Another showdown looks imminent at Sabarimala when the Lord Ayyappa temple opens for a brief ritual on 5 November with various Hindu groups and the Communist-led government battling over the entry of young women into the temple and hardening their positions on the Supreme Court verdict.
The standoff spurred by the 28 September apex court verdict lifting a centuries-old ban on women aged between 10 and 50 from entering the shrine led to the first showdown during the monthly puja from 17 to 22 October with protesters physically blocking women and attacking police and media.
The violent protests against the Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all ages to pray at the Sabarimala temple is a move to “push Kerala a 100 years back”, said renowned Malayalam writer and Jnanpith winner MT Vasudevan Nair.
MT Vasudevan Nair, the ‘Randamoozham’ author, said it is rare for such a progressive verdict to come from the legal system. He said the government is duty bound to implement the Supreme Court order.
