Kerala’s government would not stand in the way if the state-appointed autonomous body that manages the Sabarimala temple wants to challenge the Supreme Court verdict that lifted the age bar on women’s entry, a minister has clarified.
The Travancore Devaswom Board, which runs the shrine, has indicated it plans to move a review petition against the 2:1 majority verdict that quashed as unconstitutional the centuries-old bar on women in the “menstrual age” (10 to 50 years) entering the temple.
Devaswom (temple affairs) minister Kadakampally Surendran told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday that although the state government supported the verdict, the Devaswom Board was free to take its own decision.
“There is no change in the government’s stand on the issue, but the TDB and individuals or any groups enjoy the right to file a review petition. The government won’t come in the way of any such move,” he said.
Devaswom Board president A. Padmakumar on Sunday reaffirmed that the body planned to seek legal opinion towards filing a review petition.
“No woman (in the menstrual age) from my family would go to Sabarimala,” he asserted. “This is a belief that Hindus have been following for ages. We don’t want to do anything against it.”
Many influential devotees of the hill shrine, religious bodies and pro-Hindu groups have spoken about plans to move a review plea. Some have been consulting lawyers on the possibility of a joint petition.
Right-wing Hindu organisations are building up a street campaign against the verdict.
After the Shiv Sena called for a dawn-to-dusk shutdown across Kerala on Monday, the fledgling Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad (International Hindu Council) has announced a state-wide road blockade programme from 11.30am to 12.30pm on Tuesday.
Pravin Togadia had formed the Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad in June after quitting the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, of which he was the international working president, in April.
“We plan to file a review petition against the judgment, which is entirely anti-Hindu,” the Thiruvananthapuram district president of the outfit, N. Anil Kumar, told The Telegraph after the organisation held meetings across the state on Sunday.
“This is only the beginning. We will fight till justice is delivered to Ayyappa devotees.”