The Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala will open for the two-month pilgrim season on Saturday evening with the CPI(M)-led LDF government making all preparations to make it a hassle-free pilgrimage.

Kandararu Mahesh Mohanararu will open the sanctum sanctorum and perform the puja.

A.K. Sudheer Namboodiri will take charge as the Sabarimala Melsanthi and M.S. Parameshwaran Namboodiri as Malikapuram Melsanthi.

The pilgrims will be allowed to climb the 18 holy steps after the padi puja and have darshan.

The portals of the hill shrine, located in a reserve forest in the Western Ghats in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta, will be opened for the two-month Mandalam Makaravilakku season this evening around 5pm.

Devotees have started arriving at Nilackal and Pamba from various parts of Kerala and neighbouring states, but will be allowed to leave for the shrine only by 2pm.

Frenzied protests by BJP workers and other activists erupted after the LDF government decided to implement the Supreme Court’s order of September 28, 2018, allowing women of all ages to offer prayers at the shrine.

For centuries, women aged between 10 years and 50 years were barred from entering the temple.

However, this year, even though the top court has not stayed its verdict on the entry of young women to the shrine while posting various petitions on the matter to a larger bench, the government is exercising caution.

It has decided not to give police protection to women in 10-50 years age group to trek the holy hills to reach the temple.

Devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran made it clear on Friday that Sabarimala was not a place to display activism and said the government would not encourage such women who want to visit the shrine for publicity.

Those who want to visit the temple can procure a court order to enter the temple, he said.

The social activist and Bhumata bridge leader, Trupti Desai, who was not allowed to offer prayers last year and had to return from Kochi airport due to protests from devotees, said in Mumbai that she would be visiting Sabarimala on Sunday.

“If women need protection to trek the hills, police should provide it. Even if the government does not provide protection, we will be reaching on November 17 to offer prayers,” she said.

People, including Desai, should not make use of the opportunity to exhibit their strength, the minister said, adding that Sabarimala is not a place for such drama.

Maintaining that this pilgrim season would be peaceful, law minister A.K. Balan said if anyone tried to hamper the darshan of the devotees, the government would take strong action.

“If someone thinks that they can exploit the devotees by spreading lies and turn them against the government, let me tell you that it’s not going to happen,” he said.

Attempts by around a dozen women, including activists and journalists in the 10-50 years age group, to climb the sacred hills had failed last year as frenzied devotees of Ayyappa heckled and hassled them and forced them to retreat.

However, defying protesters, two women in their 40s — Bindu Ammini and Kanakadurga — had entered the Ayyappa temple in January this year and offered prayers, scripting history.

The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which manages the Ayyappa shrine, has also sought legal opinion on the apex court directive.

The board has made elaborate arrangements to provide amenities to the devotees.

The unprecedented floods in August last year had also played havoc with the pilgrimage season with most of the facilties for the devotees being destroyed.

The resting places for the devotees at Nilackal, Pamba and Sannidhanam have already been set up along with medical and water facilities and toilets.

Over 10,000 police personnel will be posted in phases in and around the Ayyappa temple during the pilgrimage season.

The five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Thursday said a larger bench would re-examine various religious issues, including the entry of women into the Sabarimala temple and mosques and the practice of female genital mutilation in the Dawoodi Bohra community.

A 3:2 verdict decided to keep pending the pleas seeking a review of its decision regarding the entry of women into the shrine, and said restrictions on women in religious places were not restricted to Sabarimala alone and was prevalent in other religions as well.