Amit Shah vs Pinarayi Vijayan in war of words over Sabarimala row

BJP president Amit Shah launched a frontal attack on Kerala’s ruling Left Front on Saturday, saying his party “stands like a rock” with the devotees of Sabarimala temple whose opposition to women aged between 10 and 50 years entering the hill shrine despite a Supreme Court order had prompted a massive police crackdown.

State chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan hit back at Shah, saying his statements were against the Constitution, intended to sabotage the people’s mandate and not guarantee fundamental rights.

He said Shah’s statements are “against the Constitution and law of the land. “It’s a clear intention of their agenda to not to guarantee fundamental rights. This shows the agenda of the RSS and the Sangh Parivar,” he said.

The CPI(M) government had assured the Supreme Court that its verdict would be implemented but not a single woman of reproductive age was allowed to visit the temple when it opened for a week for monthly rituals on October 17. Despite a massive police deployment, devotees did not budge.

Following this, the state police had launched a massive crackdown in which 2,061 devotee-protesters were arrested.

To this, Shah said, “A non-believer government is trying to do enough dirty jobs in the name of a verdict. BJP is standing like a rock with devotees, Left government be warned.”

In response, Vijayan reminded Shah that “this government came to power, not at the mercy of BJP, but the people’s mandate. His message is to sabotage the people’s mandate”.

Shah’s visit to Kannur was also symbolic as the BJP tries to gain a foothold in the only Left-ruled state in the country. Kannur has been a stronghold of the communist movement in Kerala and also a place where workers of the Left and the Sangh family have often clashed in tit-for-tat killings that has claimed more than 300 lives in three decades.

First Published: Oct 27, 2018 17:53 IST