Kerala: Women who enter the Sabarimala temple should be ripped apart, says actor
Thulasidharan Nair was addressing a rally organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Kollam district.
Malayalam actor Thulasidharan Nair, also known as Kollam Thulasi, on Friday said women who dare to enter Kerala’s Sabarimala temple should be ripped apart, reported ANI. The Supreme Court had last month passed an order allowing women of all age groups entry into the temple.
“Women going to Sabarimala temple should be ripped apart,” the actor said while addressing a rally in Kollam district. “One half should be sent to Delhi and the other half should be thrown to the Chief Minister’s Office in Thiruvananthapuram.” The rally was organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party and sought protection of the shrine’s customs.
“The mothers taking part in the protest against the [Supreme Court] judgement should go to Sabarimala,” The News Minute quoted him as saying. “Then those women should rip apart the ones who try to enter the temple.”
The Kerala government has said it will implement the verdict, while the Congress and BJP have accused the Left government of showing “undue haste” in implementing the order.
“It is a mass protest, a lot of people take part in it,” said BJP state unit president PS Sreedharan Pillai when asked about Nair’s comments. “Not all of them would inform us what they were going to speak and seek our consent. Thulasi is associated with an Ayyappa devotee group in Kollam and hence he spoke.”
Pillai is leading the “Save Sabarimala Yatra”, which started from Pandalam on Wednesday and will conclude in the state capital on October 15.
On Thursday, activists of the BJP’s youth wing protested outside the house of Kerala minister Kadakampally Surendra against the state government’s decision to not file a review petition in the Supreme Court challenging the verdict. The protests turned violent after the activists attempted to take down police barricades a few metres away from Surendran’s house in Thiruvananthapuram. The police used water cannons and tear gas shells to disperse the crowd.
The National Ayyappa Devotees Association and the Nair Service Society have filed review petitions in the Supreme Court against its order.