BJP is with Sabarimala devotees like rock: Shah

KANNUR: An “Emergency-like” situation prevailed in Kerala on Saturday with the state government “playing with fire” in quelling with “brutal force” protests by Ayyappa devotees over the Sabarimala issue, BJP chief Amit Shah alleged on Saturday, escalating his attack on the Left dispensation. In a hard-hitting speech after inaugurating the BJP district office in politically sensitive Kannur, which has often seen clashes between the BJP-RSS and CPI(M), Shah alleged that the communist government is “conspiring against temples” and came out in support of Ayyappa devotees, who have been protesting against the implementation of the Supreme Court decision to allow entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine

“An Emergency-like situation exists in Kerala,” Shah alleged and accused the CPI(M)-LED LDF government of “suppressing” the Ayyappa devotees’ agitation. Listing court verdicts which have not been implemented, including on ‘Jallikattu’ (traditional bull taming sport of Tamil Nadu) and prohibiting loudspeakers in mosques, Shah said “impractical” directions should not be given by courts and they should pass orders that can be implemented.

“In the name of ending social evils, if the government here tries to interfere in the customs and traditions of Lord Ayyappa, BJP workers across the country would stand like a rock behind the devotees,” he said. “You concentrate on developing the state rather than attacking the Ayyappa bhakts,” the BJP president said and warned Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan that he would have to pay a “heavy price” if this continues, as BJP workers “would not hesitate to pull down the government”. Shah added that even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released various central projects for the state, none of them have been taken up.

“If the state government had shown the same interest in meeting the grievances of the flood-affected people as it had shown in taking on the Ayyappa devotees, I would have said they have fulfilled their responsibilities. But they have failed and the chief minister has no right to continue in office even for a minute,” the Bharatiya Janata Party president said.

Shah said that Hinduism has always given respect to women and worshipped them. Gender equality cannot be ensured just by giving rights to them to offer prayers at temples, the BJP chief said. “Even women in the state are against government’s move to implement the SC order,” he said.