MADURAI: With only around 9,000 people holding passes permitted inside the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple in Madurai for the Kumbabishekam, several hundred devotees from various districts raised concerns over hurdles in witnessing the sacred event, which took place after a 17-year gap. Tension ensued as devotees outside Chithirai streets raised slogans and forcibly crossed barricades.

A pass system (red, yellow, purple and green), with each marking a specific area closest to the temple’s inner sanctum, was in place. Devotees without passes were permitted entry only after 10 am for darshan.

“Is the consecration ceremony organised only for VIPs?” questioned a cross-section of devotees who were stopped by the police on the four Chithirai Streets, located in proximity to the gopurams (towers) where the consecration was performed.

“During the Meenakshi Thirukalyanam (sacred celestial wedding) organised over the years, we have been allowed to gather on the four Chithirai Streets,” noted the devotees.

“We are not asking the police to allow us inside the temple, but only onto these streets so that when holy water is poured over the kalasams during the Kumbabishekam, it will be sprinkled on us,” they noted.

Some people were seen forcibly crossing barricades erected by police to gain entry into the Chithirai Streets. Over 100 devotees waiting at the entrance raised slogans and staged a protest over holy water not being sprinkled on them.

Subsequently, police personnel brought a large vessel filled with water and sprinkled it on the devotees. This led to further protests, with the devotees alleging that the water being sprinkled was not holy water but ordinary water.

Meanwhile, members of the Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently Abled and Caregivers also expressed disappointment over the cancellation of 30 passes allotted.

After the Kumbabishekam, Minister R Nirmal Kumar urged devotees gathered on Chithirai Street near the police control room to remain patient and said that everyone would be allowed inside after Kumbabishekam is completed. Barricades had been put up in the interest of people's safety and to prevent some untoward incidents, he said.