The Sabarimala temple is managed by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), whose president is ruling CPM party leader A Padmakumar. So far, TDB has toed the line of the CPM-led state government and had earlier said it would not move a review petition against the Supreme Court order. But, following the violent protests, Padmakumar said: “We are ready for a climb down if the protest ends with that. The board will decide on moving a review petition in the Supreme Court. We do not want to see Sabarimala as a battlefield. All stakeholders should stand together to find a solution for the crisis. The board will consider any proposal to end the present crisis.”
His remarks are at odds with the LDF government, which has staunchly opposed reviewing the SC verdict. Speaking to media, state finance minister Thomas Issac said the government will not file a review petition. “This government will not file a review petition, there is no scope for it. Instead, the ruling party will launch an intense counter-campaign to expose the RSS and BJP. The party has already begun preparing its district units and from October 23, there will be a state-wide campaign,” he said.
According to Issac, the state government and CPM are aware that the “present agitation cannot be handled only by police force and they will have to use an awareness campaign.” The Sabarimala temple closed on October 22 after opening for a five-day monthly ritual. Pamba, the base camp of the temple, was peaceful after the imposition of prohibitory orders. While special security arrangements were in place at various locations including Pamba, Nilakkal and Erumeli en route to the Sabarimala temple, stray incidents of brick-batting on Kerala State Road Transport Corporation buses were reported, police said.
A 24-hour strike called by a little-known Hindu outfit, and backed by the NDA, affected pilgrims. Many of them, who were dependent on public transport to reach the hill shrine, had to postpone their journey by 24 hours or pay exorbitant rates for cabs. Usually private vehicles are allowed to pass through Nilakkal to Pamba, a distance of 20 km, but due to the imposition of Section 144 and the possibility of violence, only state transport buses were shuttling between the two places. The effects of the bandh called by the Sabarimala Samrakshana Samiti protesting the police action on devotees of Ayyappa at Nilakkal were felt throughout Kerala. The protests were supported by the BJP too. In several places, stones were thrown at state transport buses and demonstrations taken out on the streets. While private buses and auto rickshaws stayed off roads, state bus services were severely curtailed. In most districts, shops and establishments were shut.
2 women return as priest vows to shut Sabarimala temple
Two young women, Rehana Fathima and S Kavitha, almost created history as they reached within hailing distance of Sabarimala’s sanctum sanctorum, a site strictly out of bounds for women. Just 500 metres from the 18 “holy steps” which lead up to the shrine, hundreds of protesters blocked the two women’s way who had been escorted uphill by an 80-strong police party in full riot gear. Just below the steps, a group of priests and those associated with religious duties in the temple held a dharna even as the temple’s tanthri or chief priest threatened that he would close the temple rather than allow women in the “barred” age group have darshan of the deity. Unwilling to use force to clear the protesters, and apparently after conferring with topmost echelons of the LDF government, police turned back along with the two women.
The LDF government — already struggling to walk a tightrope by wanting to be seen as batting for women’s rights and liberty while also clearly unwilling to antagonise the majority Hindu community who seem to want status quo - was clearly caught in a double bind and opted for the safe way out. “Sabarimala should not be used as a place for activists and others to prove a point. I believe that there was failure on the part of police in realising the exact intentions of the woman (Fathima) who came to have darshan,” Devaswom minister Kadamkampally Surendran later told the media.
