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The protestors, including women, squatted on roads, blocking traffic at various places, including in state capital, Kochi, Thrissur, Palakkad and in front of Kottarakara sub-jail, where Surendran has been lodged, and also the northernmost Kasaragod district. In all the places, the protesters were seen clapping and chanting “Swamiyae Ayyappa”.
Addressing workers at Thiruvananthapuram, BJP leader M S Kumar said police had so far not succeeded in bringing even a single young woman to the Lord Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala after the Supreme Court on September 28 allowed women of all age groups to offer prayers at the shrine.
While the CPI(M)-led LDF government’s stand is that they were constitutionally bound to implement the court order, the main opposition Congress has said they are with the believers.
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The BJP protest comes a day after the hartal called by the Hindu Aikya Vedi against the preventive custody of their leader K P Sasikala. She was later granted bail. When the Ayyappa temple had opened for monthly pujas in October and early this month, it witnessed a string of protests from frenzied devotees against the entry of young women. A few of them, who made a bid to offer prayers, could not come anywhere close to the holy shrine.
A 46-year-old woman, who arrived from nearby Kazhakootam to go to Sabarimala, was turned back from Chengannur Saturday, following protests from devotees.