Sitaram Yechury sees a similar pattern in the unrest roiling Kerala, where multiple women have returned without visiting the Sabarimala temple, and the demolition of Ayodhya's Babri Masjid in 1992.

"The pattern is..very similar," the Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M) leader told reporters today. "At the time of the Babri Masjid's demolition, you have the heads of the volunteers wearing the saffron bands...the same dress that you found [there then]...[a] similar thing is being done here."

Two women, a journalist and an activist, had to return today after reaching the Nada Pandal, located some 400 metres away from the shrine. The Kerala government decided it wouldn't take them to the central temple complex, known as the Sannidhanam, at the cost of using force against protesters. As well, a top police officer said Sabarimala's chief priest told him he would close the temple and leave if the duo entered.

 Yechury accused the BJP of trying to "deepen communal polarisation", of "playing the worst vote bank politics possible", and "seeking the consolidation of the communal Hindutva vote bank".

He said the BJP brought in an ordinance on triple talaq without waiting for Parliament to discuss it properly, citing equality for Muslim women.

"So when it comes to Hindu women, why this inequality?" Yechury asked. "Why are they practising these double standards?"

Asked about accusations that Kerala's Left Democratic Front (LDF) government hasn't handled the Sabarimala issue properly, Yechury said: "The LDF is doing the best it can."

"It is implementing the Supreme Court decision, which is the job of any elected state government."

The Congress and the BJP have slammed the Kerala government for allegedly extending support to bring women activists to the Sabarimala temple, and hurting the sentiments of devotees.

One of the two women who tried to go to the shrine today was a Kochi-based activist.

Kerala's Devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran said the police "should have examined the veracity and background of the women who came to trek to the shrine."

"The government has the duty and responsibility to implement the Supreme Court order and give protection to devotees, but not for activists," Surendran said.