Two women below 50 enter Sabarimala, Kerala on boil

The development sparked violent protests across Kerala by the BJP and Hindu right outfits, with the state secretariat turning into a veritable war zone for nearly five hours as the ruling CPI(M) and workers of the saffron party clashed, pelting each other with stones.

Police used water canons and burst teargas shells to bring the situation under control. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s effigy was burnt at Malappuram and four activists of the BJP’s Mahila Morcha were arrested when they forced their way close to the Chief Minister’s office in the secretariat complex.

The two dauntless women—Kanakadurga and Bindu—aged 44 and 42, stepped into the hallowed precincts guarded by police three months after the Supreme Court’s historic judgment lifting the ban on entry of girls and women between 10 and 50 years of age into the shrine of Lord Ayyappa, its “eternally celibate” deity.

The Travancore Devaswom Board said that it will take action against Tantri for closing the temple for ‘purification rites’.

Sabarimala Karma Samithi, an umbrella organisation of various pro-Hindutva groups, spearheading protests against the Supreme Court’s September 28 verdict, and Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP), have called a state-wide shutdown on Thursday.

Soon after some local TV news channels aired visuals of the two women trekking to the hilltop temple, Chief Minister Piranayi Vijayan announced they had indeed offered prayers at the shrine.

The women were whisked away from the temple by police soon after ‘darshan’. They were brought to Pathanamthitta from where they left for an undisclosed destination, officials said.

A restaurant attached to the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation on Greams Road was attacked by unidentified miscreants on Wednesday night. Police suspect that the violence could be linked to the Sabarimala protests in the neighbouring state. At 8.50 pm, a group of 10 men wearing saffron dhotis went to the Raindrops restaurant and raised slogans against Kerala government’s stand on Sabarimala, eyewitnesses alleged. The men later hurled stones at the establishment damaging a few window panes and other glass items before fleeing. While police are still trying to establish the identity of the miscreants, they suspect that the attack could have a connection with the ongoing protests related to the ban on women entering the shrine in Kerala.