BJP State president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai’s reported claim that Sabarimala head priest Kantararu Rajeevararu had sought his opinion for closing the temple has rendered a rude jolt to the party’s Sabarimala strategy.
Mr. Pillai’s observation that the agitation had given a golden opportunity for the party had given sufficient ammunition to its critics who had been accusing the party of using the name of Sabarimala and the devotees for political gains. Though Mr. Pillai made an abortive bid to defend himself by dubbing the expose as a conspiracy hatched by a section of mediapersons associated with the CPI(M) and that he enjoyed the freedom to offer legal counsel to anyone the BJP plan to sustain the tempo of the agitation till the Lok Sabha elections, build bridges with the Nair Service Society and also break ice with the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam have now gone awry.
Rath yatra
The National Democratic Alliance has planned to take out a rath yatra from Kasaragod to Sabarimala from November 8 to consolidate the gains of the protest. But the yatra is likely to get embroiled in a row in the wake of Mr. Pillai’s exposure to put the LDF government in the dock for its alleged failure in maintaining law and order.
The expose has now lent credence to the criticism that the BJP and other Sangh Parivar organisations were not planning a peaceful movement, but were planning to trigger violence.
It may lead to a string of litigations too in the coming days.