Kerala Government treats Ayyappa devotees like Gulag Inmates: Amit Shah

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah accused Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of treating Ayyappa followers like inmates of Gulag. Accusing Vijayan, he said that young girls, mothers and aged people are being treated inhumanly by Kerala Police.

Amit Shah lashed out at Kerala government saying that pilgrims were being forced to spend the night next to pig droppings and dustbins under Left Democratic Front (LDF) government. In a series of tweets, he said, Kerala government has not provided basic facilities like food, water, shelter and even clean toilets to the pilgrims.

If several reports of flushing resting places for devotees and them having to spend nights next to pig droppings & dustbin are true, then Pinarayi Vijayan must realize that he can’t treat Ayyappa devotees like inmates of Gulag. We won’t let LDF crush people’s faith with impunity.

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) November 20, 2018

Shah added that the LDF government was trying to “crush” people’s faith but the saffron party was “firmly with the devotees”. He also called the way the Kerala government is handling Sabarimala issue is ‘disappointing’.

“The way Pinarayi Vijayan’s govt is handling the sensitive issue of Sabarimala is disappointing. Kerala police are treating young girls, mothers and aged inhumanly, forcing them to take the arduous pilgrimage, without even basic facilities like food, water, shelter & clean toilets,” Shah tweeted.

The way Pinarayi Vijayan’s govt is handling the sensitive issue of Sabarimala is disappointing. Kerala police is treating young girls, mothers and aged inhumanly, forcing them to take the arduous pilgrimage, without even basic facilities like food, water, shelter & clean toilets.

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) November 20, 2018

Assuring help to Pilgrims, he said, he would not let LDF crush people’s faith with impunity.

The Sabarimala Temple has been in the news since the Supreme Court allowed women of all ages to enter into the shrine. It had witnessed widespread protests by devotees, when it was opened for monthly puja for eight days in October and earlier this month. The devotees were raising their voice against the LDF government’s decision to implement the apex court verdict allowing women in the previously banned 10-50 age group to offer prayer at the shrine.

Unprecedented restrictions were enforced for the devotees in view of the frenzied protests witnessed when the temple was opened briefly last month and early this month when at least a dozen women in the 10-50 age group were refrained from entering the shrine.

Also read: Sabarimala row: ‘Devotees are not terrorists’, says Union minister KJ Alphons