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Ugly scenes as Indian temple prepares to accept women
NILACKAL, India, Oct 17, 2018 (BSSS/AFP) – Tensions flared in India on
Wednesday as traditionalists tried to stop women visiting one of Hinduism’s
most sacred temples, with angry crowds opposed to female pilgrims surrounding
vehicles and intimidating journalists.
Last month India’s Supreme Court overturned a ban on females aged between
10 and 50 entering and praying at the hilltop Lord Ayyappa temple at
Sabarimala in the southern state of Kerala.
This enraged traditionalists, including supporters of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Thousands
protested in the days running-up to the scheduled opening on Wednesday
afternoon.
Kerala’s state government said it would enforce the court ruling,
deploying 500 extra police to ensure free access to the remote complex which
is reached by an uphill trek that takes several hours.
At Nilackal, a base camp below the temple, police cleared protestors
early Wednesday morning and arrested seven people who were stopping vehicles.
“Anyone who wants to go to the temple will be able to do so without
hindrance,” said police chief Manoj Abraham.
“Stern action will be taken against anyone who prevents devotees from
going to Sabarimala,” Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on
Tuesday.
But later, as many tens of thousands of pilgrims made their way towards
the temple groups mostly male protesters intimidated female journalists,
including one from AFP.
Television pictures showed men surrounding and hitting a car that
appeared to contain a woman journalist, while another reporter was shown
being encircled and shouted at while on air.
One man appeared to threaten to smash the camera filming her with a
rock.
– Turned back –
One 45-year old woman identified as Madhavi who wanted to enter the
temple for the first time abandoned her attempt after activists prevented her
climbing the hill, the Press Trust of India reported.
Even though police gave the woman and her family protection and allowed
them to move further, they gave up as agitated activists surrounded them, PTI
reported.
Biju S. Pillai, a local man in his 30s, was one of those opposed to the
court ruling, telling AFP that he returned from working in Dubai to “protect
the sanctity of the temple” with his mother and young son.
“No one should be able to change the way this temple has functioned for
centuries,” he said. “If any change is made they will have to kill us and go
over our bodies.”
“I am here to protest the Supreme Court decision,” said engineer Anisha
S., 23, one of a group chanting religious slogans. “We want to save our
traditions. Ayyappa needs to be respected.” – ‘Impure’ –
Women are permitted to enter most Hindu temples but female devotees are
still barred from entry by some.
Two years ago, activists successfully campaigned to end a ban on women
entering the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra state.
Women were also permitted to enter Mumbai’s Haji Ali Dargah mausoleum, a
Muslim place of worship, after the Supreme Court scrapped a ban in 2016.
The entry of women at Sabarimala was long taboo but was formalised by the
Kerala High Court in 1991, a ruling overturned by India’s Supreme Court last
month.
The restriction reflected an old but still prevalent belief among many
that menstruating women are impure, and the fact that the deity Ayyappa was
reputed to have been celibate.
The Sabarimala chief priest, Kandararu Maheshwararu Tantri, 25, warned
this week that “anger could easily escalate into violence if a few
egotistical women try to enter”.
“I say ego because no devotee who has faith in Sabarimala will try to
break the 2,100-year-old rule… Moreover, there are other Ayyappa temples
women can visit,” the Times of India quoted him as saying.
He claimed to have the support of several “scientists” that concurred
with the view that the “positive energy” in a temple can be polluted by the
entry of menstruating women.
BSS/AFP/RY/1701 hrs