The Bharatiya Janata Party, which recently stepped up its efforts to obtain the support of Ayyappa devotees in their ideological battle against the communist government that rules the state of Kerala, has called for a dawn-to-dusk strike in the state, in protest against the loss of the life of a devotee allegedly due to the attitude of the Left Democratic Front government towards the concerns of the devotees.
The person, who had attempted suicide early morning last day in front of the secretariat near the camp arranged by the BJP to perform its hunger strike to bring the concerns of the devotees before the common public, passed away by evening last day.
The authorities have claimed that there were no indications in the death statement he gave to the concerned that his suicide attempt was the expression of his protest against the government’s attitude towards the devotees.
Meanwhile, the BJP has rejected the version of the government, and continued to spread their version that the deceased was an adherent Ayyappa devotee and he was very unhappy with the recent developments in connection with the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple.
Some family members of the deceased have also supported the version of the BJP. They have informed the media personals that the deceased had no personal problems and he was a very dedicated devotee of Lord Ayyappa.
The death is very unfortunate. But, all attempts to politicise the unfortunate incident must be foiled.
The strike is progressing peacefully. So far, no serious violence has been reported in the state. As usual, the unavailability of transportation facilities is the issue that affects the common people the most in this strike also.
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