Vellappally speaks against making political gains from Sabarimala judgement

Alappuzha: Vellappally Natesan, general secretary of The Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam has come out against the BJP and Congress trying to make political capital out of the Supreme Court verdict and the strikes against the judgement.

The SNDP, as represented by its supremo, in a press conference here on Tuesday, would support the State government on the Sabarimala temple issue.

Speaking to reporters. Vellappally said the current protest was a move to attack the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in the State.

“It is not proper to oppose the Supreme Court verdict. We cannot support those opposing the government. People should abide by law even while following rituals and customs. Making violent agitations in the name of Hindus is not acceptable. Both the BJP and Congress have political motives. The BJP is playing vote bank politics. They are among those trying to destroy the Sabarimala temple,” Mr. Natesan said.

He said the SNDP Yogam suspected that the organisations conducting the present protests were planning to create a second liberation struggle in the State. He said the protesters should have called a meeting with other Hindu communities or organisations of the Ezhava community which they did not do. The SNDP will not support the protest. He went to the extent of saying that if the current protests continued, SNDP will launch parallel protests and unmask them.

"We will not accept unilateral decisions taken by a section of the Hindu community," Vellappally added.

He said the stand of the SNDP Yogam was that women should not go to Sabarimala. “Everyone should accept the Supreme Court verdict allowing the entry of women of all ages into the Sabarimala temple. But at the same time, we can overcome the verdict by continuing the existing practice. Women should not visit the Sabarimala temple. Review petitions have been filed and we will wait,” he said.

He urged the State government to invite various Hindu organisations for talks on the matter. Natesan did not see it as a right decision on the part of the Sabarimala Tantri and the Pandalam royal family to decline an invitation by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for a conciliation meeting. They should have attended the meeting and conveyed their opinion, he said.

Vellappally was, significantly enough, all with the Chief Minister on the issue, who he said, has taken an open stand on Sabarimala. But he would like the chief minister to invite all Hindu organisations for talks.