The Bharatiya Janata Party leader on Thursday said that the women who entered Sabarimala temple were no devotees, but Maoists.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader on Thursday said that the women who entered Sabarimala temple were no devotees, but Maoists.
BJP leader V Muraleedharan's reaction came as a dawn-to-dusk 12-hour hartal called by Hindu outfits began in protest against the entry of two women of menstruating age into the Sabarimala temple of Lord Ayyappa.
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).
The BJP is supporting the shutdown while the Congress-led UDF is observing a "black day" on Thursday.
"Yesterday two women entered Sabarimala Temple. They weren't devotees. They were Maoists. CPM with selected policemen prepared an action plan and then saw to it that the women go inside the temple," said Muraleedharan
He also said that this was a planned conspiracy by Maoists in league with Kerala government and CPM.
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 closure of shops and markets.
Meanwhile, a Sabarimala Karma Samithi worker, who sustained injuries during the clash between BJP and CPM workers in Pandalam, has succumbed to the injuries.
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