Sabarimala: BJP state president warns of agitation

The BJP will launch an agitation against the verdict allowing women of all ages to enter Sabarimala, party state president P S Sreedharan Pillai said here on Saturday.
Members of the Ayyappa Bhakthajana Samajam who are staging an indefinite fast in front of the Secretariat on Saturday evening in protest against the Supreme Court verdict lifting age restriction on women devotees visiting the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa Templ
Members of the Ayyappa Bhakthajana Samajam who are staging an indefinite fast in front of the Secretariat on Saturday evening in protest against the Supreme Court verdict lifting age restriction on women devotees visiting the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa Templ

KOZHIKODE: The BJP will launch an agitation against the verdict allowing women of all ages to enter Sabarimala, party state president P S Sreedharan Pillai said here on Saturday. Stating that the BJP stands firmly with devotees, Pillai said the party core committee will decide the course of the protests. Pillai came down heavily on the LDF Government and attacked the CPM on its stand on the Sabarimala verdict. “If the government tries to suppress the agitation using police force, the BJP will take it as a challenge,” he said.

“The government should respect the feelings of devotees and relax its stand. The protest marches in the state are the spontaneous reactions of the believers,” he said. Asked about Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s meeting with Sabarimala priests to reach a consensus on the matter, Pillai said wisdom may have finally dawned on the CM. 

He also declined to comment on Rahul Easwar’s opinion that ultra-right forces were behind the Sabarimala women’s entry case. “I don’t have a reply for him as I do not know which organisation he represents. He is not a member of the Sabarimala thantri family either,” he said.  

Pillai also ridiculed the protests organised by the Congress. “The Congress stand is opportunistic. During 1983, Ramesh Chennithala was part of the efforts to destroy Sabarimala. Now, he is protesting against the women’s entry at Sabarimala. He will get an award for his opportunism,” Pillai said. Pillai also clarified on the controversy related to BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi’s ‘boycott’ of the press meet in Kuwait on Friday. 

“She had some urgency. So she left the press meet. I spoke to the media for 45 minutes on the Sabarimala issue,” he said. Pillai also rejected the stand of BJP MP Subramanian Swamy that Central forces should be deployed to ensure entry of women into Sabarimala. 

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