Protesters block women going to Sabarimala temple

Hundreds of people yesterday blocked a path leading to Sabarimala temple in Kerala to stop a group of women making a new attempt to reach the landmark.Women activists have been trying to enter the temple complex since a September ruling by the Supreme Court overturned a longstanding ban on women of childbearing age from entering the shrine.Tensions peaked again after 11 women from Tamil Nadu reached the village of Pamba at the foot of the hill with the Sabarimala shrine at the top.People have to walk four hours from Pamba to reach the shrine but hundreds of protesters, including women, noisily blocked the path.“The women are adamant they won’t withdraw until they have seen the deity at the Sabarimala temple,” said Selvi, a leader of the women.But after police failed to negotiate an end to the showdown – and with the numbers of angry protesters swelling – they escorted the women back to a base about 20km away.Eyewitnesses said the women were heckled as they moved back.“The police were not able to give us security (to go to the temple). Hopefully now we are getting away from this place,” one unnamed member of the women’s group told reporters.“Another group of women are trying to get to Pamba,” she added.Hundreds of thousands of men, young girls and elderly women normally trek to the temple during the festival season.But Sabarimala has become a major battleground between devotees and gender activists since the Supreme Court’s revocation of the ban on women between 10 and 50, which has sparked waves of protests and shutdowns across Kerala.The Supreme Court is to hear challenges to its decision to overturn the ban from January 22.Many Hindu groups and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party oppose the court ruling.Devotees clashed with police in October around Sabarimala leading to the arrests of more than 2,000 people.“If these women were actual devotees, they would not have been so blatant in their utter disregard for the age-old traditions and customs of Sabarimala,” Sasikumar Varma from the Pandalam Royal family and closely associated with the temple, said.“They just want to create trouble for genuine devotees,” he added.The Kerala unit of the BJP said what happened yesterday was a Communist Party of India (Marxist)-sponsored event and that the state government should order a probe to find out who was behind the “conspiracy.”“We will give our lives to protect the customs and traditions of the Sabarimala temple. Under no circumstances will these women be allowed to go up the hill,” an angry devotee said, as hundreds of others echoed the sentiment.State BJP president P SSreedharan Pillai accused the office of Vijayan of stage-managing yesterday’s unfortunate incidents.“The office of Vijayan played a key role in bringing the Tamil group and it was done to destroy the Sabarimala temple, for which the police also played their role. We demand that the Kerala government carry out a probe,” said Pillai.But state CPM secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the party had no interest in a woman entering the temple.“The Kerala government is only abiding by the apex court verdict. I don’t think anyone would doubt me if I say that we and our feeder organisations have thousands of women members. So if we were keen that a woman should pray at the temple, it can be easily accomplished, but we do not have any such intention,” said Balakrishnan.