‘Sabarimala row a ‘golden opportunity’ for us': Kerala BJP chief’s clip leaked

News Network
November 5, 2018

Kasaragod, Nov 5: P S Sreedharan Pillai, the Kerala state unit president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has landed in a row after he said the Sabarimala issue was a “golden opportunity” for his party.

In a purported audio clip, Pillai can be heard claiming that the chief priest of the Sabarimala Temple consulted him over closing the doors of the sanctum sanctorum if women tried to enter the shrine.

The clip, which has since gone viral, is from Pillai’s alleged address to the Yuva Morcha state committee in Kozhikode. The BJP leader purportedly said chief priest Kandararu Rajeevaru was apprehensive about shutting the doors of the temple as he feared contempt of court but he decided to go ahead with the decision after consulting him.

“The tantric community has more faith in BJP and its state chief. When women were about to enter Sabarimala, he called me up. I had given him a word and it coincidentally came true. He was a bit upset over shutting the doors of sanctum sanctorum fearing it would invite contempt of court. I was among the few he had contacted that time.

“I said he is not alone. We’d be the first to be slapped with the charges of contempt of court if it comes. There would be tens of thousands of people to be with him. Upon our word, he took a firm stand. That decision had actually left the police and the administration baffled. We hope he’d repeat it again. Later, I became the first accused and he the second accused on charges of contempt of court… As we both figured in, his confidence increased,” he allegedly told the gathering.

Once the clip went viral, Pillai said he was only providing legal opinion as a political leader and legal adviser but refused to comment on the use of the phrase “golden opportunity”.

Weeks after violent protests against the entry of women of all ages into the Sabarimala Temple rocked Kerala, the shrine is set to open for a special puja on Monday evening. Police said 2,300 personnel, including a 20-member commando team and 100 women, have been deployed to ensure smooth 'darshan' and security of devotees, a move that came in for criticism from the erstwhile royal family of Pandalam, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress for such fortification.

Comments

Wellwisher
 - 
Monday, 5 Nov 2018

Very good for vote bank these chaddiis are playing with worship place they even not spate the God.

 

 

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News Network
January 22,2020

Udupi, Jan 22: Writer Richie John Pais will be conferred with the Best Konkani Book Award, instituted by Dr T M A Foundation in recognition of his contribution made to Konkani Language and Literature.

According to a statement, the Award carries Rs 10,000 in cash and a citation.

‘Fathor’, a collection of Konkani short stories authored by Richie John Pais was published in 2017 has been chosen for the Dr TMA Foundation Best Konkani Book Award 2018.

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News Network
April 12,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 12: As many as 17 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed on Sunday in Karnataka, taking the total number of infected to 232, the health department said.

This includes six deaths and 54 discharges.

According to the bulletin issued by the health department, six cases were reported from Vijayapura, four cases in Belagavi, three each in Bengaluru city and Kalaburagi and one in Mysuru.

Among the 17, four people are suffering from Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) -- two of whom are in Bengaluru and one each in Vijayapura and Kalaburagi, the department said.

Following the sudden spurt in cases in Vijayapura, the department has initiated contact tracing.

Ever since the outbreak of COVID-19, Bengaluru continued to top the list with 76 cases, followed by Mysuru with 48 cases, Belagavi with 14 cases, Kalaburagi with 13 cases and Dakshina Kannada with 12 cases.

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Media Release
February 12,2020

Mangaluru, Feb 11: Renowned journalist and winner of Magsaysay award, P Sainath will be in Mangaluru on February 14 & 15 at St. Aloysius College (Autonomous). He will speak on the topic ‘Indian democracy in post liberalisation and post truth era’.

P Sainath’s two-day visit to St. Aloysius College will also feature a workshop by the veteran journalist on his rural development project PARI (People’s Archives of Rural India). It is a part of the tenth edition of Media Manthan, a National level media fest organised by the post-graduate department of Journalism and Mass Communication of St. Aloysius College.

P. Sainath is a veteran journalist and media activist who has an avid interest in rural reporting. People’s Archives of Rural India (PARI), a digital journalism platform is an initiative put forward by him which aims to document rural Indian lives and livelihood. Sainath is also a teacher who has trained over 1000 media persons across 27 years.

Media Manthan is a media festival by the PG Department of Mass Communication of St. Aloysius College (Autonomous). Besides endowment lecture and workshop by P. Sainath, the fest holds various media-related competitions for the students of various colleges from across the state.

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