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Tensions rise over women’s entry to Indian temple
NEW DELHI, Oct 15, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Thousands of devotees joined street
marches in southern India on Monday as tensions mounted over a recent Supreme
Court verdict revoking a ban on women entering a famous Hindu temple.
The Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala — considered one of the holiest for
Hindus — in Kerala state has traditionally barred all women of menstruating
age, between 10 and 50.
But India’s top court revoked the ban on women entering the temple in
September, ruling that patriarchy cannot be allowed to trump faith.
Those protesting against the court’s decision on Monday, including
hundreds of women, warned they would step up their protests before the temple
reopens on Wednesday, when it will have to allow all women entry as per the
court order.
“These protests have taken place in several districts over the last few
days. We don’t yet have an exact number but the people ended their march in
the state capital Thiruvananthapuram today,” Pramod Kumar, Kerala police
spokesman, told AFP.
Local media showed thousands participating in the march supported by the
local unit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP).
Smaller protests have also taken place elsewhere in India in recent days
including in Ahmedabad in western India.
Modi’s BJP — which has historically been on the margins of state politics
in Kerala — and its allies have supported these marches in different parts
of the state over the last few days.
Several other local religious and political organisations have also given
their support to the protest marches.
“We will meet each villager in Kerala and chalk out a massive agitation
plan to protect the temple, its centuries-old traditions and sentiments of
Lord Ayyappa devotees,” Kerala BJP president P.S Sreedharan Pillai told NDTV.
Pillai warned the local government of even bigger protests if the issue
wasn’t resolved within the next 24 hours.
– Violation of rights –
Millions of devotees visit the temple every year to seek the blessings of
Lord Ayyappa, the presiding deity who is believed to be celibate.
According to the temple website, pilgrims have to observe celibacy for 41
days before entering the shrine. Some worshippers take an arduous forest
route to reach the hilltop temple, located some 1,200 metres (4,000 feet)
above sea level.
Dipak Misra, Chief Justice of India at the time the ban was revoked, said
banning the entry of a large section of women was discriminatory and violated
their rights.
“Prohibiting women (from entering the temple) violates the right of a
woman to worship and practise religion,” he said.
Activists batting for women’s entry into the temple argued that the ban
reflected an old but still prevalent belief that menstruating women were
impure.
The devotees opposed to the court ruling have argued that it affects the
core belief of the decentralised Hindu temple system, where the deities have
certain rights.
Women in India have been intensifying campaigns in recent years to be
allowed to enter temples and other religious sites.
In 2016, women campaigned in Maharashtra state to successfully end a ban
on women entering the Shani Shingnapur temple.
Women were also prevented from entering Mumbai’s Haji Ali Dargah mausoleum
until the court scrapped the rule in 2016.
BSS/AFP/BZC/18005HRS