BJP flags concern about security situation in Kerala after Sabarimala protests

The BJP Sunday alleged a law and order breakdown in Kerala as it attacked the Left government after a crude bomb was hurled at the residence of its Rajya Sabha member V Muraleedharan amid the party's ongoing protests there over the Sabarimala issue. BJP leader and Union minister Smriti Irani said neither a common man nor a member of Parliament was safe in the state as she condemned the bomb attack at the former state party chief's residence.

"There is a state of chaos and anarchy... such state of breakdown or the law and order that be it a common man or an MP, none are safe," she told a press conference. Irani said over 1286 cases have been registered and over 37,000 people made accused by the state police during the ongoing protests. The BJP in the state has backed protests after the Kerala government moved to implement a Supreme Court order, which lifted a ban of the women of menstruating age entering the Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala.

Blaming the state's ruling CPI(M) for violent attacks against its functionaries, the BJP Sunday protested in the national capital outside Kerala House. Party sources said its MPs will also stage a protest near the Gandhi statue in Parliament Monday. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has lashed out at the BJP and the RSS, saying the Sangh Parivar was trying to create fear in people's minds.

Violence involving BJP-RSS and ruling CPI(M) had rocked parts of Kerala, particularly Kannur district, Saturday with several houses and shops of rival leaders and workers being attacked over the Sabarimala issue. Amid incidents of vandalism, Governor P Sathasivam briefed Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh about the law and order situation in the southern state.

(With inputs from agencies.)