THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The self-immolation committed by an Ayyappa devotee at the venue of the BJP agitation before the secretariat in the wee hours of Thursday has provided an impetus to the party's waning Sabarimala protest.
It has announced a hartal on Friday in the state to add fuel to the fire that ended the life of Venugopalan Nair, who has become a martyr for the BJP and energised the hunger strike of former BJP State president C. K. Padmanabhan.
He had taken over the stir from state general secretary A. N. Radhakrishnan who was hospitalised after seven days of fast.
State general secretary M. T. Ramesh told Deccan Chronicle that the strike will continue till the LDF government lifts the prohibitory orders at Sabarimala.
"A devotee set himself on fire for a cause in front of the secretariat for the first time in the history of the state" he said. Venugopalan Nair's parting words were 'Swami Saranam,' Ramesh added.
"We have also been demanding that the false cases charged against the BJP leaders should be cancelled. The hartal will be peaceful and vehicular traffic will not be blocked with several all-India exams scheduled," he said.
State president P. S. Sreedharan Pillai, national executive member P. K. Krishnadas, organising general secretary M. Ganesh and V. Muraleedharan MP are in New Delhi attending the meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and national BJP president Amit Shah to discuss the election debacle in the five states.
BJP sources told Deccan Chronicle that the Kerala leaders will hold a meeting with Mr Amit Shah on the Sabarimala issue.
