The Congress in Kerala on Friday alleged that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was responsible for the present tense situation at Lord Ayappa temple in Sabarimala.
Attacking Vijayan, who is in UAE, Kerala PCC president Mullapally Ramachandran said “Vijayan is like the Roman emperor Nero who fiddled while Rome burned.”
“The chief minister is holidaying in the Gulf along with his family.. he has failed to perform like a vigilant administrator,” he said.
Ramachandran asked the state government to find a solution to the crisis in Sabarimala or else there would be “a disaster.”
Making it clear that the party would stand behind believers, Ramachandran alleged that the CPI-M-led LDF government and police were trying to destroy the customs and traditions of the temple.
Hitting out at the BJP and RSS, he alleged that the sangh parivar was trying to create an “Ayodhya-like issue out of the Sabarimala issue.”
“All should realise the attempt of the sangh parivar to convert Sabarimala into another Ayodhya,” he said.
The Sabarimala temple complex witnessed tense moments when devotees blocked two young women and a police team escorting them at Valiya Nadappandhal, the queue complex that leads to the sanctum sanctorum.
The tension was defused after the women agreed to abandon the idea of entering the shrine as the state government had said it did not want to use force against the protesters.
The state has been witnessing protests against allowing girls and women of menstrual age into the temple since the government had said it would abide by the ruling of the supreme court allowing their entry.
The agitation intensified since the shrine was opened for the five-day monthly pooja on October 17.
