Thiruvananthapuram: Normal life was partially affected in Kerala due to the dawn-to-dusk hartal called by the state BJP on Friday as buses kept off the roads and shops and hotels remained shut.
Barring sporadic incidents of stone-pelting, the stir was peaceful, the police said.
The BJP had announced the stir as a mark of respect to 55-year old Venugopalan Nair, who died after setting himself afire near the venue of the party's protest here Thursday. The mortal remains of Nair were brought to the protest venue where BJP leaders paid him their last respect.
The saffron party claimed Nair took the extreme step due to the "adamant" stand of the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government on the Sabarimala issue. However, police said Nair, in his dying declaration given to the Magistrate, said he resorted to the act due to depression and ran towards the protest venue after setting himself afire.
Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has been operating bus services to Pamba to ease difficulties of Sabarimala pilgrims as they were exempted from the hartal.
However, three KSRTC buses which were parked along the road were damaged in Palakkad district during stone-pelting by hartal supporters. The hartal affected over 4,000 tourists, who had arrived in the state in three cruise liners and a chartered aircraft Thursday.
Various organisations, including Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Kerala Management Association led by the Tourim Professionals club took out a march in Kochi with black cloth tied around their mouth to protest the frequent hartals, President of the Kochi based Tourism Professionals Club, Vinesh Vidya said.
We also plan to file a petition in the Kerala High Court against hartals, he told PTI.
In the capital city, police arranged transport facilities for patients going to Medical College and the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC).
Certain voluntary organisations and individuals at Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway station were seen helping those who were stranded.
Kalesh, a courier company employee, who was seen with his bike at the railway station here, said he had already travelled over 50 km dropping various passengers at different places in the city. "About seven years ago I was stranded here even as my house is just seven kms away.
From then I have been out on hartal days to help those who get stranded," he added.
The BJP district unit had also arranged vans for the students who reached the state capital to appear for the NEET exam.
Various traders' organisations have come out in open against the flash hartal called by the BJP as this was the second state-wide strike in less than three weeks.
Shopkeepers in the famous Sweetmeat Street, a heritage street, in Kozhikode responded to the stir by opening shops.
"We all have decided to keep the shops and business establishments open on all hartals.
The business was hit by Nipah and the August floods and now the continous hartals are causing us severe loss," a trader from Kozhikode said. The business capital of Kerala, Kochi witnessed a partial response to the hartal with some shops remaining open and vehicles plying.
Police personnel distributed food packets to the public, especially Ayyappa devotees.
Slamming the BJP over the hartal, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the party has itself become a "laughing stock" in the state.
"The BJP has become a laughing stock by calling this hartal. The deceased had given a dying declaration to the magistrate which was against the claims made by the state BJP," Pinarayitold media in New Delhi.
BJP state chief P S Sreedharan Pillai Friday demanded a judicial probe into the incident of self-immolation near the party protest venue, while the state Congress chief Mullapally Ramachandran, wanted the BJP to explain why they had called a hartal.
"The saffron party was exploiting the suicide of a man for political gains. This shows the political bankruptcy of the party," he said. Venugopalan Nair, a resident of Muttada near here, had suffered 90 per cent burns and succumbed at the Government Medical College Hospital, after he set himself afire.
Nair tried to run towards the makeshift tent where BJP leader C K Padmanabhan is on an indefinite fast demanding lifting of prohibitory orders in and around Sabarimala hill shrine, police said. Party activists and police personnel doused the fire using drinking water and rushed him to the hospital where he died without responding to treatment.
The BJP has been protesting against the state government over its decision to implement the Supreme Court order allowing women of all age groups to offer prayers at the Lord Ayyappa Temple.
'Odiyan' on hartal day
People, especially youths, thronged the theatres to watch the first show of Mohanlal-starrer Odiyan that released on Friday.
However, at several places after the first show at 4.30 am, the theatres closed down with an announcement that it will reopen only at 6 pm.
VA Shrikumar Menon, director of the film, told the media that this shutdown has affected the opening day's release and hoped on Saturday things would be normal.
Since the two-month long pilgrimage season began on November 16, this is the second statewide strike called by the BJP on the Sabarimala issue.
Earlier, it had observed a strike to protest the detention of K P Sasikala, president of the Hindu Aikya Vedi. The BJP had also observed a hartal in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday after its workers clashed with the police during a march.
Merchants offer stiff resistance
Meanwhile, the hartal supporters had to face stiff resistance from a group of merchants in Pangod in Thiruvananthapuram. As the merchants stood the ground, the agitators were forced to back down.
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