Ayyappa devotees en route to Sabarimala shrine have been asked by the police not to recite Ayyappa hymns and devotional songs. They have been also asked to complete the trekking to the shrine and return to the base camp in six hours whether they get the chance to worship or not at the Sabarimala temple. This is the sum total of the series of guidelies issued to the devotees by the police since Tuesday.
The resentment against the Kerala Government has spread to other south Indian States by Tuesday because of the stringent restrictions.
The situation in Sabarimala and nearby areas got aggravated as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan blamed the BJP and the RSS for the current unrest in Sabarimala. “The RSS and BJP has entrusted hundreds of criminal elements to foment troubles at Sabarimala. The persons who have been arrested from Sabarimala during the last two days are leaders of the BJP and RSS with criminal records,” said the Chief Minister while addressing a specially convened media meet at Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.
The Police continued its crackdown in devotees who recite Ayyappa hymns and devotional songs in the temple premises. Though the Kerala High Court had on Monday expressed its displeasure over the cruelty committed on devotees, there was no let up in brutalities by the cops on Tuesday. Monday night itself saw police throwing out devotees who were reciting hymns and did not allow them to perform the customary Abhishekam (sacred offering to the deity).
Hundreds of disappointed Ayyappa bhakts including women and children who had thronged the shrine from all over the country came out of the temple premises sobbing uncontrollably because of the police brutality. Devotees on their way to the temple have to sigh in police stations at Nilackel /Pampa and are given a set of printed regulations and restrictions as per the directives of the Director General of Police . As per the guidelines formulated by the police ( a copy of which is in possession of The Pioneer), devotees have to come back to the base camp within six hours of their signing the register. They have to perform the pilgrimage in silence and are not allowed to recite Ayyappa hymns. The pilgrims have been told not to speak to the media.
“Those reciting hymns and Ayyappa songs were taken by the police to closed toilets which were overflowing with human waste and asked us to recite the hymns standing there,” said Jaganathan, a devotee from Tamil Nadu who had to suffer the humiliation. Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandi led a delegation of Congress leaders to the Sannidhanam on Tuesday challenging the Section 144 slapped by the police in the temple premises.
“These restrictions is a ploy to cover up the failures of the Government to provide basic amenities to the devotees. The September 28 Supreme Court verdict which allowed the entry of women of all ages to the shrine was a result of the changes made by the present Government in the earlier affidavit submitted by us. The CPM is responsible for the impasse in Sabarimala,” said Chandi while addressing a meeting at Pamba.
Though the police officials told the former Chief Minister that he would not be allowed to address the meeting because of Section 144, the Congress leaders reminded him about a verdict by the apex court that banned the imposition of Section 144 in temple premises which made the police to make a hasty retreat.
K Ramkumar, senior lawyer and an authority on human rights told The Pioneer that he would move the High Court on Wednesday challenging the Section 144 as well as the restrictions slapped by the police. “Their actions will not stand scrutiny in any court of law,” said Ramkumar.
T G Mohan Das, another lawyer, said that the High Court had given directions to the Government that they should ply buses between Pampa and Sabarimala at the rate of a bus per minute, the Government by Wednesday cancelled more than 60 schedules.