BJP has reaped political benefits on Sabarimala issue; SNDP

: The BJP has reaped political benefits from the agitation against the Kerala government's decision to implement the Supreme Court verdict on the Sabarimala women's entry issue,the SNDP Yogam,an outfit of the numerically strong Ezhava community, said here Monday.

"If you ask me who gained from the Sabarimala agitation, I think the BJP has moved forward so far on the basis of their Hindutva ideology," SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellapally Natesan told reporters here.

The statement of Natesan, considered very close to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, came amid speculations in political circles in Kerala on who would stand to benefit from the Sabarimala issue in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

The observation of the prominent Backward Community leader has also surprised political circles as the BJP itself was not ready to accept that the stir was a complete success.

The BJP, which had been spearheading the nearly two-month long stir against the government's decision to implement the Apex Court order, permitting entry of women of all ages into the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple,had admitted that its fight to protect devotees' faith on the issue was "not entirely successful."
Speaking at the protest venue on Saturday, state BJP president P S Sreedharan Pillai had said: "There were notable achievements during certain phases of the agitation, but our fight to protect the faith was not entirely successful."
Asked about the women's wall, Natesan said he felt that it was 'a trap.'