THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Though Saturday’s hartal caused immense hardships to people across the state, police defended the arrest of Hindu Aikyavedi leader K P Sasikala early on Saturday. Police sources said this action could ‘nip in the bud’ a larger game-plan of the Sangh forces to take control of Sannidhanam.According to senior police officers, some people – who have been arrested or prevented from proceeding to Sannidhanam – were part of the plan to take control of Sannidhanam and cause unrest which could have led to larger issues.“Police are on the backfoot at Sannidhanam as it is a holy place with a high degree of religious sensitivity attached to it. Last time, Sannidhanam was under the complete control of protesters and we can’t allow any such thing this time,” said a top cop. Police sources said that any incident that could have led to the use of force at Sannidhanam – once the place is under the control of protesters – could have led to a violent situation, severely hurting the religious sentiments of true believers. “If it results in such a situation, the incidents and protests would possibly scale up much more than a routine hartal,” source added.Police had arrested Sasikala, BJP’s SC Morcha state president P Sudheer, Achara Samrakshana Samiti state convener Prithvipal and Hindu Aikya Vedi state secretary Bhargava Ram – while they were moving towards Sannidhanam – under CrPC section 151 that allows arrest of persons for prevention of a cognizable offence on Saturday. They can be detained for a maximum of 24 hours or then they could be produced before a magistrate. Sources also cited the futility of such an exercise as no crime was involved. “There is no offence involved and there is no case. It is only a temporary removal. If they resort to such acts again, there is not much the police can do other than repeating the same act once again,” sources added.Meanwhile, probably for the first time, fault lines of communal tensions were clearly visible in four incidents in the state. In Karunagappally, three hartal supporters were manhandled when they tried to shut down a shop owned by a person from another community. Three of them were hospitalized, who then tried to mobilise more people to hit back. Police intervened and the matter was resolved.In Thalassery, some hartal supporters manhandled a youth from a minority community while a similar incident occurred near Caltex Junction in Kannur. In Sreekaryam, hartal supporters forcibly closed a shop selling halal meat. Two KSRTC buses also were left with minor damages when hartal supporters pelted stones at Balaramapuram and Kottiyam in the capital. Long-distance services from KSRTC bus depots at Pamba and Nilackal were affected in the morning. KSRTC managing director Tomin Thachankary later directed all Sabarimala special service buses to operate with picture of Sastha. “We took the decision after vehicles carrying pictures of Sastha did not face any issues,” he said.KSRTC, which operated some bus services in Palakkad, suspended them later as there were no passengers. In Malappuram and Thrissur, bus services were affected due to hartal.

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