india

Updated: Jan 03, 2019 23:25 IST

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday blamed the Opposition for an “unending cycle of violence” in the state a day after the entry of two women in the menstruating age group into Sabarimala temple sparked protests.

Protests have rocked Kerala since the Supreme Court in September ordered the lifting of a ban on women or girls of menstruating age from entering the temple. The temple authorities have refused to abide by the ruling. Thousands of devotees have since September blocked attempts of menstruating women and girls to visit the shrine, citing the celibate nature of the temple’s presiding deity, Lord Ayyappa.

Vijayan called it the government’s constitutional obligation to help the two women, Bindu Ammini and Kanakadurga, pray at the shrine. He accused the outfits associated with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s parent organisation, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), of trying to fan trouble. “It was the government’s responsibility to give protection to the women. And they were not airdropped. Both visited the shrine like any normal devotees. None of the devotees protested,” he said.

He threatened to deal “sternly” with the RSS-linked outfits for “whipping up tensions in the state”.

“Their [RSS]’s north Indian strategy would not work here. People of the state [Kerala] will foil their evil designs,” he said. Vijayan insisted “the real devotees” were not against the Supreme Court verdict lifting the ban on women or girls of menstruating age from entering the temple.

Opposition Congress and the BJP held the chief minister responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation. They slammed him for allowing the two women into the shrine and hurting religious sentiments of lakhs of devotees.

BJP Kerala chief, P S Sreedharan Pillai, said his party will draw the Centre’s attention to the situation in Kerala.

“The Stalinist administration in the state has trampled believers. A bunch of atheists is stifling age-old customs [barring the entry of women into the shrine],” he said . Pillai accused the police of behaving in “a partisan manner”.

Opposition Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala met governor P Sathasivam, who has sought a report from Vijayan over the violence, and sought his intervention in restoring peace. “Vijayan is fully responsible for the explosive situation in the state. He will go down in the history as the most insensitive ruler of the state,” he said.

The Congress observed Thursday as a protest day to register its protest against the entry of women into the shrine.

The Supreme Court’s order had not been implemented until the two women made it to the shrine in the face of stiff resistance from a section of devotees and Hindu outfits.

Thousands of women had formed a 620 km human chain or the women’s wall in support of gender equality and temple access on Tuesday. The state government had backed the human chain protest.