In a major development in the Sabarimala Temple row, two women in their mid-40s have claimed that they managed to enter the Sabarimala temple on Wednesday early morning.
Few videos have been making rounds, in which the women could be seen moving around inside the temple premises. It is suggested that they that they managed to make it inside the shrine of the Lord Ayyappa’s temple through the staff gate at around 3:45 am. They were accompanied by few police officers, who were dressed in uniform as well as in civil.
Two women devotees Bindu and Kanakdurga entered & offered prayers at Kerala’s #SabarimalaTemple at 3.45am today: ANI pic.twitter.com/94ByC4mZc4
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) January 2, 2019
Bindu (42) and Kanaka Durga (44) who entered the temple on Wednesday had earlier visited Sabarimala on 24 December. But they could not enter the temple amid protests.
Meanwhile, the temple is now shut for purification rituals.
‘Save Sabarimala’ campaigner Rahul Easwar doubted the claims of the women and stated that if they were actually true, then the followers of Lord Ayyappa will double their efforts to make sure nothing of such sort repeats.
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“We are verifying the pictures. We are not sure if they are true or not. When the PM himself said in support of Sabarimala, we feel we have a very good case in Supreme Court. Some anti-traditional things happened. We will definitely have a ‘Shudhi Kriya’ performed at Sabarimala. We will see to it that entire thing is done,” he said.
If the reports are true, then this is for the first time that any women under the age of 50 has managed to enter the temple premises since the Supreme Court’s ruling in September, wherein the apex court ordered that women of all ages can enter the Sabarimala temple.
Ever since the historic judgment by the SC, women have tried to enter the temple on a number of occasions, but their efforts have always been thwarted by protests. Followers of Lord Ayyappa have reiterated that no matter what, they will not allow women from age group of 10-50 to enter the temple.
On Tuesday, lakhs of women joined hands and formed a 620-km long ‘Women’s wall’, demanding gender equality in the form of entry into the Sabarimala temple. The women formed the wall from Kasargod in northern Kerala to the southernmost district of Thiruvananthapuram.