Women devotees stopped vehicles at the main gateway to Sabarimala and prevented women in the menstrual age group of 10 to 50 years from trekking to the hill shrine, flouting a Supreme Court order a day before the Ayyappa temple is to open for the monthly puja.
The shrine, located on the Western Ghats, opens on Tuesday for the first time after the recent Supreme Court order permitting women of all age groups to enter the temple.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, however, told reporters that no one would be allowed to block devotees from proceeding to Sabarimala.
Groups of women devotees, including senior citizens, clad in traditional saris could be seen stopping each and every vehicle at Nilakkal, the base camp located 20km from the Sabarimala hilltop.
Besides private vehicles, devotees stopped and inspected Kerala State Road Transport Corporation buses and asked young women to get off. Very few police personnel were present when the incidents happened.
One of the woman protesters said: “No woman belonging to the banned age group of 10 to 50 years will be allowed to travel further from Nilakkal and offer worship at the shrine.”
The temple will be closed on October 22 after the five-day monthly puja during the Malayalam month of Thulam.
Chanting aloud the mantra “Swamiya Saranam Ayyappa” and clapping, women devotees inspected vehicles at various points en route to Sabarimala since Monday evening.
Local television channels reported that some college students wearing black dresses were asked to get off a bus by devotees who alleged that they were on their way to Sabarimala. Ayyappa devotees wear black and a bead chain during the pilgrimage.
Women journalists who tried to reach the hill temple as part of their official assignments were also stopped at the base camp.
Vijayan warned of stern action against those who prevent devotees. “Stern action will be taken against anyone who prevents devotees from going to Sabarimala,” the chief minister told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.
He made it clear that the government had no intention of filing a review petition and would implement the apex court order. The chief minister said the government had taken the stand that there should not be any discrimination on the basis of gender.
The government, however, clarified that it would not bring in a law to put its policy into practice. “But we will go by what the Supreme Court says,” Vijayan said.
Referring to the statement of BJP president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai that the government would be responsible for any law and order situation on the Sabarimala issue, Vijayan said it was the Opposition party that was trying to create problems in the state.
A group of devotees continued their dharna in front of the secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram to protest the government’s decision to implement the court order.
MP plea
Lok Sabha MP and Congress leader Anto Antony, who represents the Pathanamthitta constituency under which the Sabarimala hill shrine falls, on Tuesday urged the Centre to issue an ordinance to get around the Supreme Court order allowing the entry of women of all age groups to the temple.