The BJP in Kerala has declared Sunday as a day of protest, a day after a party leader was detained while he was on his way to the hill-top shrine of Lord Ayyappa at the Sabarimala temple on Saturday. The BJP is blocking highways in Kerala. The Sabarimala shrine of Lord Ayyappa nestled in the Western Ghats opened for the third time on Friday after the Supreme Court in September overturned a decades-old ban on entry of women between 10 and 50 years. The 62-day-long Mandala Pooja-Magaravilaku annual pilgrimage began on Saturday morning amid heavy police deployment. Kerala BJP's general secretary K Surendran and his party workers were blocked at Nilakkal base camp and asked to return. When Mr Surendran refused, he was taken away in a police vehicle. His detention was described as a "preventive measure" by the police.