Kochi: Rightwing Hindu outfits have called for a dawn to dusk hartal in Kerala on Saturday in protest against the arrest of a senior Sangh Parivar leader who was on the pilgrimage to Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple.
VHP state president S.J.R. Kumar alleged that Hindu Aikyavedi state President K.P. Sasikala was arrested by police near Marakkoottam near Sabarimala at 2.30 am Saturday.
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“She was arrested as she was on the way to the hill shrine carrying irumudikkettu (bundle carrying sacred offerings) to offer prayers. Some other activists have been taken into preventive custody,” Kumar told PTI.
He accused the Kerala government of trying to destroy the Sabarimala temple.
The VHP leader said essential services and vehicles of Ayyappa devotees will not be affected by the hartal.
Unprecedented security arrangements have been made at the shrine, which opened for the third time Friday for the two-month-long pilgrimage season commencing on Saturday after the Supreme Court allowed women of menstrual age to offer prayers.
The temple opened Friday amid a tense standoff involving social activist Trupti Desai in Kochi and a move by its administrator to seek time from the Supreme Court to implement its verdict.
The 41-day mandalam festival will conclude on December 27 after Mandala pooja, when the shrine will close after the ‘Athazhapuja’ in the evening. It would reopen for the Makaravilakku festival on December 30.
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The Makaravilakku festival would be celebrated on January 14 after which the shrine will close on January 20, marking the culmination of the pilgrim season, when lakhs of devotees are expected to throng the shrine.
The Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages the Sabarimala shrine, will move to the Supreme Court on Monday seeking more time to implement its order allowing women of menstrual age to offer prayers at the Lord Ayyappa temple. “We will move the Supreme court on Monday through Advocate Chandra Uday Singh” TDB President A Padmakumar, told PTI.
The board had Friday said it would move the apex court either Saturday or Monday seeking more time to implement the September 28 Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all age groups to offer prayers at the Sabarimala shrine as it wanted the devotees to have peaceful ‘darshan’.
The TDB’s move comes a day after the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, at an all-party meeting, took a firm stand that it was bound to implement the top court order and rejected suggestions by opposition parties that it seek time from the court.
The temple complex and nearby areas had witnessed widespread protests and have come under unprecedented security for the season after the state government decided to implement the September 28 apex court verdict.
The Supreme Court is slated to hear petitions seeking review of its September 28 order in January, but has refused to stay it.