THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An intense argument unfolded during yesterday’s online meeting called by the Chief Minister to review the Sabarimala situation between the Devaswom Board President and the ADGP.
Facing substantial criticism over the Kerala government’s failure in crowd management at Sabarimala Temple, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan convened an online meeting despite being occupied with the ‘Nava Kerala Sadas’ campaign.
CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Secretary V Venu, Devaswom Board President PS Prashanth, and ADGP MR Ajith Kumar attended the meeting. A dispute arose between the Devaswom President and ADGP from the beginning of the meeting onwards.
The primary agenda of the meeting was on reviewing the Sabarimala’s crowd management, leading to a decision to limit the number of devotees allowed entry. In response, ADGP MR Ajith Kumar stated that only 60 devotees can be permitted to pass the ‘Sacred Eighteenth Step to Sannidhanam’ per minute. However, Board President Prashanth argued that in previous years, around 75 to 80 devotees were permitted per minute.
This disagreement led Prashanth to blame the police for the failure in crowd management. In response, ADGP, Ajith Kumar pointed out that the Devaswom Board failed to provide facilities to the devotees.
As tensions escalated between them, the Chief Minister intervened, and said that crowd management falls solely under the police’s jurisdiction, prompting the ADGP’s silence. The CM also directed the deployment of more policemen at Sabarimala for duty.
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