[The pattern is very similar to the time of the Babri Masjid demolition. You have the heads of volunteers wearing saffron bands, the same dress you found there then, Yechuri said. (Photo: Arun Sankar/AFP/Getty Images)]
New Delhi: The Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI-M) criticised the Modi government's double standard while dealing with the Sabarimala Temple issue and also hit out at BJP-RSS combine for communal polarisation and creating an Ayodhya-like situation in Kerala similiar to the tragic demolition of Babri Masjid.
Talking to television channels, CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechuri on Friday said the attacks on journalists by extremists wearing saffron bands on their heads were reminiscent of demolition of Babri Masjid by similar gangs back in 1992.
“The TV crews who went there (Sabarimla) along with their women members were roughed up. The pattern is very similar to the time of the Babri Masjid demolition. You have the heads of volunteers wearing saffron bands, the same dress you found there then", Yechuri said.
Yechuri was referring to the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 06, 1992 when thousands of Hindu extremists in the presence of top BJP, RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal leadership razed to ground the 16th century historic mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.
"The RSS has lost the battle of not letting the gates of Sabarimala open. They even lost the battle that the temple shouldn’t open on time. Then they started doing this. It's all an organised thing that the RSS is doing”, he said.
Sitaram Yechuri also accused the Modi government of hypocrisy on its tall claims of gender equality, and asked why it was not adapting the same yardstick which it so proudly applied in the case of triple talaq.
"Asserting that equality of men and women is fundamental to our constitution and that should be protected, the government brought ordinance banning triple talaq. Why the government is not applying the same principle to Sabarimala?” Sitaram Yechuri asked.
"The BJP welcomed the Supreme Court verdict regarding entry of women in Sabarimala Temple saying that equality of women is sacred in our Constitution. Having welcomed that, now the RSS chief says that is the matter of faith", he added.
Levelling similar allegations, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President Mullappally Ramachandran also accused the BJP-RSS combine of creating "Ayodhya like situation" in Kerala. He however also criticised the CPI-M government in the state for its poor handling of the situation.
“While the CPM is trying to make a conflict zone, the RSS-led Sangh Parivar is trying to make another Ayodhya in Sabarimala. Right from the beginning, the Congress had been demanding the state government act carefully and responsibly, but they ignored our plea and a war-like situation has been created", he said.
Meanwhile on Friday two women, a reporter from Hyderabad in her late 20s and an activist from Kerala, reached the hilltop but had to return before reaching the sanctum sanctorum of Sabarimala Temple following massive protests by Hindu devotees.
A large number of devotees blocked the young women and police team escorting them at Valiya Nadappandhal, the queue complex located a few metres away from the holy 'pathinettam padi' (the 18 sacred steps), leading to the sanctum sanctorum.
The tension was defused after the women agreed to return as the state government made it clear it did not want to take them to the Sannidhanam, the temple complex, by using force against the protesting devotees.
The chief priest had earlier warned that he would close the Sabarimala shrine and stop puja if any women below 50 years of age entered the premises.
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