Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah on Friday hit out at the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) government in Kerala over the Sabarimala matter, saying the state government has been “cheating” crores of Ayyappa devotees, PTI reported. He alleged that the “atheist communists” have tried to deny justice to the believers.

“The Left Democratic Front government has been cheating crores of Sabarimala devotees in the country,” Shah claimed, while addressing party workers in Kerala’s Palakkad district. “I would like to remind you that this will result in unsettling the foundation of the communist party.”

Women of menstruating age have traditionally not been allowed into the temple, but a Supreme Court order on September 28 put an end to the restriction. The Kerala government, led by the Left Democratic Front, had vowed to implement the judgement, but the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have strongly opposed it. Violent protests have broken out at the hill shrine since the Supreme Court’s verdict.

“The LDF government has been stating that they were bound by the Supreme Court verdict,” Shah said. “However, the top court has also said that no loudspeakers can be used in mosques. From how many mosques have you removed the loudspeakers. Have you implemented that Supreme Court verdict?”

The BJP president said the CPI(M) will be thrown out of power in Kerala as it was in West Bengal and Tripura. “Kerala government sent DYFI [Democratic Youth Federation of India] thugs in police uniform to Sabarimala premises to control Hindu devotees,” he claimed, according to the Hindustan Times. “More than 2,000 Sabarimala devotees are in jail and over 30,000 have been booked under false cases.”

Shah also took a dig at the Opposition’s “grand alliance”, saying they did not have one prime minister candidate, but many. “Rahul Gandhi is eager to form a mahagathbandhan [grand alliance]. But they don’t have an ideology, leader or policy. All they want to do is to grab power,” he said.

He appealed to the people to give the BJP a chance in the next election. “When LDF comes to power, there is violence and during UDF rule there is more corruption and both fronts help protect each other’s corruption,” he said. “If the BJP-led NDA comes to power all the corrupt will be put behind bars.”