Sabarimala row: BJP holds massive show of strength in Kerala capital

Thiruvananthapuram: Chanting mantras of Lord Ayyappa and waving party flags, thousands of BJP workers Monday trooped into the Kerala capital demanding that the Left Front government file a review petition against the Supreme Court verdict allowing female devotees of menstrual age to offer prayers at the shrine.

With the contentious issue fast acquiring political overtones, BJP workers and sympathisers, including a large number of women, laid a virtual siege to the state secretariat in a massive show of strength against the government which has said it would enforce the apex court's order and not go for a review.

The protesters, some clad in black and many others carrying garlanded pictures of the eternally celibate deity, had begun the "Save Sabrimala March" from Pandalam in Pathanamthitta district to Thiruvananthapuram, a distance of around 90 km, on October 10.

Addressing the gathering outside the secretariat, BJP general secretary P Muralidhar Rao assailed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for the government's decision against filing a review petition.

"Ayyappa devotees not only in Kerala but across the country are disturbed by the recent developments. The state government is responsible for the crisis," he said.

The protest march concluded just two days before the Sabrimala shrine opens to public on October 17. It would be closed on October 22 after the five-day monthly puja during the Malayalam month of Thulam.