BJP announces fresh agitation over Sabarimala temple issue

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: AFTER THE SC VERDICT ALLOWING WOMEN OF ALL AGES TO WORSHIP AT THE SABARIMALA SHRINE, THE TEMPLE HAS BEEN WITNESSING NOISY PROTESTS

The Kerala assembly was disrupted for the second consecutive day on Thursday over Sabarimala even as the state BJP announced fresh agitation in front of the state secretariat from Monday to lift restrictions at the hill temple.

BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai said general secretary A N Radhakrishnan will observe a 15-day hunger strike demanding withdrawal of prohibitory orders in Sabarimala and release of K Surendran, party general secretary arrested in connection with the Sabarimala movement. The party was forced to shift its agitational mode after the Kerala high court banned protests at the temple.

The temple has been witnessing a series of protests since it opened for the seasonal pilgrimage on November 17 and the state government deployed more than 10,000 policemen at the hilltop and its base camps to tackle protestors. After the Sept 29 verdict of the Supreme Court allowing women of all ages to worship at the shrine, the temple has been witnessing noisy protests.

“We will collect at least one crore signatures with the demand to save Sabarimala. We will also start village-level programmes to expose the state government which has a single-point agenda to destroy the second largest seasonal pilgrimage of the world,” said Pillai. He said party president Amit Shah has constituted a four-member panel to study the Sabarimala issue and they will reach the state in a couple of days.

According to the Travancore Devasom Board, which runs the temple, there is a dip of ~30 crore during the first 12 days of the season compared to the previous year.

In the assembly, when proceedings began, the Congress-led opposition sought Speaker Sivaramakrishnan to suspend the question hour and take up adjournment motion over the dearth of infrastructure and restrictions at the temple. But when the Speaker allowed question hour, angry members came to the podium and disrupted the proceedings, leading to adjournment of the house.