Activist ready to visit Sabarimala

Trupti Desai seeks police protection as she vows to enter temple ‘come what may’

Woman activist Trupti Desai yesterday waded into the Sabarimala controversy when she asked for complete police protection during her visit to the temple starting Friday.

However, temple activist Rahul Eashwar has vowed to fight tooth-and-nail to prevent her entry to the temple.

Desai wrote to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to order police protection for her group when they visit Sabarimala on November 17 when the temple will open for the twomonth long pilgrimage.

The temple town has witnessed protests by Hindu groups and temple tantric and officials ever since a Supreme Court verdict on September 28, allowed women of all ages to pray at Ayyappa temple that hitherto banned girls and women aged between 10 and 50.

Desai wrote to Vijayan yesterday that she along with six other women would be arriving in Kerala tomorrow for a visit at the temple on Saturday.

She sought police protection right from the time she lands in Kerala till they leave the state, saying “we will visit the temple whatever be the resistance”.

On the other hand, Eashwar said he and his officials along with Ayyappa’s true devotees would ensure no one would be able to break the tradition of the temple. “We will lie down before the women who come to break the temple’s tradition,” he declared.

The temple will open tomorrow evening for the Mandala Mahotsavam and Desai has asked to be escorted right from the airport to their rooms in Kottayam, where they would rest for the day.

The police must then provide protection when they head for the hilltop temple on Saturday.