The Kerala government is oppressing devotees of Ayyappa by exceeding the judicial mandate on the Sabarimala temple, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Thursday, PTI reported. Bhagwat, who addressed the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Dharam Sansad in Prayagraj, claimed that women did not wish to enter the temple despite the Supreme Court lifting age restrictions for women.

“We support this agitation of the Hindu society as the petitioners to the judiciary were not Lord Ayyappa’s devotees,” Bhagwat said. “There are many moves afoot to divide the Hindu society. Accordingly, it’s the need of the hour to reunite the segmented Hindus through a religious renaissance.”

Bhagwat said the Supreme Court did not think that its decision would hurt the sentiments of Hindus, “who are in majority”. “No one wants to go, that is why women have been brought from Sri Lanka and are made to enter from the back door,” he claimed, according to The Indian Express.

Two resolutions were passed at the event, equating the “struggle to secure tradition of Sabarimala with Ayodhya movement”. It alleged there is a conspiracy to divide the Hindu society. “Dharma Sansad is of the view that the Kerala government is a repressive regime carrying out oppression against the Hindus with the help of Jehadi and Communist elements,” the resolution read.

Over 200 saints, including Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Vasudevanand Sarswati and Swami Parmanand, also attended the council. Swami Parmanand alleged that “a mischievous effort” is being consistently made over the last few years to undermine and destroy the Hindu traditions and faith. “The Sabarimala temple was subjected to arson in 1950 by Christians, who installed a cross in its precincts in 1982,” he alleged, according to PTI.

He further claimed: “Nowadays, thousands of Muslim women are engaged in forming human chains to undermine the agitation against the faith and tradition of Sabarimala temple. All these examples expose the conspiracy of mischievous efforts against the Hindus.”

The council also extended support to Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, who on Wednesday set February 21 as the final date to proceed to Ayodhya to lay the foundation of the Ram temple.