BJP begins Sabarimala yatra

■ BJP Kerala president booked for hate speech

Thiruvananthapuram/K ozhikode, Nov 8: BJP Kerala President P.S. Sreedharan Pillai was booked on Thursday by the police for his speech in connection with Sabarimala protests on a day when the saffron party launched a “Rath Yatra” for “protecting” the Lord Ayyappa temple's traditions and rituals.

The case was registered by police in Kozhikode on a complaint by journalist Shybin alleging that Pillai had instigated activists to protest over entry of menstrual age women into the hill shrine recently, police said.

Reacting to it, Pillai, accused the CPI(M) and Congress of ‘witch hunting’ and trying to ‘tarnish’ his image. The development came even as the BJP-NDA embarked on a Rath yatra from Kasaragod to “protect” the traditions and rituals of the hill shrine at Sabarimala, which recently witnessed violent protests against the entry of women of in the 10-50 age group.

Pillai and Tushar Vellapally, leader of BDJS, an ally of the NDA in Kerala, are leading the 'Sabarimala Samrakshana Rath Yatra' from Kasaragod to Erumeli, which was flagged off by senior BJP leader and former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa.

TV channels last week aired a video clip in which Pillai had purportedly said the Sabarimala agitations were “planned and orchestrated” by the party as part of its “agenda”.

He had also said that Tantri Kandararu Rajeevaru (Head Priest) of the Lord Ayyappa temple had sought his opinion on closing the sanctum sanctorum to prevent women of menstrual age from entering the shrine when it opened from Oct 17-22, kicking up a huge row. — PTI

BJP HAS lent its support to the agitation against the LDF government's decision to implement the Supreme Court order allowing women of all ages to offer prayers at the temple.