Shah slams Kerala govt for handling of Sabarimala crisis

BJP chief Amit Shah Tuesday launched a scathing attack on Kerala's CPI(M)-led LDF government over the Sabarimala women entry issue, accusing it of violating its centuries' old custom and destroying the sanctity of the Lord Ayyappa temple, situated in dense forests.

"The Kerala government unleashed violence on the devotees of Sabarimala under the pretext of implementing the Supreme Court order. What message does Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan want to send to people through the violence on the devotees?," Shah said, addressing an election campaign meeting of BJP's candidate for Thrissur Lok Sabha Seat, Suresh Gopi, here.

Two days after Vijayan claimed it was the Centre which had asked his government to impose prohibitory orders in Sabarimala during frenzied protests in 2018 over the entry of women of all age groups into the hill shrine, Shah alleged that the government had unconstitutionally recruited DYFI cadres in police to destroy the sanctity of the temple. "The DYFI cadre were recruited unconstitutionally in the police force by the state government. They are destroying the sanctity of the temple", he said.

The BJP president alleged that 30,000 Ayyappa devotees have been chargesheeted in 2,000 cases by the Left government in connection with the Sabarimala protests.

He accused the government of targeting BJP-RSS workers in connection with it. Shah also declared that the BJP would always stand strongly with the Ayyappa devotees to protect the faith of the temple.

On September 28 last year, a five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by the then CJI Dipak Misra, in a 4:1 verdict had paved the way for the entry of women of all ages into the shrine, saying the ban amounted to gender discrimination.