Thiruvananthapuram: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to call off the hunger strike in front of the state secretariat by January 22. The BJP leaders have decided to take up further agitations only after consultations with the party’s national president Amit Shah, who is due in Kerala on the 21st.
BJP leaders are angry that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had been dominating the Sabarimala agitation. The Sabarimala Karma Samiti, an RSS outfit, rushed to the frontline of the agitation at a time when BJP leaders were leading it. And it was the RSS which ordered the agitation shifted from Sabarimala to the Secretariat.
The party believes that the hunger strike has become irrelevant after its own leaders who were initially in the forefront started ignoring it. At the same time, the BJP leaders were made to justify the escalation of the strike as per RSS directives. Yet, they could not oppose the Sangh Parivar approach because they had Amit Shah’s orders to obey RSS dictates.
Even as the BJP has decided to end the hunger strike after getting a nod from Shah, the RSS wants the strike to proceed with the same intensity that keeps emotions at a high pitch. The RSS has also decided to take up other Hindu issues after a planned gathering of Ayyappa devotes which will be attended by Mata Amruthanandamayi, Sri Sri Ravishanker and several Hindu seers.
