BJP to organise 'Save Sabarimala Yatra' from Wednesday

BJP Monday said the party-led NDA would organise a five-day long march from Pandalam to Thiruvananthapuram in protest against the CPI(M)-led LDF government's "hasty move" to implement the Supreme Court order, permitting entry of women of all ages into the Sabarimala temple.

Announcing the decision to conduct the five-day long 'Save Sabarimala Yatra' from Pandalam to Thiruvananthapuram, BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai alleged that the LDF government was trying to divide Hindus to "defeat" the movement of Lord Ayyappa devotees against the government's decision to hurriedly implement the Supreme Court order.

The long march --Save Sabarimala Yatra-- beginning October 10 from Pandalam, the place where Lord Ayyappa's palace is situated, would conclude in Thiruvananthapuram on October 15, Pillai said.

"The Government is trying to implement the Supreme Court order by suppressing the Hindu faith and sentiments of the faithful," the BJP state chief said after the core committee meeting of the party here.

He said the NDA's 'Save Sabarimala Yatra' would be an agitation based on Gandhian principles.

Pillai said the government was going ahead with the decision to implement the SC order without giving time to the spiritual authorities of the hill shrine to find a solution to the problem based on 'Tantra Sastra'.

He alleged that the CPI(M), a party based on atheist principles, had been trying to destroy Sabarimala for the past 50 years, but those who tried to do so have never succeeded.

Meanwhile, former BJP leader P P Mukundan has shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his urgent intervention to save Sabarimala from the "hands of non-believers, whose sole intention is to plunder the temple wealth and revenue."

In his letter, the former South Indian Organising Secretary of BJP, said "the Ayyappa devotees are looking at you, seeking your effective intervention to Save Sabarimala.

"The Centre may take over Sabarimala through special ordinance, declare it a National Pilgrim Centre, depoliticise the temple administration and set up a Tirupati-model Devaasthanam for its proper upkeep and administration," he said in his letter.