Congress launches agitation over Sabarimala issue
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 5: The Congress on Friday launched a protest demanding the filing of a review petition against the Supreme Court verdict permitting women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala temple.
The party's protest comes close on the heels of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launching agitations, criticising the LDF government for not filing a review petition against the verdict.
Inaugurating the Congress' protest at Pathanamthitta, which saw participation from a large number of women, Opposition leader in the state assembly Ramesh Chennithala alleged that the RSS-BJP and the state government were 'cheating' Hindus.
Sabarimala should not be made into a "war zone", said Chennithala as the Congress hardened its stand against the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala.
He also said that the LDF government had initiated "hasty" steps to implement the apex court's order.
"There are many other court orders which are yet to be implemented," he said.
Chennithala, who had asked the Centre to bring in a law to overturn the apex court verdict, alleged that the BJP and its ideological mentor the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were hand-in-glove with the LDF government on the issue.
Meanwhile, Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the party would not take any special initiative to take people to the Lord Ayyappa temple.
Those who wish to go there can go, he said in an article in 'Deshabhimani', the party mouthpiece.
Kodiyeri also termed as "nonsense" the BJP's charge that CPI(M) was trying to "suppress" the faith of the believers.
The verdict has put an end to women being treated as second class citizens, he said, adding that instead of being shocked, a willingness to initiate practical steps to implement the verdict was required.
"This is what the Pinarayi Vijayan government is doing", he said.
As the hill shrine will be opened for the monthly poojas on October 16 for the first time after the SC verdict, Kerala Police is gearing up to post more of its women personnel at the temple in anticipation of the influx of women devotees in the light of the verdict.
DGP Loknath Behera has written to his counterparts in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Puducherry, seeking women police personnel from their states for deployment at the temple.
Opposition BJP's feeder organisations-- Yuva Morcha and Mahila Morcha had organised agitations in the last two days against the government decision not to file a review petition.
On October 28, a five-judge constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, lifted the ban on the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine.
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
