A dawn-to-dusk Kerala shutdown called by Hindu groups yesterday passed off peacefully, police said.
The shutdown was called following the “detention” of some religious leaders the previous night from the Sabarimala temple complex.
Among the detained on Friday night was Hindu Iykavedi (HI) president and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader K P Sasikala, who was proceeding towards the shrine.
Following her detention, Hindu Iykavedi leaders called for a shutdown backed by the state BJP.
Sources said Sasikala was stopped by police near the temple and was told not to go further as the temple had closed at 10pm.
But she refused. She was taken into preventive custody and till yesterday afternoon she was lodged at the Ranni police station, sources said.
Over a thousand of her supporters cordoned off the police station and chanted hymns as conciliation talks progressed.
Sasikala was initially offered bail which she refused and demanded to be produced before a magistrate.
She also demanded that she be taken back to the place from where she was detained.
Just before she was taken to the magistrate, she addressed her supporters: “It was because of your support that I am now out and after presenting myself before the magistrate I will go to Sabarimala temple and pray. I was taken into custody for no reason as I came to the temple to offer prayers as any devout pilgrim would do,” she said.
The police they have the powers to take anyone into preventive custody if they feel it would help defuse tense situations.
Shops and other businesses were forced to down their shutters by HI, BJP and right-wing Hindu activists.
Public transport vehicles stayed off the roads and schools and educational institutes were closed for the day.
In Kozhikode in northern Kerala, the husband of a woman TV journalist, who is also the son of a top Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader, was injured in an attack allegedly by right-wing activists.
In another incident, angry CPM and right-wing activists clashed in a village near the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.
The intensity of the shutdown came down by late afternoon after Sasikala was given bail, and as demanded, the police dropped her back at the temple town.
Devasom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said it was “shameful” that a shutdown was called on an important day of the Sabarimala pilgrimage.
“Generally, protesters during the festival season of the Sabarimala temple spare Pathanamthitta district (where Sabarimala is situated) from the shutdown because it causes difficulties for the pilgrims. This shutdown was called by those who are trying to create trouble in the temple town,” said the CPM minister.


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