New Delhi - At least 3 347 people have been arrested in India
since Friday for protesting the entry of women into a Hindu temple in
Kerala.
The arrests were made for rioting and unlawful assembly, a spokesman
for Kerala Police said Sunday. All but 123 of the 3346 people
arrested had been released on bail.
The southern state of Kerala saw violent protests after the
Sabarimala Temple opened its doors to women of reproductive age on
October 16 following a Supreme Court order that lifted a
centuries-old ban on women of menstruating age entering the shrine.
In the days that followed, protesters forced female pilgrims to turn
back, attacked female journalists and held violent demonstrations in
different parts of the state.
A centre run by a spiritual guru who supported the court order was
set on fire, and the home of a woman who tried to reach the temple
was attacked.
Political parties have added fuel to the fire. India's Hindu
right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party has accused Kerala's local
government - run by a coalition of Communist parties - of ignoring
the sentiments of Hindu devotees. The BJP runs India's federal
government.
"The Kerala government should stop the brutality in the name of the
Supreme Court judgment," BJP chief Amit Shah said at a rally in
Kerala on Saturday.
Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac said the state government was
complying with the law of the land and accused the BJP of using the
issue to foment violence for electoral gains.
General elections in India are due by May of next year.