Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan blames RSS for denying women entry in Sabarimala Temple
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 23 (IBNS): A day after Kerala's Sabarimala Temple was shut without the entry of a single menstruating woman, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has come down hard upon Hindu, right-wing organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), blaming it for not allowing women to enter the shrine, media reports said.
Vijayan said as he has been quoted by Times Now, "They (attackers) had been monitoring the movement of these women minute by minute, in order to perpetrate the coordinated attacks. All this is part of the Sangh Parivar’s strategy to turn the temple into a warzone."
The shrine opened on Oct 18 for the first time after the Supreme Court had passed the judgement allowing menstruating women, belonging to the age group of 10 to 50, to enter the temple.
However, several men and women had protested outside the temple, trying to prevent the entry of women in the shrine. The temple was closed on Monday after five-day puja.
Reiterating the Kerala government's commitment to implement the top court's order, Vijayan said: "The Kerala government had made it clear in front of the Supreme Court that it will implement the verdict. The government had arranged all facilities. Neither the government nor the police tried to block the devotees. The RSS tried to turn Sabarimala Temple into a war zone."
Menstruating women were earlier banned from entering the temple for centuries as a part of the religious practice.
Two women- an activist and a journalist- who on Friday attempted to enter Kerala's Sabrimala Temple, returned without entering the shrine.
The two women turned back after the priest threatened to shut the temple if they don't go back.
One hundred and fifty police personnel had escorted the two women to the shrine.
Protests had rocked the state in recent times over the verdict with demonstrators not supporting the order of allowing women aged between 10 and 50 from entering the temple.
As the gate of the temple was set to open on Wednesday for the first time since the Supreme Court passed its judgement with the likelihood of women trying to enter, protesters, keeping a vigil against any such eventuality, turned aggressive, intimidating and hounding female devotees who tried to venture into the shrine, beating up women journalists and clashing with the police.
Vijayan even called the protesters as pseudo-devotees. He said: "The protesters had set up tents near the Sabarimala base camp and turned into vigilantes. They were not devotees, they masqueraded themselves as Ayyappa bhakts. There were several instances of attacks be these people near Sabarimala.
"Women who wanted to go Sabarimala Temple were not only attacked but also assaulted. The media men were also attacked. Attack on the people who wanted to have darshan is a never-seen-before assault," the Chief Minister added as quoted by Times Now.
A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Sept 28 had lifted the ban on women's entry into the Sabarimala temple declaring the relevant rules as unconstitutional.
Image: facebook.com/PinarayiVijayan
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