Kochi: Protests and clashed erupted in different parts of Kerala after two women sneaked into Sabrimala temple, ninety-five days after the Supreme Court lifted restrictions on the entry of women. The women entered the temple under police protection.
"The two women who entered the Sabarimala temple early Wednesday were given police protection during their trek to the shrine", Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.
Temple traditions and rituals barred women of menstruating age at the temple citing the celibate nature of Ayyappan, the presiding deity. The women who entered the temple however said it is a matter of gender equality for them.
Soon after the reports spread that two women have entered the temple, protests started across the Kerala state. Clashes between BJP and CPM workers in front of secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, police use tear gas and water cannon.
In a bizarre move, the temple was closed for more than an hour for "purification". Kerala Minister EP Jayarajan claimed this amounts to contempt of court because "untouchability is against the law".
Interestingly, the Congress and BJP, rivals in other parts of the country, joined hands to slam the Vijayan government whose only fault was to make sure that the apex court order is implemented.
While BJP state president PS Sreedharan Pillai called Vijayan a ‘modern-day Aurangzeb who was out to destroy Hindu temples’, Congress state president Mullappally Ramachandran called the entry of women into the temple a "drama".
On Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of women in the state formed a 620-km wall to uphold gender equality over the Supreme Court’s verdict on allowing women to enter Sabarimala temple.
Among those who took part in forming the human wall were writers, athletes, actors, politicians, techies, government officials and homemakers. Soon, these women were joined by men too as they lined up parallel forming a second human ‘wall’.
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