Sabarimala remains on edge, women kept out
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Normal life ground to a halt in Kerala on Thursday, with shops and businesses shutting and government vehicles staying off the roads in response to the call for a general strike sponsored by opponents of the Supreme Court judgment throwing open the Sabarimala temple to women of all ages.
The hilltop shrine, meanwhile, remained inaccessible to women devotees for the second day.
The day-long shutdown was called by the Sabarimala Protection Movement and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to protest a baton charge on Wednesday by the police at the base camps where pilgrims gather before starting their final trek to reach the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine to Lord Ayyappa.
The situation was tense in Pambha and Nilakkal, the base camps, as the temple in Pathanamthitta district opened for the second day of a five-day pilgrimage.
Widespread violence took place in Pambha and Nilakkal on Wednesday as traditionalists prevented the entry of women, intimidated journalists and clashed with the police.
Tension has been brewing in Kerala since the Supreme Court on September 28 ruled that the temple should be opened to women of all ages.
The order had annulled a centuries-old tradition of the temple that denied the right of worship to female devotees aged between 10 and 50 years, or those of the menstruating age.
CONTINUED ON P 12 ››RELATED REPORT, P11