Amid heavy protests in Kerala over women's entry in Sabarimala, multiple women journalists covering the protests against women’s entry were attacked on Wednesday, 17 October. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Secretary and Kerala in-charge H Raja decided to put the blame on journalists themselves.
On Thursday, 18 October, H Raja reportedly said:
Sabarimala is not a picnic station nor a lodge. You can’t enter in the name of journalists like a lodge. BJP will stand with the protesters.
The protest, that was originally supposed to be a Gandhian one, has turned nasty, with multiple reports of both men, as well as women journalists being attacked.
Pooja Prasanna of Republic TV, Saritha Balan of The News Minute, Radhika Ramaswamy of CNN News18, Libi CS, a journalist from Kerala, and Mausami Singh and Shalini Lobo of India Today, all were attacked in separate incidents since 16 October while covering the Sabarimala protests.
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