While the State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is gearing up for yet another bout of agitation on the Sabrimala issue in front of the Secretariat from Monday, organisational lapses in sustaining the tempo and frequent shift in focus are understood to have invited criticism from Sangh Parivar organisations, mainly the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
The Parivar organisations, mainly the RSS, that had been steering the movement with the BJP in the forefront had worked out a clear course of action and it was planned to continue till the end of the festival season. The RSS had drafted its cadres in strength to take the movement forward.
As per the schedule, an array of Central ministers and national leaders were to regularly visit the temple, culminating with the visit of BJP president Amit Shah. This was expected to lend a major fillip to the party to gain considerable political mileage in the Lok Sabha election, especially in southern and central Kerala.
The plan worked as scheduled for almost a week from November 17, when the temple was opened for the Mandalam festival. But it went awry when the police went ahead with preventive detentions and charging cases against workers who became part of the protests at the Sannidhanam and its precincts, sources said.
But for leaders such as A.N. Radhakrishnan, K. Surendran and V. Muraleedharan, none could make any impact and the row Mr. Radhakrishnan had picked up with the police officer on duty during the visit of Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan is understood to have come in for criticism within the party itself.
Disenchanted
Subsequently, the schedule prepared at the behest of the RSS and the BJP on leaders’ visit had to be shelved and the RSS workers assigned to escort the leaders too were disenchanted. BJP State president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai’s observation that the agitation was not against the entry of women but against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s failure in providing infrastructure facilities for pilgrims too is learnt to have invited strong protests from the Parivar organisation leaders.
The latest decision to shift the agitation venue from Sabarimala to the Secretariat was aimed at capturing public attention and give an impression that the party had not ceded its ground to its political opponents, sources said.
