In a counter move against the state government's decision to form a women's wall on January 1, the Sabarimala Karma Samiti, a joint platform of right-wing outfits, including the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Hindu Aikyavedi, will organise state-wide "Ayyappa Jyothi" on Wednesday.
Campaigners will lit lamps from Manjeshwaram in Kasargod to Thiruvananthapuram at 6 PM, protest against the Supreme Court verdict allowing women's entry into Sabarimala temple and the 'women's wall' event planned by some outfits in support of the verdict.
Both the BJP and NSS have declared their support for the campaign in which the organisers are expecting participation of no less than 10 lakh people. Former Kerala Police chief TP Senkumar, who had earlier joined the Seva Bharati, a Sangh Parivar outfit, will also take part in the programme.
The first lamp The event will be lit at the Sree Dharma Sastha Temple in Hosangadi, Kasaragod, to Kaliyikkavila in Thiruvananthapuram.
Kerala's Left government had welcomed the apex court ruling allowing young women to enter the Ayyappa temple, while the opposition Congress and BJP started protests against the ruling. In the violent agitations that followed, women journalists were attacked and elderly women were to be given police protection at the Nilakkal base camp.
While the left circles of the state interpret the ongoing agitation as a Sangh Parivar-sponsored agenda to halt Kerala's "progressive and secular" values, the right-wingers have claimed the Pinarayi Vijayan government's decision to implement the ruling to be an “atheist-communist” effort to destroy the rituals at the Hindu temple.
The Ayyappa Jyoti campaign will conclude by 6:30 PM.