Right to pray, not desecrate. Period

Apparently, female devotees of menstruating age are liable to barge into places of worship, flaunting feminine hygiene products like a badge of honour, is the apprehension of some of the more devout amongst us.

Union minister Smriti Irani might just be one of them, going by what she told the ‘Young Thinkers’ conference, organised by the British High Commission and the Observer Research Foundation, on Tuesday.

Perhaps, this is a throwback to her ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ days or, perhaps, she thinks women should be quarantined for those days of the month.

Amid protests against the Supreme Court order of September 28, opening the Sabarimala temple in Kerala to women of all ages, Irani said the right to pray did not mean the right to desecrate.

“I am nobody to speak against the Supreme Court verdict as I am a serving cabinet minister. But just plain common sense is that would you carry a napkin seeped with menstrual blood and walk into a friend's house. You would not.

“And would you think it is respectful to do the same when you walk into the house of god? That is the difference. I have the right to pray, but no right to desecrate. That is the difference that we need to recognise and respect,” Irani said.

How she worries! But it is unlikely women would make a propaganda of their period-soaked napkins, that too in public places -- they are too wellschooled to do so. It is ingrained in them to be extra careful about their hygiene, especially during that time of the month.

To show that she practises what she preaches, she went on to tell the conference, “I am a practising Hindu married to a Zoroastrian. I have ensured that both my kids are practising Zoroastrians,

who can go to the fire temple and pray,” she said.

Irani recalled that when her children were inside the fire temple, she had to stand outside on the road or sit in the car. “When I took my newborn son (to the fire temple), I would give him at the (temple) entrance to my husband and wait outside, because I was shooed away and told not to stand there,” she said.