Thiruvananthapuram : The Sangh Parivar is taking advantage of the Sabarimala issue and has posed a frontal challenge to the rule of law and the Constitution, social activist Swami Agnivesh said Friday.
In a release, Agnivesh said the RSS-BJP combine is out to "devastate" Kerala's social and spiritual landscape.
"This is far more sinister. The natural disaster (flood) united and energised Keralites. The present unnatural disaster improvised to boost BJP's electoral fortunes is threatening to pollute the soul and tear apart the social fabric of Kerala," he said.
He urged the Keralites to think "clearly" and refuse to be misled by "deceptive propaganda".
"The BJP and the RSS were clearly in favour of women's entry into the Sabarimala temple. They have taken an opportunistic U-turn, because they have their eyes only on making electoral gains by communally polarising the people. They know no other way to power and profit," Agnivesh said.
The activist, who plans to visit Kerala in the first week of December, said the Sangh Parivar knows that "Kerala is the strongest bastion against communal and caste-driven politics".
"They believe that the only way an inroad into the state can be made is by using religion as a Trojan horse, smuggling their agenda pretending it to be something other than what it really is," he said.
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Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
