Govt fulfilled constitutional responsibility, says CM Vijayan; accuses Sangh of making Sabarimala a clash zone
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said that it fulfilled constitutional responsibility by giving protection to two women who entered Sabarimala shrine on Wednesday.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said that it fulfilled constitutional responsibility by giving protection to two women who entered Sabarimala shrine on Wednesday.
"It's the government's responsibility to give protection to women. The government has fulfilled this constitutional responsibility," Vijayan said/
Hitting out at the BJP and RSS, the Chief Minister accused them of trying to make Sabarimala into a clash zone. "Violence unleashed by them will be dealt with strongly," he said.
The Chief Minister's reaction came after the BJP and CPI(M) workers clashed in front of the Secretariat for over five hours as police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse them after two women of menstruating age into the Sabarimala temple of Lord Ayyappa.
Vijayan also said that seven police vehicles, 79 KSRTC buses destroyed and 39 police personnel attacked, till now.
"Most of the persons attacked were women. Women media persons were also attacked," he said.
He further stated that conducting hartal in name of women's entry into Sabarimala temple is like calling hartal against SC order.
A dawn-to-dusk 12-hour hartal called by Hindu outfits is underway in Kerala. The hartal, which began at 6 am, has been called by Sabarimala Karma Samithi, an umbrella organisation of various pro-Hindutva groups, spearheading protests against the Supreme Court's September 28 verdict, and Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP).
Two women, Kanakadurga (44) and Bindu (42), created history be stepping into the hallowed precincts guarded by police three months after the Supreme Court's historic judgement lifting the ban on entry of girls and women between 10 and 50 years of age into the shrine of Lord Ayyappa, its "eternally celibate" deity.
As the news spread like wildfire from the hill shrine, protests erupted at several places, with Hindu right-wing activists blocking highways and forcing the closure of shops and markets.
Meanwhile, a Sabarimala Karma Samithi worker Chandran Unnithan, who was injured in the clash, succumbed to the injuries.
The Supreme Court has also refused urgent hearing on contempt plea moved against Sabarimala temple authorities for closing shrine after two women entered it.