Kerala’s Minister for Industries and Sports EP Jayarajan came down heavily on the RSS-BJP devotees who defied all and did their best thwart the women devotees from entering the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala on Wednesday.
Jayarajan gave an account of the damages the protesters did on Wednesday. “10 KSRTC buses were damaged. Devotees from other states were beaten up and sent back. RSS-BJP is behind all of this. Supreme Court rule applies to all, the govt is just following & implementing it,” Jayarajan, the Kerala minister was quoted as saying by news agency ANI on incidents of violence.
It may be recalled that Supreme Court in its verdict on September 28 allowed all women of any age can enter the Sabarimala Temple. Following the verdict, many women devotees tried their luck on the first day just to be sent back by the protesters. Cops merely played the role of spectators.
Directly blaming the RSS Jayarajan also pointed out the violence unleashed on people, including the media. “RSS criminals hid in forests and attacked the Ayappa devotees. 10 media personnel, 5 devotees and 15 policemen were attacked,” he was quoted by the same news agency.
Earlier in the day, a woman (40) along with her family were confronted by the protesters as they drew near the shrine. The shrine has opened in the evening for the first time since Supreme Court overturned the blanket ban on women of menstruating age (10-50) entering the temple.
The woman, Madhavi, started the trek to the hilltop after she and her family reached the base Pamba. En route they braved all hiccups till near the shrine when they were allegedly asked to continue their march towards the shrine on their own with cops not lending the helping hand.
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