Bharatiya Janata Party workers in Kerala on Tuesday began a dawn-to-dusk hunger strike in front of the office of the Director General of Police in Thiruvananthapuram against the state government’s crackdown on Sabarimala protestors, PTI reported.
Party workers also marched to the offices of the superintendents of police in all district headquarters, condemning the arrests of protestors. The party’s state president PS Sreedharan Pillai alleged the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) was on the road to “liquidation” and the party’s graph was coming down. Veteran Marxist leader MM Lawrence’s grandson took part in the protest organised by BJP.
The party has also announced that it will conduct a rath yatra from Kasaragod to Pathanamthitta district, where the Sabarimala temple is located, from November 8 to 13 to “save the customs and traditions” of the hill shrine.
The police have arrested over 3,557 people and registered 531 cases in connection with the violence that erupted after after the Supreme Court judegment on September 28 permitting the entry of women of all ages into the Sabarimala temple, reported Mathrubhumi. Police recorded 52 arrests on Monday alone.
Police said at least 400 people who took part in the protests are yet to be arrested and another 350 are suspected to be absconding.
On October 17, the temple opened to the public for the first time since the court’s order. Protestors gathered near the shrine prevented women aged between 10 and 50 from entering its premises. The shrine closed on October 22 after the monthly rituals were completed, but not a single woman of menstruating age was able to enter it.
The temple is set to open for a day on November 5 for rituals, and security is expected to be tightened around the temple and adjoining areas to prevent further protests, reported The Hindu on Monday. Around 700 police officers will be deployed at Sabarimala.
The temple will then open for Mandala pooja Mahotsavsm on November 16 and remain open till December 27. It again re-opens for Makaravilakku Mahotsavsm on December 30 and closes on January 20. More than 24,000 police personnel are expected to be deployed in four phases during the Mandala pooja and Makaravilakku season to ensure women devotees can trek safely to the hill shrine, reported Malayala Manorama.
Kerala police chief Loknath Behera said the state has requested five states – Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana – to send at least 100 police personnel each.
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