Yechury likens Sabarimala protests to Babri demolition, blames RSS for it

New Delhi, Oct 19: CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday likened the protests at the Sabarimala Temple over the entry of women to Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 and blamed the RSS for the chaos.

Devotees have been aggressively protesting a Supreme Court order that allows women of menstrual age to enter the temple, a ban that was followed for decades as a religious practice. Today, two women were stopped a short distance away from the Sabarimala temple. The government had earlier insisted that it would do all that is needed to ensure that women are allowed to offer prayers in line with a Supreme Court order.

"All the TV crews who went there which had women were roughed up, the pattern is very similar to the time of the Babri Masjid demolition. You have the heads of the volunteers wearing saffron bands, the same dress you found there then," Yechury told media.

"Similar thing is being done here (Sabarimala) so it is an organised thing that the RSS is doing. RSS has lost the battle of not letting the gates of Sabarimala open, they even lost the battle that the temple shouldn't open on time," he added.

CPI (M)'s Kodiyeri Balakrishnan blamed the BJP for "causing hindrance" to the arrangements that were made by the state government following the SC verdict allowing the entry of women from all age groups into the Sabarimala temple.

Two women, who on Friday came within 500 meters of entering the Sabarimala Temple, had to turn back and return after the head priest of the shrine threatened to shut down the shrine and stop prayers.