Thiruvananthapuram: The BJP has called for a dawn-to-dusk state-wide hartal on Friday after a 49-year-old man died of burns suffered after he had set himself ablaze in front of the secretariat.Muttada resident Venugopalan Nair doused himself with kerosene in front of the BJP’s protest venue around 1.30am on Thursday, and set him ablaze. He rushed towards the venue where BJP leader C K Padmanabhan has been on an indefinite hunger strike demanding the withdrawal of prohibitory orders at Sabarimala.BJP workers and policemen present at the scene doused the fire and shifted him to the medical college hospital. He died around 3.30pm in the hospital’s burns ICU, after a magistrate had recorded his dying declaration, police said.Soon after his death, the BJP called for the shutdown—its fourth since the Supreme Court’s Sabarimala verdict—“in respect of the Ayyappa devotee”. Police, however, termed Nair’s a suicide and added that he had no links with with the BJP’s ongoing protest.“The judicial first-class magistrate-II had recorded the statement of Venugopalan Nair. He gave a death statement that he was killing himself as he had no desire to live anymore. He also said he had run towards the protest venue in a frenzy,” city police commissioner P Prakash in a statement.Earlier, BJP general secretary M T Ramesh had told reporters that the intervention of party activists prevented the man from entering the protest venue, and setting it on fire.Ramesh said Nair’s act showed how Ayyappa devotees were reacting emotionally to government’s stringent norms at Sabarimala. “Sabarimala issue is triggering an emotional movement. He was an Ayyappa devotee. He was saying that his move was his protest against the injustice meted out to the temple and he was chanting Ayyappa mantras,” the BJP leader said.The BJP had initially claimed that Nair was a party worker, but they later termed him an “Ayyappa devotee”.According to his neighbours, Nair, a divorcee, worked as an auto driver and a plumber. He stayed alone and was not in touch with his relatives.Devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran sought a probe into the incident. “How did he reach the protest venue at the odd hour? How did he got burnt? The real reason should come out,” he said.BJP has been on an indefinite hunger strike since December 3, protesting against the government’s ill-treatment of BJP leader K Surendran who was arrested and recently released on bail, and for the revocation of CrPC Section 144 at Sabarimala.Sabarimala pilgrims, their vehicles and all India exams have been exempted from the hartal. Kerala and MG universities postponed all examinations scheduled for Friday.Movie exemptedFilmmaker V A Shrikumar Menon said the crew of his latest movie, Mohanlal-starrer Odiyan, apprised the BJP leadership of the technical difficulties in postponing its release slated for Friday. It was learned that the BJP promised the crew that the hartal would not affect the screenings.

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