KOLLAM: The statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that if anyone utters the word Sabarimala during the election campaign in Kerala will be arrested, misleads the country, alleged Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. This is baseless and a big lie, he said.

Addressing an election rally here, Pinarayi slammed Modi for speaking about Sabarimala in neighbouring states, while in Kerala he did not take the name of the shrine when he spoke at a rally at Kozhikode last week.

What we did was only to abide by the apex court directive on Sabarimala. Those who violated the rule of law were arrested, said Pinarayi.

Modi, while addressing election rallies in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, had breathed fire against Pinarayi for arresting devotees who protested against the manner in which the tradition and culture of Sabarimala were violated. Modi as the Prime Minister also would have done the same thing and that's to abide by the directive of the apex court, Pinarayi said.

"To protect the democratic principles of our country, we have to abide by the verdicts of the apex court. That's all what we did. But what the Sangh Parivar forces did was to send criminals (to the town). I am sure Modi also would have had a role in creating unrest at the Sabarimala temple town, said Pinarayi, and asked the people to vote for the LDF.

CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told the media that the 'Sabarimala Karma Samithi' which protested in front of the Secretariat was a 'karma samithi' of the RSS and its leader Swami Chithananda Puri was no 'swami' but a RSS leader.