BJP warns Pinarayi and Stalin against attending ‘Global Ayyappa Sangamam’ at Sabarimala without ‘apologising to Hindus’

 The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president, Rajiv Chandrasekhar, has cautioned Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin from attending the “Global Ayyappa Sangamam” at Pampa in Sabarimala on September 10, without apologising to Hindus. 

In a social media post on X on Sunday (August 24, 2025), Mr Chandrasekhar accused both Chief Ministers of “insulting” the Hindu faith. He said the event, which he termed as “opportunistic politics”, was tantamount to provocation and warned the leaders against underestimating the strength and will of “BJP karya karthas and Hindus” in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, to resist their presence at Sabarimala. 

“Let it be known to both Pinarayi and Stalin — the only way they can take part in Ayappa Sangamam is if they apologise to Hindus and Sabarimala Ayappa Bhakts. Pinarayi Vijayan must withdraw all cases, apologise to those bhakts who were jailed and seek forgiveness from Lord Ayyappa for violating Sabarimala traditions,” he wrote. 

Mr Chandrasekhar also demanded that Mr. Stalin and the latter’s heir, Udayanidhi, apologise to Hindus and seek their forgiveness “if they wish to come to Kerala”.

“Without this (apologies), if Stalin or Pinarayi try to misuse Sabarimala bhakts or their faith and attend this program, every karyakarta of @BJP4Keralam will come out and resist this”, he wrote. 

Mr. Chandrasekhar obliquely harked back to the rancorous Save Sabarimala campaign in 2018, when the BJP and other Hindutva organisations resisted the Kerala Government’s bid to implement the Supreme Court order allowing women of childbearing age to enter the Ayyappa temple. 

The nearly month-long agitation backslided into public property destruction, rioting, unlawful assembly, waylaying of women activists attempting the trek to the hill shrine, attacks on police, causing injuries on both sides and resulting in scores of police cases. 

“Pinarayi Vijayan has imprisoned many Ayyappa bhakts, cases against many more, inflicted police violence against Ayyappa bhakts and done everything to violate and insult the sacred traditions of Sabarimala. Stalin and his dynastic son have insulted Hindus by terming their faith a virus. These (the alleged insults) are deeply etched into every Hindus memory and will never be forgotten or forgiven”, Mr Chandrasekhar wrote. 

Both Congress and the BJP had used the controversy concerning the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s alleged “attempt to contravene Sabarimala traditions using the Supreme Court order as a pretext” as their central campaign platform during the 2020 Lok Sabha elections and the 2021 Assembly polls.

Notably, Mr Chandrasekhar accused the Communist government in Kerala of “celebrating Ayyappa Sangamam a few months before (Assembly) elections” as political drama and a furtherance of the State government’s “fool the people strategy”. 

In a related post, Mr Chandrasekhar wrote: “(INDIA bloc parties) Going to a Sabarimala program is as unreal as Hitler celebrating jews, Rahul Gandhi speaking the truth, Osama bin Laden becoming an apostle of peace, Hamas/Jamaat Islami respecting people of other faiths, Cong/INDI alliance giving up dynasties and corruption. Harsh but true”.