Near Sabarimala temple on Sunday morning saffron dress wore men protested after two women reached Pamba seeking entry to the hill shrine.
The women, whose age is not known yet, had to return after they were stopped by protestors just 200 metres away from the base camp at Pamba.
The attempt by these women has turned the situation tense in the area.
The Kerala government had decided it wouldn’t take them to the central temple complex, known as the Sannidhanam, at the cost of using force against protesters. As well, a top police officer said Sabarimala’s chief priest told him he would close the temple and leave if the duo entered.
Kerala’s Sabarimala temple is in news for repeated violence and protests against the entry of women of menstrual age into the temple.
On September 28, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, lifted the centuries-old ban on the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine. The Travancore Devaswom Board has decided to file a review petition against the verdict.
The situation at Pamba and Nilakkal the base camp for Sabarimala remains tense. The state government led by Pinarayi Vijayan has maintained its stand of implementing the Supreme Court order and provide security to women wishing to worship at Sabarimala.
The chief priest of the shrine has declared his support for the devotees and threatened that if any menstruating woman enters the temple, he will close it and hand over the keys to the manager.
Meanwhile, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have slammed the Kerala government for allegedly extending support to bring women activists to the Sabarimala temple and hurting the sentiments of devotees.
