New Delhi, January 6: Union Minister Smriti Irani today slammed the Kerala Government for registering cases against people opposing the entry of women of ages into the holy shrine of Lord Ayyappa. Irani said, “Currently in Kerala, the social and political situation is such that close to 1286 cases have been registered, 37,000 people have been made accused by the state government, and more than 3,170 people were detained, only because they raised their voice against state government.”

The HRD minister also condemned the attack on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader V Muralidharan's residence in Kunoor. She said that the party would give a befitting reply to culprits, staying within the ambit of the constitution. Earlier in the day, Sports Minister Rajya Vardhan Singh Rathore accused Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of giving one-sided statement over the Sabarimala Temple issue which resulted in flaring-up the situation in the state. He also condemned the attack on the BJP MP’s house.

Yesterday, Muralidharan’s house in Kunoor was attacked with a low-intensity bomb. At the time of the attack, the MP’s family was inside the house. The BJP alleged CPI (M) for carrying out the blast. Earlier, houses of Kerala MLA AN Shamsheer and party’s district secretary P Shashi’s were also attacked. Sabarimala protest intenfies after two women, under the 50 years of age, entered Kerala's Sabarimala temple on January 2. The women were identified as Bindu and Kanakadurga. They were accompanied by police personnel. They had made an unsuccessful bid to visit Sabarimala temple on December 18.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 06, 2019 05:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).