Kerala...

TDB is an autonomous body; its president and two board members are appointed by the state government. A Padmakumar, the incumbent president, is a former legislator of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M).

The board, which is in charge of the administration of the temple, had refrained from approaching the court so far, reportedly on the chief minister’s insistence.

About 175km from Sabarimala, activist Trupti Desai, who arrived at Kochi airport on her way to the temple, was halted by hundreds of protesters who blocked all the exits. Desai was holed up at the airport for about 14 hours after she landed in the tourist hot spot around 5am. In the evening, she said she would return — for now — only to be back before the doors of the shrine are closed in mid-january. The ruckus affected the operation of the airport.

“It is sad that I couldn’t make a darshan. People who prevented me are not devotees, they are goons. They showered verbal abuses on me. I will come back again..,” she said.

Protesters have not allowed a single woman between 10 and 50 years of age to enter the 800-yearold temple despite the Supreme Court’s September 28 verdict permitting it. Traditionalists say women of menstruating age cannot enter the temple because the presiding deity, Lord Ayyappa, is considered celibate.

CM Vijayan sought cooperation from the people. “The objective of the Government is to uphold the esteem of Sabarimala temple, which is a major pilgrim centre in the country and is a place of worship of all people... As a place that attracts a large number (of) pilgrims from outside, any occurrence of untoward incidents will mar the reputation of the temple,” he said in a Facebook post.

As rain lashed the temple nestled in the Western Ghats, tantri (supreme priest) Rajeevaru Kandarau opened its doors at 5pm— for the third time after the court order that was hailed as a landmark verdict.

“We have decided to move the apex court with a plea to seek more time to implement the verdict. The petition will be moved either on Saturday or Monday. TDB is with devotees and committed to safeguarding customs of the temple,” Padmakumar said, in an indication that the government was softening its stand.

On November 13, a five-judge Supreme Court bench led by chief justice of India Ranjan Gogoi agreed to reconsider its September judgment, but refused to stay the operation of the verdict. The apex court fixed January 22 to take up the 49 review petitions calling for a reversal of the September 28 verdict and other applications in the matter.

Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has intensified its campaign on Sabarimala, and the Congress have criticised the Kerala government’s handling of the situation and supported the protesters.

Sabarimala and its base camps witnessed violent protests by traditionalists who clashed with police, intimidated journalists and stopped the entry of at least 15 women in the past one-and-a half months, when the temple opened its door twice — on October 17 for a five-day ritual and on November 5 for a one-day ‘pooja’.

“We can’t trust TDB because it is a mere puppet in the hands of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. We have to get an assurance that the government will not allow women till the Supreme Court takes up review pleas,” said BJP state president PS Sreedharan Pillai, who had been on a ‘rath yatra’ in support of the temple customs, hinting that his party will keep mounting pressure on the state government on the religiously sensitive issue.

Many pilgrims who trekked to the shrine on Friday complained about a lack of facilities, which, some of them said, could be hit due to the prolonged standoff between protesters and security personnel. Notwithstanding a heavy police presence, members of several fringe groups have already gathered to make sure no woman between 10 and 50 years can enter the shrine. In a related development, the Kerala high court rejected on Friday the anticipatory bail plea of activist Rehana Fatima, who reached close to Sabaramila temple in October but was turned away by protesters. Police have registered against her a case for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. because of one great person,” said Modi, who was in Chhattisgarh to campaign for the BJP ahead of the second phase of state assembly elections on November 20.

After Modi, then a prime ministerial candidate, revealed that he sold tea at a railway station when he was a boy to help his family make ends meet, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar referred to him as ‘chaiwala’ ahead of the 2014 general elections. Modi and his BJP parlayed this into a campaign issue by launching “chai pe charcha” or conversations over tea where Modi and other leaders informally met voters over tea.

The PM said that the Congress was not willing to give credit to the BJP and himself for ending dynastic politics. “This is the result of their undemocratic thinking. For this too, they want to give credit to Nehru,” he said.

The PM said the Congress was to blame for the underdevelopment of the country, “Congress nationalised banks in the name of poor, but what is the reason that the poor did not have any access to banks? What is the reason that the poor did not have even a bank account? When we came to power, we empowered the poor, opened their bank accounts,” he said, referring to the financial inclusion drive his government has spearheaded.

Reacting to Modi’s remarks, the Congress said he should read history. “Firstly, who is Modi ji to decide the Congress president? It is the (Congress) worker who will decide the president. Secondly, Modi is misleading people as Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Pandit Mandan Mohan Malviya , Sardar Patel , Jagjeevan Ram and many others (outside of the Nehru-gandhi family) were Congress presidents … Modi ji should read history first,” said RP Singh, senior Congress leader and party spokesperson.

In the second and final phase of polling in Chhattisgarh on November 20, 72 seats are up for grabs. Eighteen seats went to the polls on November 12. Assembly elections are also due to take place in Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana. did you send him the complaint?. You won’t get it.”

“I can complain,” Rohatgi responded, prompting the CJI to say: “Anybody can go and complain.” The bench told senior lawyer Dushyant Dave, appearing for co-petitioner, NGO Common Cause, that it had not filed a list of policy decisions taken by acting CBI director M Nageshwar Rao. Dave claimed that despite the court’s order restraining Rao from taking important policy decisions, the acting director had taken some. “We will presume that he [Rao} has not taken any major policy decision because you have not given us a list of decisions taken by him,” the bench said, noting Rao had already filed in the court a list of decisions taken by him from October 23 till October 26. “In so far as the decision taken by acting director is concerned, we have considered the details of the decisions that he has taken up to the date of the order. While it would be open for any party to supplement the list we defer consideration of the matter to November 20,” the court said.

CBI deputy superintendent of police AK Bassi, who was part of the investigation team Verma had constituted to probe corruption charges against Asthana and was transferred during the midnight orders, pressed his application questioning his new posting in Port Blair for a hearing. “Port Blair is a nice place,” CJI Gogoi responded, and said his case too would be heard on Tuesday. Similarly, Congress Lok Sabha MP Mallikarjun Kharge’s application to be made a party to the case would be taken up at the next hearing. As a leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha, Kharge is a member of the selection panel to choose the CBI chief. The Prime Minister heads the committee.