Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 7 (PTI) The Congress in Kerala has decided to intensify its agitation against the Left government over the Sabarimala missing gold issue by holding several protests in the coming days, KPCC chief Sunny Joseph said on Tuesday.
Holding a press conference here, Joseph announced that a major protest meet will be held in Pathanamthitta demanding the resignation of state Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan and a court-monitored CBI probe into the alleged “theft” of gold from the Lord Ayyappa shrine.
Responding to reporters’ queries on the matter, Joseph alleged that it was “theft” of gold from the shrine and claimed that both the state government and the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) were complicit in the matter.
The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief also accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Vasavan of “protecting” the culprits responsible for the alleged “theft”.
“This is not just an issue of gold theft, it is also an issue that affects the faith and customs of the temple and devotees,” he added.
According to Joseph, the sanctity, tradition and faith of Sabarimala have been tarnished and the CM was “equally responsible” for it.
He also claimed that the government has not taken any steps to recover the lost gold.
The KPCC chief said this “carelessness” of the government was “condemnable” and it will hold extensive protests against the Left administration.
The protest meet at Pathanamthitta will be inaugurated by AICC general secretary and Alappuzha MP K C Venugopal, he said.
Besides that, four prominent party leaders — K Muraleedharan, Kodikunnil Suresh, Adoor Prakash and Benny Behanan — will lead protest marches from Kasaragod, Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram and Muvattupuzha, respectively, to Pandala in Pathanamthitta district between October 14 and 15, Joseph said.
The KPCC chief also said if the HC had not intervened in the matter, the loss of gold would not have been revealed.
Earlier in the day, Opposition UDF MLAs disrupted Assembly proceedings for the second consecutive day, reiterating their demand for Vasavan’s resignation over alleged irregularities linked to the gold-clad copper plates at the Sabarimala shrine On Monday, the Kerala High Court directed the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe alleged irregularities related to the reduced weight of gold-clad copper plates adorning the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols at Sabarimala.
The discrepancy came to light during court proceedings on the decision to send the claddings for gold-plating again this year, without informing the court.
It was found that when the claddings were last taken out of the shrine for gold-plating in 2019, their weight had reduced by about 4.5 kg, a fact not reported by Devaswom officials.
Last week, the High Court ordered a comprehensive inventory of all valuables, including gold, at the Sabarimala temple under the supervision of retired Justice K T Sankaran. PTI HMP HMP ROH
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.