THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 50-year-old man early on Thursday set himself on fire at a BJP protest venue here and died at the state-run Medical College Hospital in the evening, police said.
Venugopalan Nair poured kerosene on his clothes, set them on fire and ran into the protest venue in front of the state Secretariat.
At the venue was former state BJP President C K Padmanabhan, who is on an indefinite fast against the manner in which the Kerala government is handling the Sabarimala temple issue after the Supreme Court ruled in September that all women can enter the shrine.
Nair was rushed to the hospital. He had suffered 90 per cent burns and breathed his last on Thursday evening.
Following the death, the BJP called a dawn-to-dusk shutdown in Kerala on Friday.
While the police are yet to ascertain the reason for the immolation, the BJP is linking it to the Sabarimala temple issue.
But in his dying declaration, Nair has said he does not wish to live any longer and is ending his life and made no mention of the Sabarimala temple.
Assembly in turmoil: Meanwhile, Kerala MLAs came to blows on Thursday inside the Assembly after the opposition called the upcoming Women’s Wall event on New Year’s Day meant to take forward gender equality, “nothing but a communal wall that will be dismantled”.
The Assembly session, which concluded on Thursday, has been facing turmoil right from the beginning of the 13-day session, coinciding with the ongoing Sabarimala pilgrimage amid prohibitory orders.
The opposition Congress-led UDF has been up in arms against the Pinarayi Vijayan government for turning Sabarimala into a police fortress, causing innumerable hardships to the pilgrims.
On Thursday, as the question hour ended, Deputy Leader of Opposition and senior Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) member M K Muneer sought to move an adjournment motion to discuss the Women’s Wall programme of the state government.
Vijayan responded saying that the event was being held to take forward the ideology of gender equality and uphold the dignity of women.
“If you (the opposition) are against this, please say that. We assure the House, no government money is being spent for this programme. The state government is just taking part to see that the ideology of great reformer Sree Narayana Guru is taken forward,” he told the Assembly.
Vijayan asked the opposition: “How can you all say that this is a communal event?” His speech was greeted by the treasury benches by thumping the desk.
Then, Muneer got up to speak. He said: “Like in West Germany, if the Berlin wall was dismantled, the Women’s Wall, which is a communal wall would be dismantled.”
That was all that he could say, and the entire treasury bench was up on their feet, sloganeering.
They trooped to the Speaker’s podium, forcing P Sreeramakrishnan to adjourn the house. — IANS
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