Won’t let RSS turn Sabarimala into Ayodhya, says Kerala CM
Congress activists marched on the Sabarimala temple base camp for devotees on Tuesday in defiance of an order banning public assemblies in the vicinity, as the party fretted that Sangh Parivar groups could take over the agitation against the entry of women of menstruating age into the hilltop shrine.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan vowed, meanwhile, that his Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led government would not allow the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), ideological mentor of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre, to create another Ayodhya in Kerala.
Fearing Hindu consolidation and a dent in its upper caste vote base,the Congress has decided to intensify its agitation on Sabarimala despite party president Rahul Gandhi’s initial reservations. The Congress’ central leaders had welcomed the September 28 verdict of the Supreme Court allowing women of all ages to worship at the temple, but state leaders flew to New Delhi to convince them of the need for the party to join the anti-verdict campaign.
In an attempt to thwart the Congress assembly near Sabarimala on Tuesday, the authorities clamped Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which prohibits the assembly of more than four persons in an area.
“How can the government impose Section 144 on devotees? It is never heard of in the history. The government is in a race to make the pilgrimage miserable,” said former Kerala chief minister and All India Congress Committee, general secretary Oommen Chandy, inaugurating the rally led by opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala.
At the first base camp, Nilakkal , the Congress activists were blocked by the police, which citing the prohibitory orders, but party leaders expressed their willingness to court arrest. The police allowed them to proceed to the Pamba. Although the party had announced plans to trek to the temple, it called off the plan in Pamba, saying it didn’t want to
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
aggravate the woes of pilgrims.
What has worried the Congress is the stance of the Nair Service Society, a socio-cultural body of upper caste Nairs. Usually, NSS keeps an equidistance from political parties and movements, but this time it is in the forefront of the Sabarimala agitation with other Hindu groups.
BJP national president Amit Shah took to Twitter to lash out at the Pinarayi Vijayan government. In a series of tweets, Shah said “The way Pinarayi Vijayan’s government is handling the sensitive issue of Sabarimala is disappointing. Kerala police is treating young girls, mothers and aged inhumanly, forcing them to take the arduous pilgrimage, without even basic facilities like food, water, shelter & clean toilets. If several reports of flushing resting places for devotees and them having to spend nights next to pig droppings and dustbin are true, then Pinarayi Vijayan must realize that he can’t treat Ayyappa devotees like inmates of Gulag. We won’t let LDF Left Democratic Front) crush people’s faith with impunity. If Pinarayi Vijayan thinks he can rise against people’s movement to preserve Sabarimala by arresting K Surendran, our Thrissur district president and six others, then he is mistaken. We stand firmly with every Ayyappa devotee, who holds the Sabarimala tradition close to his heart.”
Hindu groups have opposed the Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all ages to worship at Sabarimala on grounds that Lord Ayyappa, the presiding deity at the 800-year-old temple, is considered to be celibate. Women aged between 10 and 50 years have been barred from the temple in a tradition that the verdict sought to break. Not a single woman in the age group has managed to enter the shrine since the court verdict was delivered in September. Inspite of the criticism of his government by the opposition parties, chief minister Vijayan said the state administration would not go back on its tough stance. “BJP ministers and leaders are queuing up before Sabarimala to exploit the issue. But the govt will not allow anyone to fan trouble at the temple,” he said adding he will not allow the RSS to turn the temple into another Ayodhya, where Hindu groups want a Lord Ram temple built on the site of a disputed mosque that has been razed.
The CM justified action on protestors on Sunday, saying police intervention helped ease the situation at the temple. He said the present security arrangements at the temple will continue to check trouble-makers. At least 69 protestors were held on Sunday for flouting prohibitory orders. “Sabarimala is being used for political gains by the RSS and the Congress has also fallen in its game plan, ” he said.
The row has affected the number of devotees visiting the shrine at the start of a three-month pilgrimage . According to the Travancore Dewasom Board, an autonomous body that runs the temple, there has been a 70% dip in pilgrims flow and revenue in the first five days.