The Sabarimala temple in Kerala state has been at the centre of a prolonged showdown between religious hardliners and authorities since September, when India’s Supreme Court ordered the end of a traditional ban on women of menstrual age entering the shrine. Police said unidentified attackers hurled a homemade bomb at the home of a politician from the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and set ablaze the office of its Hindu nationalist parent group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The fresh attacks came hours after unknown attackers bombed the house of a politician linked to the state’s ruling Communist Party, which has vowed to implement the court order.