Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan hit back at BJP chief over his criticism of the state government’s conduct on the Sabarimala row, saying Shah’s statements were against the Constitution, intended to sabotage the people’s mandate and not guarantee fundamental rights.

Shah had earlier in Kannur launched a frontal attack on Kerala’s ruling Left Front, saying the BJP “stands like a rock” with devotees of Sabarimala after the recent face-off that saw women between 10 and 50 years of age being prevented by devotee-protesters from entering the temple despite a Supreme Court order.

Threatening to topple the state government over the crackdown on devotees in which 2,061 protesters were arrested, he said, “A non-believer government is trying to do enough dirty jobs in the name of a verdict. BJP is standing like a rock with devotees, Left government be warned.”

Responding to the criticism, chief minister Vijayan said Shah’s statements are “against the Constitution and law of the land. “It’s a clear intention of their agenda to not to guarantee fundamental rights. This shows the agenda of the RSS and the Sangh Parivar,” he said.

The CPI(M) government had assured the Supreme Court that its verdict would be implemented but not a single woman of reproductive age was allowed to visit the temple when it opened for a week for monthly rituals on October 17. Despite a massive police deployment, devotees did not budge.

On Shah’s warning to topple the state government, the Left leader reminded him that “this government came to power, not at the mercy of BJP, but the people’s mandate. His message is to sabotage the people’s mandate”.

Shah’s visit to Kannur was also symbolic as the BJP tries to gain a foothold in the only Left-ruled state in the country. Kannur has been a stronghold of the communist movement in Kerala and also a place where workers of the Left and the Sangh family have often clashed in tit-for-tat killings that has claimed more than 300 lives in three decades.