Sabarimala priests say no to CM’s offer of talks, protests continue
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Head priests of the Sabarimala hill shrine and erstwhile rulers associated with the Lord Ayyappa temple on Sunday rejected Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s offer for talks over the Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all ages to worship at the complex, saying the government had already decided to enforce the order.
Hundreds of devotees have protested in Kerala since September 28, when the Supreme Court, in a 4-1 verdict, lifted the centuries-old ban on women of menstruating age from entering the temple, saying it was upholding the rights to equality of worship.
The temple authorities have said the ban is essential to the rites related to the deity, who is considered eternally celibate.
Mohanaru Kandarau, one of the three priests at the Sabarimala temple, said there was no point in talking with the government as it had already decided to enforce the order.
“Let the government first file a review plea in the Supreme Court. Then we can talk,” he said. Kandarau said they will “go for a review petition”.
The Pandalam royals, who are associated with the temple, also rejected the offer of talks, which were scheduled for Monday.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Kerala government, which has accepted the order of the apex court and is making safety arrangements for the women devotees, reiterated its stand after the ‘tantris’ (chief priests) backed out of the talks.
“We don’t have any other options left. We will go ahead with the order of the highest court,” said state temple affairs minister Kadakampally Surendran.
The verdict has come in for criticism from Union minister and top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley, who said the court was selective in targeting one practice.
“If you want to take a progressive step under article 14 and 21, it will apply uniformly against all religions. It cannot happen that you select a practice and apply it because that will have many social consequences in a pluralistic society like India,” Jaitley, the Union finance minister, said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Saturday.
Justice Indu Malhotra, the lone dissenting judge and the only woman judge in the fivemember bench that struck down the ban on women at the temple, said in her judgment that “notions of rationality cannot be invoked in matters of religion.”
The Travancore Devasom Board (TDB), which runs the temple, has issued a circular to appoint women officials and police at the hilltop temple. “We have to comply with the court order. We will make arrangements to appoint women officials and others to ensure safety of women devotees,” said TDB commissioner N Vasu.
Kandarau said on Sunday that allowing women to enter the temple will obliterate its divinity. “Entry of women of reproductive age will affect temple customs and will destroy the divinity of the temple,” he said.