Sabarimala temple row: Protests in Kerala over late night police crackdown and detention of right-wing activists

SABARIMALA: Activists of the BJP, Yuva Morcha and other right-wing outfits on Monday stepped up protests across Kerala against the late night police crackdown at the Ayyappa temple complex here and the subsequent detention of 68 people. 

Whereas state's Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan made it clear that the Left government was with the believers. At a function in Kozhikode, he said that those arrested were not the devotees of Lord Ayyappa.
 
"They were not Ayyappa devotees. RSS workers were camping at Sannidhanam with a motive to create trouble. The government cannot let anyone create trouble at Sabarimala," Vijayan said at the state conference of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ).

The day also saw Union minister Alphons Kannanthanam visiting Nilackal, Pamba and Sannidhanam to take stock of the various facilities at the hill shrine, where lakhs of devotees from across the country and outside visit each year.

Kannanthanam, who arrived at Nilackal, the base camp, Monday morning said, "The state government has turned the temple complex into a war zone. The devotees are not militants, they are pilgrims". 

"Pilgrims are being treated like dacoits. They have imposed Section 144 in a place where people live peacefully. What was the need to impose Section 144 at Sabarimala?" he told reporters.

The minister said there was lack of basic facilities at the temple complex, adding the Centre had provided Rs 100 crore for putting up various facilities at Sabarimala. 
"We gave Rs 100 crore, but they have not spent even a rupee," he said.

The Union tourism minister's visit came hours after the late Sunday night development wherein 100 odd devotees protested by chanting "nama japam" (chantings in the name of Lord Ayyappa) against the lack of facilities and police restrictions.

Hitting back, Kerala Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said the Union Tourism Ministry had in 2016 sanctioned Rs 99.98 crore for spiritual circuit project for the development of Sabarimala, of which only Rs 18 crore had been released so far.

Meanwhile, five Yuva Morcha activists waved party flags and two of them tried to jump in front of the chief minister's convoy Monday morning.

Two of them have been arrested, Kozhikode district police chief S Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar told PTI.

The activists also took out a march to the state secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram.

CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan alleged the RSS had launched "Khalistan model" agitation in Sabarimala to take control of the holy hill shrine.

The leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Ramesh Chennithala slammed the government for the police action, saying the government was trying to "brand" Ayyappa devotees as Sangh Parivar activists.

Condemning the police action as "cruel", BJP state unit chief P S Sreedharan Pillai demanded a judicial probe into the police action.

Police sources told PTI that 68 people had been taken into preventive custody from the temple and brought to the Manniyar camp early Monday morning.

Their details are being verified and their arrests have not been recorded yet, they said.

Caught unawares by the showdown on the second day of the two-month long pilgrim season, the police officials asked the protestors to disperse. When they refused, the security forces took 68 of them into custody early Monday morning, the first such incident witnessed at Sabarimala.

The development led to protests across the state, including in front of the official residence of the Chief Minister in Thiruvananthapuram.

Those taken into custody have been brought to the Manniyar police camp and BJP leaders led by Shobha Surendran are holding "nama japam" protest in front of the camp, sources said. 

In another development, Hindu Aikya Vedi president K P Sasikala, who was at the shrine for the "chorunnu ceremony" (rice feeding) of her grandsons, was served a notice by Superintendent of Police Yatish Chandra at Nilackal Monday morning, informing her that she could remain at the 'Sannidhanam' only for six hours.

Sasikala had been taken into preventive custody from near the temple premises two days ago for flouting police regulations and had been released after being produced before the magistrate.

A day later, BJP state general secretary K Surendran was arrested from Nilackal after he refused to heed the police plea not to go to the hill shrine at night.

Devotees chanting 'nama japam' had gathered at the covered pathway to the temple and had refused to disperse even after the shrine closed at 11 PM.

Since prohibitory orders had been imposed, the police informed them that they should leave and they cannot stay back. 

Police sources said they had information that the protesters might create trouble at Sannidhanam and they took the precautionary measures accordingly.

The temple had opened on Friday evening for the 64-day annual pilgrimage season, even as the stand-off continued over the entry of menstrual age women into the shrine following a Supreme Court order on September 28.