Kozhikode: The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) seven-day drive dubbed 'Aikyadardya Yathra', which commenced here, is an attempt to put the spotlight back on the Sabarimala issue in the Kozhikode Lok Sabha constituency. This has been spurred by the recent arrest of its Lok Sabha candidate over a previous case related to the Sabarimala agitation.
The NDA candidate Prakash Babu, who is also the state president of BJP's youth wing Yuva Morcha, was remanded for attempting to murder a woman devotee during her bid to visit the Lord Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala on the Chithira Atta festival late last year.
Seven more cases have been registered against him over the Sabarimala protests and arrest warrants were also issued.
The BJP yatra is ostensibly to express solidarity with Babu, though the larger purpose is to put the spotlight on the issue of women's entry into Sabarimala. The seven-day 'Yathra' would cover all the seven Assembly segments and end in Kozhikode South assembly constituency on April 5.
BJP state president advocate P S Sreedharan Pillai will address a gathering at Thamarassery on Saturday, Kozhikode district BJP president T P Jayachandran said.
“The Election Commission does not have to intervene in matters related to the beliefs of any particular community. When the Babri Masjid issue rocked the country, no such directions were issued by the authorities. Prakash Babu fought for lakhs of devotees and he is held back. This is injustice and we are showing solidarity with him. This is similar to what K Surendran went through earlier owing to a number of cases. EC does not have the authority to decide what are the topics to be discussed,” Jayachandran said while referring to one of the BJP general secretaries who is also the party's candidate from the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency in southern Kerala.
Surendran was also taken into custody earlier in a case related to the attack on a 52-year-old woman, who came to visit the shrine during the Chithira Atta festival. (In a similar incident, Hardik Patel, who joined the Congress recently in Gujarat, may not be able to contest in the Lok Sabha polls after the Gujarat High Court refused to stay his conviction in a 2015 rioting case.)
Jayachandran said Babu's absence would not affect the campaigning. The BJP does not have a Plan B and it continues to bank on Babu's candidature.
The Sabarimala row became a poll issue after BJP supporters took to the streets to protest against the LDF government's move to implement a Supreme Court verdict allowing the entry to women of all ages to the temple.
On September 28, 2018, in a 4:1 split verdict, the apex court said the ban on women in the child-bearing age group, whose presence in temple was considered to be "impure", violated their fundamental rights and constitutional guarantee of equality.
Until then, only girls below 10 years and women over 50 years were allowed to visit the hilltop shrine.
