Trupti Desai cannot create problem in Sabarimala: PWD Minister

Sudhakaran, a former Devaswom Minister, noted that the CPI(M)-led LDF government has supported her cause and even filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court declaring that its doors should be thrown open to women of all ages. “A legal battle is on in the Supreme Court to change the existing law. Considering the views expressed by Desai on women’s entry at Sabarimala, an affidavit has been filed before the Supreme Court. But we would not let her create a law and order situation on the issue,” he told reporters here in response to a question about Desai’s reported move to enter the ancient hill shrine situated in a dense forest.

After her successful battle seeking women’s entry in the sanctum sanctorum of Haji Ali Dargah in Maharashtra, Desai has announced that she would now fight for women’s right to pray at Kerala’s Sabarimala temple. Desai has reportedly said that she, along with 100 women campaigners, will go to the Sabarimala temple to offer prayers. Those who are opposing the women’s entry at Sabarimala argue that since the presiding deity, Lord Ayyappa, was a celibate or ‘Naisthik Brahmachari’, and even the slightest deviation caused by the presence of young women on the temple premises was undesirable. 

It may be recalled, after the long legal battle from Trupti Desai, on October 24, the Haji Ali Dargah Trust had told the Supreme Court that it was ready to implement the Bombay High Court’s order to allow women to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine located in South Mumbai and had sought four weeks for infrastructural changes to make arrangements for it.