Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state police was only trying to thwart the Sangh Parivar agenda to unnecessarily create trouble and then use the commotion to take over Sabarimala. He reeled out names of Sangh Parivar activists who were arrested and removed from Sannidhanam. He noted that those arrested were not devotees but Sangh Parivar leaders with criminal cases. Pinarayi called those arrested as kar sevaks who are out to take over Sabarimala.
The chief minister said, “The person who led the protests at Sabarimala on November 18 is Rajesh R.” He was a former RSS Muvattupuzha district karyavahak and now the in-charge of RSS activities in Ernakulam district. “It was a team led by this very person that had attacked and stopped a 52-year-old woman from entering Sabarimala during the Chithira Atta festival earlier,” the CM said.
“Now that the BJP's circular exhorting cadres to move to Sabarimala and deputing leaders to mobilise the cadre has also come out, the BJP game plan is for all to see,” Pinarayi Vijayan said. And then, with a tinge of sarcasm, the CM added: “Check with the local people in the area whether these Sangh Parivar leaders had undergone the mandatory 41-day fast before making the trip to Sabarimala.” The chief minister also said the Sangh Parivar leaders used unconventional forest routes to sneak into Sabarimala.
Pinarayi Vijayan said it was now clear that the Sangh Parivar agitation in Sabarimala had nothing to do with faith. “It is a political game they are playing. The BJP state president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai himself had stated that the fight is not against the entry of women into Sabarimala but against the Communist government,” the chief minister said. “The faithful have been put through dreadful circumstances simply because the Sangh Parivar feels it will get some votes. The Sangh Parivar should not subject the faithful to unspeakable torments to achieve their political ends,” he added.
The chief minister also gave a clean chit to the police force. “The force has shown commendable restraint even in the face of intense provocation and physical pain,” Pinarayi Vijayan said. He said the police had never intervened in the initial days. “Right at the start when they set up tents and began protests, the police had not tried to stand in the way. Even when many such protests sprang, the police had kept away,” the chief minister said.
According to him, the police intervened only when Indian and foreign journalists were attacked by the protesters. “By then some women, too, had trekked up the hills, and we know how the Sangh Parivar dealt with such a situation. They denied these women basic democratic rights, and the police had to intervene. It should not be forgotten that women journalists were subjected to brutal attacks,” the chief minister said.
Gradually, the chief minister pointed out, Sangh Parivar activists started blocking even the devotees moving up the hills. “The police had shown tremendous restraint. The objective was to provide the devout a peaceful darshan. Whoever had tried to create trouble for them were arrested and removed,” he said.
He said the government's only strategy was to provide all necessary arrangements for devotees to have a peaceful 'darshan' of the lord. “We cannot remain blind to those who stand in the way. It was only natural for the government to remove those who had come to Sabarimala with the only objective of creating trouble,” he said. Pinarayi Vijayan said it was not possible to provide security to women wanting to visit Sabarimala right from the start of their journey. "However, we will arrange protection for them from Nilakkal," he said. The chief minister also termed as "laudable" the stand taken by three young women that they would travel to Sabarimala after the trouble was over.
