Sabarimala violence: Peaceful Sunday in Kerala, over 5700 people arrested

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala had a peaceful Sunday after four days of widespread violence involving BJP-RSS and ruling CPI(M) workers following the entry of two women of menstruating age into the Sabarimala temple.

About 5,769 people have been arrested and 1,869 cases registered so far. 

It’s the government’s duty to implement the Supreme Court order allowing women of all ages into the shrine to offer prayers, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said. He added that they would not be cowed down by threats of “constitutional consequences” for Sabarimala violence.

Vijayan has asked the BJP national leadership to instruct its cadre in Kerala to stop creating violence in the state.

“The state has a constitutional duty to implement the Supreme Court order. There is no violence other than the ones created by the RSS, BJP and the Sangh Parivar. And now they are threatening the state with constitutional consequences,” Vijayan said in a Facebook post.

The chief minister’s post came on a day Union minister Smriti Irani alleged that the CPI(M)-led LDF government was arresting BJP workers for raising their voice against the state.

BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao had warned the state government saying it would have to face constitutional consequences.

Vijayan also alleged that the Sangh Parivar was trying to implement the same methods that they tried in northern India.

“It’s not going to succeed in Kerala. The state will deal with all kinds of attempts to create violence and communal riots with iron hand,” the chief minister said.

Of nearly 5,800 persons arrested in connection with the violence. At least 4,980 persons have been granted bail, a state police chief Loknath Behara said.

While in Palakkad, 283 cases have been registered so far and 764 persons arrested, in Kannur district, where crude bombs were thrown at the house of Thalassery MLA AM Shamseer and BJP leader and MP V Muraleedharan, 225 cases have been booked and 394 arrested so far.

In Pathnamthitta district, where the Sabarimala temple is located, 267 cases have been registered and 677 people arrested so far.