In a shocking and barbaric statement, Malayalam actor Kollam Thulasi has said on Friday that women who try to enter Sabarimala should be ripped apart.

“Women coming to Sabarimala temple should be ripped in half. One half should be sent to Delhi and the other half should be thrown to chief minister’s office in Thiruvananthapuram,” the actor said.

He has reportedly even went to the extent of saying that the judges who delivered the judgment on Sabarimala are idiots.

“The elderly woman taking part in the protest against the judgment should go to Sabarimala. Then those women should rip apart the ones who try to enter the temple,” he said.

Thulasi made these comments while speaking at the ‘SaveSabarimala’ march at Chavara in Kollam. BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai who is leading the march and other BJP leaders were present on the stage when Thulasi made the statement.

The five-day long march under National Democratic Alliance led by the BJP, was flagged off from Pandalam, Lord Ayyappa’s birth place, on Wednesday. It would conclude in Thiruvananthapuram on 15 October.

Protests continue against SC verdict: Members of the Opposition Congress and BJP in Kerala on Friday staged demonstrations to express solidarity with Ayyappa devotees even as the CPI, the key partner in the CPI-M led LDF, said there was an attempt to “politicise” the Supreme Court order on Sabarimala.

The BJP said its protest would not be confined to Kerala and would expand to other South Indian states.

CPI state secretary Kannam Rajendran said, “LDF was not against believers. The government was bound to implement the Supreme Court order and it was doing only that.”

“There was an attempt to politicise the issue,” he added.

A group of Congress activists including several women held a dharna in front of an office of the Travancore Devaswom Board, that manages the hill shrine with the slogan of ‘Protect Sabarimala Temple.’

Inaugurating the devotees gathering, KPCC Campaign Committee Chairman K Muraleedharan, MLA, said the state government should file a review petition against the apex court verdict to allow entry of women of all ages into Sabarimala shrine.

Taking a dig at the BJP, which has also launched a protest march over the issue, Muraleedharan said the matter could be resolved if the Centre brings in a law to restrict the Court from interfering in temple customs and tradition.

Meanwhile, the ‘Sabarimala Protection’ long-march led by BJP passed through the neighbouring Kollam district. The march would culminate in the state capital on 15 October.