to the hill shrine.
The police said that the team members returned as per their wish. But the Manithi maintained that their members had to return after the police failed to provide security.