Attacks – Journalists

BJP has admitted that the ongoing Sabrimala agitation was planned and orchestrated by the party as part of its ‘agenda’. During a speech at a Yuva Morcha meeting, the audio of which has now surfaced, BJP president Sreedharan Pillai said the ‘tantri’ (chief priest) had discussed with him the option of closing down the sanctum sanctorum to prevent women of reproductive age from entering the shrine.

“We put forward an agenda and all others surrendered before it. The protests from October 17 to 22 were planned and executed by the BJP. We debuted our two state general secretaries to camp at specified places and they successfully completed their mission. When women tried to enter the shrine, it was a district general secretary of the Yuva Morcha who mobilised devotees and prevented the move,” Sreedharan Pillai claimed.

Journalists –particularly women journalists– who covered the charged situation in Sabarimala, Kerala, post the Supreme Court allowing women of all ages to worship at the shrine, also became targets of attack. Saritha Balan from The News Minute, Pooja Prasanna of Republic TV, Radhika Ramaswamy of CNN-News 18 and Maushumi Singh of India Today came under mob attack.