Even as Kerala voted to elect the next state government on April 6, a heated discussion ensued over the entry of women into the Sabarimala temple, yet again. After he cast his vote in Kottayam, Nair Service Society (NSS) general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair on Tuesday told the media that Sabarimala Ayyappa devotees were “still bitter” about the events that “hurt their faith”. Nair added that “there should be a government that stood for values and faith” reported The Hindu. 

According to The NewsMinute, Nair,  added that “people wish to vote for those upholding secularism, democracy, social justice and those who protect the faith of people, which the LDF government was not able to do. The protests and opposition of people in the Sabarimala issue have not died down.” Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress’ campaigns have mentioned the Sabarimala issue. Even Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said figuratively in Kannur that deities of the land, including Lord Ayyappa, would bless the Left Democratic Front (LDF) for ministering to the people in the time of catastrophe, reported the Hindu.

In February, the Kerala government had decided to withdraw “cases of not serious criminal nature’’ registered in connection with the Sabarimala and anti-CAA protests.  According to media reports, the Kerala police had registered an estimated 17,000 cases, against around 68,000 people from different Hindutva outfits as accused, in connection with the Sabarimala protests in 2018 following the Supreme Court decision allowing entry of women to the Ayyappa temple. The citizenship laws that led to widespread protests across the country, resulted in the registration of 530 cases from January to March, 2020 in Kerala. The Congress party had also announced that it would withdraw all cases related to both issues if voted to power.

According to the TNM report, the BJP state president K Surendran even went on to call CM Pinarayi Vijayan an ‘asuran’ (demon) saying he changed his stance on Sabarimala as he fears the government will lose, saying, “The change of statement shows how frail he (Pinarayi Vijayan) is. It is Pinarayi Vijayan and his ‘asura ganangal’ (group of demons) who destroyed Sabarimala. The state government helped the Maneethi Sangam to ascend Sabarimala. In the cover of darkness, Pinarayi and his ‘asura ganangal’ took the women in an ambulance to Sabarimala. People won’t forget this. Now by just saying that gods are with him, people won’t consider it. He is the biggest ‘asuran’.”  

However, the reactions after that came fast and thick, barbs came from opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala who said the CM was late to “atone for his trespasses against the Ayyappa faith”. Congress leader A. K. Antony said the CM “should apologise” to believers for “desecrating” the Sabarimala temple by “ham-fistedly” enacting the 2018 Supreme Court verdict permitting women, irrespective of their age, to worship at Sabarimala, stated the news report. While Ex CM Oommen Chandy said  Vijayan’s ‘invoking’ of Ayyappa faith “was unconvincing’ and Sabarimala devotees would ‘reject his election day overture.’  Meanwhile, the BJP State president K. Surendran reportedly said that NSS’ chief “had given a clear message to the people”. Surendran also said A. K. Antony and Oommen Chandy “were weeping crocodile tears for Sabarimala devotees”. Surendran went a step ahead and told the media that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s police had ‘secretly’ and ‘rapidly’ conveyed “activist women” to Sabarimala Ayyappa temple under cover of darkness in 2018.

According to CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran, the NSS general secretary might have crossed a line if confirmed that he had made a political statement on polling day. The Hindu report quoted Rajendran as saying, “No other social organisation leader had attempted to broadcast their political preference on voting day. BJP and Congress had harped on about Sabarimala because they had nothing else to say.” The TNM report recalled how the issue of women’s entry into Sabarimala temple had started in 2018 when a Supreme Court verdict allowed women of all ages to worship at the temple in Pathanamthitta district. The state was witness to many protests soon  after two women entered the hill shrine following the Supreme Court verdict. 

Now, on polling day 2021, the discussion resurfaced when all political parties suddenly recalled the matter as if they were still in campaign mode.

Related:

“Like Judas Betrayed Jesus Christ”: PM attacks Pinarayi Vijayan Government 
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Kerala: Left leader E A Sankaran returns to Congress, while Church leaders meet RSS

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In a shocking incident, women’s rights activist Bindu Ammini, one of the first women to offer prayers at the Lord Ayyappa Shrine in Sabarimala, was attacked with chilli powder and pepper spray on her way to the shrine by a member of a radical Hindu outfit, Hindu Helpline (a Vishwa Hindu Parishad ally) on Tuesday.

Shocking visuals of pepper/ chilli spray being sprayed at Bindu Ammini outisde the commissioner office by one of the protesters . She has been moved to the hospital. Six other women including Trupti Desai inside the police commissioner’s office. #Sabarimala #Kerala @ndtv pic.twitter.com/d24chgs8b3

— Sneha Koshy (@SnehaMKoshy) November 26, 2019

The man identified as Srinath Padmanabhan was taken into custody, the police said. Ammini and Trupti Desai, another prominent women’s rights activist associated with the movement to gain temple entry rights for women at Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, had reached the Kochi commissioner office to seek police security for their visit after arriving at the Kochi International Airport in the wee hours of Tuesday along with five other women. Officials said that a group of right-wing leaders apparently had a heated argument with Ammini, following which they sprinkled chili powder on her face. She was soon rushed to a hospital and now plans to file a case of contempt against the Kerala government for not providing protection to women in the 10 – 50 years age group to enter the Sabarimala temple even though the Supreme Court lifted the ban on entry of women in the said age group to the temple.

Trupti Desai said they preferred November 26 to visit the shrine as it was the Constitution Day.
 

The threats have been constant: In conversation with Sabrang India

Earlier this year, in a conversation with Sabrang India’s co-editor Teesta Setalvad, Bindu and Kanakadurga spoke about their ‘feat’ of entering the Sabarimala shrine.

Though Bindu was proud of being one of the first women to enter the Lord Ayyappa shrine, she said she didn’t need any credit to be the first one to do so as it was a process towards equal rights and she was just a part of the same.

The journey after, she said, had not been an easy one. “We faced troubles in the Kerala society by a minor section of the people like people from the Sangh Parivar – from organisations like the BJP, RSS, VHP and some other related organisations like the Karma Samithi”, she said.

She also spoke about how Kanakadurga, who was then staying in a short-stay home following protests and attacks from her own family was still holding her courage after the circumstances she went through to be part of what she called a ‘Renaissance’ movement.

Speaking about how she gathered courage herself to be involved in such a huge movement, Bindu said, “Kanaka’s situation and my situation is very different. I am from a Dalit family, because of which I think I am too courageous. Another thing is that, for the past 23 years, I’m involved in the political and social field of Kerala and I’ve participated and took leadership in some political and social movements in Kerala. My husband and family, even other family members all are very supportive of me. Even my neighbours and villagers protect me. They may keep different opinions from the ones I have, but they care about my safety.”

Who is Bindu Ammini

Bindu is a Dalit woman, a gender and social justice activist and a lecturer at the School of Legal Studies at Kerala’s Kannur University. A resident of the Kouilandy are of Kozhikide district, after her first visit to the Sabarimala temple last year, she was given round-the-clock security by the Supreme Court after repeated threats and intimidation by right-wing outfits.

She has been an active part of the political and social field in Kerala and has regularly backed movements to foster democracy.

In her younger days, Bindu was active in student politics. She served as a leader of the Kerala Vidyarthi Sanghathana, a left leaning student organisation. She took to teaching after completing a master’s degree in Law from Kerala University.
 

Bindu’s journey to Sabarimala

Bindu and Kanakadurga, the first two women to enter the shrine, met through an online forum after the Supreme Court said that the rule barring the entry of girls and women of child-bearing age into the temple was unconstitutional.

Speaking to the CNN, they said they made their first attempt to visit the temple on December 24, 2018. But there, they were met with what Bindu remembers to be a “wall of protestors”. “I think more than (a thousand) people were there,” she told reporters. Worried about the women’s safety, the police led them away.

Yet, the unrelenting women refused to go home until police took them to the shrine, threating to go on a hunger strike if the same didn’t happen. Soon, frantic phone calls followed and a promise was made by the authorities to help the two make another attempt.

Even that stint almost ended in failure, the CNN reported. On their way to the shrine, flanked by plainclothes officers, they reached a base camp near the temple site. From there they started their two-hour trek to the shrine, which was going well until one man returning from the shrine saw them and alerted everyone about ‘ladies’ making their way up, following which he called some people to alert them about the same.

However, he backed off when one of the plainclothes officers showed him his ID and told him to mind his own business.

Avoiding the main approach, they used a route that’s not open to the public to reach the chamber where Lord Ayyappa is enshrined shortly before daybreak. It’s the only thing that Bindu Ammini regrets — that they couldn’t climb up the final 18 steps that lead to the inner chamber like other ordinary devotees. “I am not fully satisfied that (we had to avoid the 18 steps),” she recounted to the CNN.
 

Where the Sabarimala issue currently stands

The Sabarimala case has been waiting a conclusion since the 1990s when a petition was filed in the Kerala High Court seeking a ban on the entry of women in the temple, following which the Kerala HC imposed a restriction on women, aged 10 to 50 on entering the temple.

In 2006, the Indian Young Lawyers Association filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking revocation of the ban and in 2007 the LDF government filed an affidavit supporting PIL questioning the ban on women’s entry.

Cut to 2016, when a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court questioned the ban, the LDF government took a U-turn stating it is duty-bound to “protect the right to practice the religion of these devotees.”

In April 2016, the SC said gender justice would be endangered if the ban was not revoked and that tradition couldn’t justify the ban. The LDF government took a U-turn once more following this.

The case was referred to a gender-equal Constitution bench and in 2018 it the court observed that it couldn’t remain oblivious to ban entry of women as they were barred on “physiological ground” of menstruation.

On September 28, 2018, The Supreme Court, in 4:1 verdict, allowed entry of women in Sabarimala temple, says banning females’ entry into the shrine is gender discrimination and the practice violates rights of Hindu women. Justice Indu Malhotra delivered the dissenting judgment.

On January 2, 2019, 96 days after the Supreme Court’s judgment, two women entered the temple. Bindu Ammini (42), an assistant professor at the School of Legal Studies, University of Kannur, and Kanakadurga (44), a Kerala government employee, made history in the process.

More than 50 petitions were subsequently filed by various organizations including the National Ayyappa Devotees (Women’s) Association, the Nair Service Society and the All Kerala Brahmin’s Association. On November 14, 2019 a Bench led by now retired Chief Justice Gogoi referred the case to a larger bench while keeping the review petitions pending. It was decided not to give police protection to women in 10-50 age group to trek the holy hills to reach the temple.

Speaking to The News Minute in November, Bindu said the decision of referring the case to a larger bench was “disappointing and politically motivated”. She said the final verdict “might turn out to be like the Ayodhya judgment” in which the court ‘toes the majoritarian view’ which could potentially destroy the secular fabric and constitutional values of the country.

Bindu, who was a former employee with the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation, was still hopeful at the time that progressive women would lead the fight no matter how many years the issue took to be settled.

Is her spirit going to be dampened after this attack or will her resolve to fight for her rights just grow stronger?

(Sources – Scroll.in, The Wire, The News Minute)

Related:

Sabarimala: Male devotee nurturing unholy thoughts is ‘unfit’ to visit Lord Ayyappa shrine

Teesta Setalavad talks to Bindu Ammini and Kanakadurga, the first women to enter Sabarimala temple

The post Sabrimala activist Bindu Ammini attacked in Kerala appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Supreme Court last week, by 3:2 majority, decided to keep the review petitions in Sabarimala matter pending until a larger bench determines questions related to essential religious practices. The majority of CJI Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra expressed that the issue whether Court can interfere in essential practises of religion needed examination by larger bench. Justices Chandrachud and Nariman dissented.

There is no stay of the September 28, 2018 judgment which allowed entry of women of all age groups to the Sabarimala temple, but the Apex Court said, the same issue arises in respect of cases concerning entry of Muslim women in a Durgah/Mosque as also in relation to Parsi women married to a non-Parsi into the holy fire place of an Agyari. There is also a case pending regarding the legality of practice of Female Genital Mutilation in Dawoodi Bohra community.

A reversal of the Apex Court decision permitting women in Sabarimala Temple would amount to effacement of advancements made in socio-cultural evolution achieved through sacrifices of great reformists in Kerala since early years of the 20th Century.

The last year’s agitation following the September 2018 judgment was, in fact, ill-motivated and well contrived. It was spearheaded by retrogressive forces of patriarchy and de-spiritualized Hindu priestocracy dismayed progressive Keralites everywhere.The image of Kerala society that assimilated and concretized a collective mindset of modernism received an irreparable setback due to the extreme unruly behaviour of those resorting to violence, intimidation and obstruction of young women devotees, who proceeded to Sabarimala Temple following the Apex Court verdict last year.

Champions of Brahminical casteism – varna vyavastha, being disillusioned by LDF government’s decision to appoint eligible Hindus of all castes in priestly assignments in government administered temples – endeavoured to divinize all obscurant traditions and practices, contrary to the letter, spirit and ethos of the Constitution of India, enshrined in the Preamble, Fundamental Rights and Fundamental Duties.

RB Sreekumar

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Thiruvananthapuram: Kanakadurga, one of the two women of menstruating age who entered the Sabarimala temple in Kerala on January 2, has alleged that her husband and his family have refused to allow her into the house, reports said. She has filed a complaint with the District Violence Protection Officer, NDTV reported.
 
The development came days after her mother-in-law allegedly assaulted her after she returned home. She was taken to hospital with a head injury. The mother-in-law had also sustained injuries in the scuffle.
 
Kanakadurga, a civil servant, is currently lodged at a shelter home for women and has been assigned a female sub-inspector for protection.
 
“Though police and district officials tried their best to convince her family, they refused to budge saying she will be taken back only after tendering a public apology to devotees and the Hindu community. The orthodox Nair family said she has brought enough shame to the community and hurt sentiments of lakhs of devotees and they won’t accept her without “atoning for her sin.” Her husband is a government employee,” Hindustan Times reported.
 
Bindu Ammini, who had entered the temple with Kanakadurga, said they will move the court against Kanakadurga’s relatives. “I was told her husband locked the house and relocated to a relative’s place so as to avoid her,” the lecturer told Hindustan Times. “She is currently in a government-run home in Perninthalamanna.”
 
Kanakadurga filed a complaint with the District Violence Protection Officer after her in-laws locked her out of the house. “The complaint has been forwarded to the court, and order is awaited,” a source close to her told NDTV.
 
The source said that when police took Kanakadurga back home from the hospital, they found that her husband had locked the door and left the place with his mother and two children. She is now living under police protection in a government shelter. 
 
Kanakadurga and another woman, 40-year-old Bindu Ammini, were the first ones of menstrual age to enter the famous hilltop shrine in decades. After their achievement, both were forced to stay in an undisclosed location on the outskirts of Kochi under state protection for fear of reprisals from right-wing activists. However, when Kanaka Durga returned home on the morning of January 15, her mother-in-law allegedly came at her with a stick and beat her until she could barely stand. “She began abusing me, saying that I had slept with many people and was a blot on the family’s reputation,” the government employee had told the police then. 
 
Sabarimala has been the subject of intense controversy since September 28 last year, when the Supreme Court junked an age-old ban on women between 10 and 50 years entering the hill shrine. While right-wing activists maintained that courts do not have jurisdiction over religious beliefs, the Kerala government vowed to uphold the verdict.

A few days ago, the Kerala government claimed that 51 women of menstrual age had entered the Ayyappa Temple under its protection. The list was later sent for revision, following media reports on age and gender discrepancies.
 

The post Woman who entered Sabarimala shrine thrown out by in-laws appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
In a letter to the Chief Minister of Kerala, the President of India, Chief Justice of India and the Governor of Kerala, over 200 women’s activists, Dalit activists, Adivasi activists, human rights groups, social organisations, cultural personalities and well-known citizens demanded the dismissal of priests in Sabarimala over violation of constitutional rights and returning the shrine to Adivasis.
 
Around 244 signatories said in the letter that the purification ceremony conducted after two women of menstruating ages entered the temple was akin to practising untouchability, something against the SC ruling and also Article 17 of the Constitution.
 
They demanded that the Tanthris and Melshanti (high priests) of the temple be stripped of their positions at the temple. “Since this purification ceremony happened according to the values of Brahmanical patriarchy, we also demand that the Brahmin Tanthris should be debarred from their hereditary rights over Sabarimala temple and the worship rights at Sabarimala be given back to Adivasis who were the customary custodians of Sabarimala until the Brahmins took control of the temple in the early 20th Century. We also demand that the Tanthri status should be abolished and the Melshanthi should be reinstated to the Adivasis,” they said.
 
Full text of the letter:
 
Adv. Bindu and Kanakadurga made history on January 2, 2019, by entering the Sabarimala temple, a right accorded to them, by the historic Supreme Court verdict given on 28 September 2018. This day will also go down as a dark day in the history of India when the Tanthris and Melshanthi (head priests) of the Sabarimala temple conducted a ‘purifying puja’.
 
In the historic judgment, Justice D.Y Chandrachud observed that the practice to ban entry to women between the ages of ten and fifty at the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala is “a form of untouchability.” He observed “Religion cannot be cover to deny women the right to worship…To treat women as children of a lesser God is to blink at constitutional morality.” Justice Chandrachud also said that “exclusion of women is a violation of the right to liberty, dignity and equality… Exclusion of women because she menstruates is utterly unconstitutional.”
 
Article 17 of the Constitution of India says that “Untouchability is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden. The enforcement of any disability arising out of Untouchability shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law.” Article 17 of the Constitution of India is the only Absolute right of the Indian constitution. The purification ceremony carried out by the Tanthri in Sabarimala is a clearly criminal act as it stands in violation of Article 17, which confers an absolute right to all Indian citizens against the practice of untouchability, without exceptions or relaxations. No Indian citizen as per the Indian Constitution can be declared impure’ or untouchable.’ It is clear that the purification ceremony performed at Sabarimala is unconstitutional and violates the Supreme Court judgment. Therefore, we demand that the Tanthris and Melashanthi of Sabarimala should be dismissed from their position and must be prosecuted as their action is against constitutional morality.
 
Since this purification ceremony happened according to the values of Brahmanical patriarchy, we also demand that the Brahmin Tanthris should be debarred from their hereditary rights over Sabarimala temple and the worship rights at Sabarimala be given back to Adivasis who were the customary custodians of Sabarimala until the Brahmins took control of the temple in the early 20th Century. We also demand that the Tanthri status should be abolished and the Melshanthi should be reinstated to the Adivasis.
 
We appeal to make necessary steps to enforce community rights, resource rights and facilitate environmental protection of the forests around Sabarimala as well as Pampa river as per the Forest Rights Act.
 
Signatories:
1.     Swami Agnivesh, Swami Agnivesh ,AryaSamaj Leader , Chairperson, Bonded labour Liberation Front .
2.     Medha Patkar, NBA, NAPM
3.     Kancha Ilaiah, Writer, Academic, Dalit Activist
4.     TeestaSetalvad, Writer, Human Rights Activist
5.     Aruna Roy, MKSS
6.     Anand Patwardhan, Film Maker
7.     Ram Puniyani. Writer, Retd. Professor, IIT
8.     Satchidanandan, Writer, Poet, Former Secretary of Sahitya Akademi
9.     Sandeep Pandey, Former Visiting Professor, IIT, Social Activist
10.  Harsh Mander
11.  S. Parasuraman, Former Director, TISS
12.  Tirumurugan Gandhi, May 17 Movement, Tamil Nadu
13.  Lubnasarwath, General Secretary, Socialist Party( India), Telangana, Hyderabad
14.  Guru Moorthy,  Socialist Party(India)- Bangalore
15.  Radhika, independent legal researcher
16.  Henri ,Executive Director, People’s Watch
17.  Manohar, Human Rights Defenders Alert India
18.  Denzil Fernandes, Indian Social Institute, New Delhi
19.  Abdul Mabood, Director, SNEHI -Healthy Minds. A Healthy India, New Delhi
20.  Apoorvanand, Delhi University
21.  Nivedita Menon, JNU
22.  Shabnam Hashmi, Social Activist, New Delhi
23.  Jolly Chirayath, Actress, Activist
24.  ArchanaPadmini- curator, actress
25.  Vidhu Vincent -filmmaker
26.  Sruthi Namboothiri- filmmaker
27.  Muktha Deedi Chand-filmmaker
28.  Sajitha Madathil-actress
29.  Deedi Damodaran-script writer,filmmaker
30.  Jeevakj- filmmaker
31.  Asha Achy Joseph- filmmaker
32.  Shiny T Rajan- actress
33.  Miriam –
34.  Sudha KF-filmmaker
35.  Radhika Padmakumar- cameraperson
36.  Revathy Sampath- actress
37.  KaniKusruti-actress
38.  Divya Gopinath-actress
39.  Kavita Srivastava, PUCL
40.  VidyaDinker, INSAF, Karnataka
41.  Brinda Adige, Activist
42.  Kritika A, Activist, Mediaperson
43.  Mercy Kappen, Director, Visthar
44.  Kamayanibalimahabal, feminist and human rights activist
45.  Gerda Unnithan
46.  Elizabeth Philip, Women’s Activist.
47.  Tara Murali, Chennai.
48.  Nafisa D’Souza
49.  Indira Pancholi, MahilaJandhikarSamiti
50.  Karuna Philip, MahilaJandhikarSamiti
51.  Bhanwari Bai, MahilaJandhikarSamiti
52.  Sister Carol Geeta, SaswikaSanghathan, Ajmer
53.  Anuradha Marwah, Ajmer Adult Education Association
54.  Lata Kanchawaha, SURE
55.  Tara Ahluwalia, MahilaEvamBalChetnaSamiti
56.  Nisha Chauhan
57.  Chaya Pachauli
58.  Madhulika, PUCL
59.  Maya Pandit
60.  Indu Prakash Singh
61.  Ganga Gupta
62.  Kalpana Kannabiran, Professor & Director, Council for Social Development, Hyderabad
63.  Mridula Bajaj, Development Consultant
64.  Anila George, Advocate, Ernakulam
65.  V.S. Roy David-National Adivasi Alliance (NAA) Convener
66.  J.P.Raju- President BudakattuKrishikaraSanghaKodagu District
67.  K.N.Vittala President BudakattuKrishkaraSanghaChickmagalore District
68.  Venkataswamy President BudakattuKrishikaraSanghaPeriyapatna Mysore.
69.  National AdivasiAndolana(NAA)
70.  Rajya Moola Adivasi Vedike
71.  Budakattu Krishikara Sangha Kodagu
72.  Budakattu Krishikara Sangha Mysore,
73.  Budakkatu Krishikara Sangha Periyapatna Taluk Mysore
74.  Budakattu Krishikara Sangha Chickmagalore
75.  Rajya Soliga Abhivruddi Sangha
76.  Hassan Jilla Adivasi Hasalara Sangha
77.  Iruliga Kshemabhivruddi Sangha(IAKS)
78.  Betta kurubara Paramparika Sangha.
79.  Adivasi Yuvajana Vikasana Samithi (AYVS),Wayanad
80.  Asangatitha Vanitha Thozhilali Union (AVTU)Wayanad
81.  Forum of Deserted Wives-STHREEJWALA,Wayanad
82.  BODI AND AGAMALAI ADIVASI PALIYAR FEDERATION (BAAPF)
83.  Renganathan State convenor Tribal associations for Fifth Schedule campaign TN
84.  Gunasekaran General Secretary TamilagaadivasiammippugalinKuttammaippu TN
85.  Thangaraj State honorary president ST peoples munetranalasangam Kollihills.
86.  Venkadesan State President TN palangudivivasayegalsangamJawdhu hills
87.  Shivashanthakumar Humane Trust Kodaikanal Tamil Nadu
88.  Shiva Shankar, Chennai Mathematical Institute.
89.  Mohan and S.Devika, Advocates, Chennai
90.  Andrew Sesuraj. M, Dept of Social Work, Loyola College,Chennai
91.  Ravi Nitesh, Engineer, Social Activist, Member- Civicus International
92.  Prabhir Vishnu Poruthiyil. Indian Institute of Management, Trichy.
93.  Sandeep Pattnaik, Researcher
94.  Lalit Vachani, Film Maker
95.  Harish Chandra IAS, Bharat Jan Gyan Vigyan Samiti
96.  Jai Sen, Researcher, Editor, New Delhi
97.  Bharti Ali, HAQ: Centre for Child Rights.
98.  Kumar Shailabh, HAQ: Centre for Child Rights.
99.  Enakshi Ganguly, Founder, Adviser, HAQ Centre for Child Rights, New Delhi 
and more
 

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Two women, Bindhu (42) and Kanaka Durga (44), who entered Sabarimala. (Photo | EPS)

Famed mythologist, author and columnist Devdutt Pattanaik was hinting at the larger picture of women’s entry into Sabarimala when he tweeted how opposition and resistance have always failed against nature.

“When poets chose local languages over Sanskrit, some Brahmins opposed it. When ‘lower castes’ sought entry into temples, some Brahmins opposed it. When women seek entry into temples, some Brahmins oppose it. Opposition never lasts forever. Nature is pliable and patient,” he tweeted on Sunday.
 
When Sant Dnyaneshwar wrote about Bhagwad Gita in Marathi, he faced opposition. His work and contribution to the Bhakti movement through his Varkari movement cannot be denied even today. Abhang’s have become an inseparable part of the larger Marathi culture.
 
Subaltern women have consistently challenged the Brahmanical caste order. A good example is the resistance of the Channar women to Nair supremacy in south Travancore in the 19th century. Despite horrendous violence by the Nairs against the lower-caste Channar women wearing the upper-cloth, a symbol of caste eminence, women doggedly wore it again and again when they went out. They were attacked repeatedly, brutalized, their homes violated, relatives injured — but they persisted, for almost four long decades. They refused to be satisfied by the demands of respectability which would have been fulfilled by merely wearing a blouse — they were determined to win for themselves the symbol of caste eminence.
 
Vaikom Satyagraha was a movement against untouchability in the Hindu society that was centred on a temple in Vaikom in 1924-25. The Satyagraha aimed at securing freedom to all sections of society through the public roads leading to the Sri Mahadeva Temple.
 
It eventually paved the way for the Temple Entry Proclamation, which abolished the ban on the so-called ‘low caste people’ or avarnas from entering Hindu temples.
 
In May 1936, an All Kerala Temple Entry conference was held near the Trivandrum Central Railway Station. The years of protest culminated in a stunning decision on 12 November 1936 when the young Maharaja declared temples would be opened to all and no Hindu would be barred from worshipping at any temple.
 
In the historic declaration, the Maharaja Sri Chitra Thirunal Balarama Varma, proclaimed: “Profoundly convinced of the truth and validity of our religion, believing that it is based on divine guidance and on all-comprehending toleration, we have decided, there should henceforth be no restriction placed on any Hindu by birth or religion on entering or worshipping at temples controlled by us and our Government”.
Can anyone erase the temple entry movement by BR Ambedkar from Indian history?
 
He led the temple entry movement in the year 1930 at Kalaram Temple, Nashik, and Maharashtra for real human rights and political justice. According to him, political power is not the only way to solve all the problems of depressed class people but they should get equal rights in society in every field.
 
“Is temple entry to be the final goal of the advancement in the social status of the Depressed Classes in the Hindu fold? Or is it only the first step and if it is the first step, what is the ultimate goal? Temple entry as a final goal, the Depressed Classes can never support. Indeed they will not only reject it, but they would then regard themselves rejected by Hindu Society and free to find their own destiny elsewhere. On the other hand, it is only to be the first step they may be inclined to support it,” he had said.

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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan addressed the media on Wednesday after two women entered Sabarimala temple and a hartal was called in the state.
 
The hartal, which began at 6 am, has been called by Sabarimala Karma Samithi and Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP). The BJP is supporting the shutdown while the Congress-led UDF is observing a “black day” on Thursday.
 
Blaming the Sangh for causing unrest to gain political points, the CM lashed out at them. “The decision to allow the entry of women into Sabarimala was pronounced by the Supreme Court. Based on that, arranging security for women was the responsibility of the government – it was a constitutional responsibility which the government fulfilled. But while the government took a stand, the Sangh Parivar has been consistently trying to make Sabarimala a spot of conflict. The government is trying to free Sabarimala from these kinds of conflicts,” the CM said.
 
Speaking about Bindu and Kanakadurga, the two women who entered the Sabarimala temple on Wednesday, the CM said, “We should note that they didn’t land in Sabarimala in a helicopter, but took the normal route that pilgrims do. They didn’t get any special consideration at the temple and had their darshan as other devotees do.”
 
Furthermore, he stressed that there was no protest from devotees.
 
“Other devotees provided them facilities, as the women have themselves said. The information about their darshan was made public after some time. But even hours after the information was released, there was no protest at all. It implies that there was no natural protest against them even from devotees,” he said.
 
He said the Sangh Parivar began creating tension and spreading chaos in a planned manner.
 
“Hence, what happened in the state was planned chaos. The cabinet also assessed the same (on Wednesday). The government can do nothing but strongly resist it. It won’t allow any kind of violence. It’s the fifth hartal the BJP is holding in the name of Sabarimala. The Sangh Parivar called for seven hartals in five months in related issues,” he added.
 
Lawyer Bindu and government employee Kanakadurga entered the Sabarimala temple in the early hours of Wednesday and offered their prayers – and were the first women to do so after the September 28 Supreme Court verdict that allowed women between the ages of 10 and 50 to enter the shrine. Following the entry of the two women, the temple was shut and ‘purification’ rituals were held.
 
Speaking about the Thantri’s decision to close the temple, the CM said, “The women went to the Sabarimala temple based on the SC verdict. We then witnessed something strange… the Thantri closing the temple. The court pronounced the judgement after hearing the Thantri’s version also. He was a party in the case. If he personally had difficulty in following the court judgement, he should have quit the post. It’s up to the Devaswom Board to decide on the temple’s affairs, so the Thantri’s act is a breach of the court’s judgement. The government is not stubborn that women should enter the temple, but was doing its best to arrange security for the women. It’s not a challenge against faith. We were acting as per the constitution.”
 
Reacting to claims that the government allowed the women to enter in the dark of the night, he said that it was their stand that women will be given police protection if they tried to enter. “The two women had come to visit the temple in the wee hours, hence they were allowed to enter at that time rather than asking them to wait. I didn’t know who these women were, only after the news came I realised that these were the women who climbed,” he said. He refuted allegations that it was a secret operation. “The government has no secret operations, everything is public,” he said.
 
He further said that the government would give protection to any more women who come desiring darshan. “The government will not step back an inch from providing security to women who may come to offer prayers. I am not a Chief Minister who is leading a movement to destroy faith. The government’s stand is to protect devotees,” he said.
 
The Supreme Court on Thursday refused an urgent hearing on Sabarimala temple issue. The apex court said it will take up the case on January 22 as scheduled. The petitioner sought initiation of contempt proceedings against the Sabarimala priest for purification of temple premises after two women entered the shrine.
 
Around 11 women tried to enter the temple before Bindu and Kanakadurga were successful.
 

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The past months have been times of terrible despair for all , with women who attempted the pilgrimage being turned back again and again, hounded and harassed by both the police and the brahmanical hindu patriarchs of the left and the right alike. Rehana Fatima was arrested for hurting ‘religious sentiments’ for the flimsiest reasons, thrown in jail, denied bail, defamed mercilessly online by both the CPM cyber warriors and the BJY thugs, her home attacked, her relatives humiliated, and subjected to discrimination at her workplace. Bindu Thankam Kalyani, Libi, Manju, and others underwent similar horrors; women of the organization Manithi now face an NIA investigation apparently. Trupthi Desai could not even come out of the Kochi airport.

These two brave women were perhaps more adamant that their sisters.  They refused to be cowed down by the mob frenzy; they refused the counsel of the police to return and refused rumours of being ill and hospitalized. Meanwhile, they were also under massive pressure from the right and also from parts of the left, to not disturb the “peace” at Sabarimala.

Clearly, they planned well. The build-up to the CPM-sponsored ‘women’s wall’ was the perfect cover, since the completely irresponsible mass media and the right wing were busy trying to  either celebrate it or find holes in it. The women trekked at the dead of night, accompanied by police in mufti, and entered the temple to worship.

For feminists with a sense of history, this moment is hard to describe. For me, it is akin to the success of the resistance of the Channar women to Nair supremacy in south Travancore in the 19th century. Despite horrendous violence by the Nairs against the lower-caste Channar women wearing the upper-cloth, a symbol of caste eminence, women doggedly wore it again and again when they went out. They were attacked repeatedly, brutalized, their homes violated, relatives injured — but they persisted, for almost four long decades. They refused to be satisfied by the demands of respectability which would have been fulfilled by merely wearing a blouse — they were determined to win for themselves the symbol of caste eminence.

The despair was such that even their friends, the missionaries, found them too stubborn. “Stree-vaashi“, said Rev. Mead, and he called it the root of “unnecessary provocation”.  Stree-vaashi is a concept we need to acknowledge in Indian feminism, the contribution of subaltern women’s challenge to the brahmanical caste order. It could be translated as ‘she-intent’ in English — the kind of inner empowerment that leads women to perform critical acts, rather than just be part of critical mass, and to perform them doggedly, ignoring all sorts of patriarchal violence and advice, until the power gives way.

I proudly claim it to be the legacy of Kerala’s social awakening that predates the consolidation of modern patriarchy since the late 19th century under the leadership of the newly-educated elite that formed the core of the emergent modern caste-communities. It is stree-vaashi that these patriarchs sought to contain, re-channel, and remould in the so-called ‘Renaissance’, with only unintended consequences denting the patriarchal fortress.

Indeed, such determined resistance was always controlled by male authorities, and we saw that happen all over again in the planning of and run-up to the ‘Women’s Wall’ organized by the CPM. Indeed, one despaired —  the way the women who attempted the pilgrimage were punished precisely by a government that has used women’s empowerment (in however watered-down a way) to project itself as ‘left’ was appalling. It seemed that the brahmanical-Nair elements in CPM were determined this time, not to remould streevaashi but to actually stamp it out of existence even as tame compliance to spectacle-building plans laid out by CPM and community-patriarchs was being heavily rewarded. Those of us who were ardently on the Kerala Chief Minister’s side were shocked and saddened but perhaps not surprised, given that the will to control stree-vaashi is a historical inheritance of all kinds of patriarchy in Kerala.

It is important not to play down the bravery of these women; the Hindutva thugs are already enraged beyond belief and the lives of these women are probably in danger. The fact that the police did accompany them does not reduce their heroism; that they persisted despite all odds is what matters. They could have well-waited for the effects of the Woman’s Wall as  show of strength to have sunk in, but they chose to use the moment well. The police did help them and the government has not yet abandoned them (the great relief is that the arch-Hindu bigots in the CPM, Kadakampally Surendran and Padma Kumar probably did not get to know) — but the support of the government is NOT a favour, it is a right, and it should have been delivered long back. And it is quite undeniable that this could have been done earlier.

I do not take seriously any account that delivers all the credit for this to the police and the Kerala government. No way — the situation at Sabarimala was hugely exaggerated mainly to placate the savarna elements in the CPM and the traditionalists among the avarna caste-community leadership. The Kerala police could well have dealt strongly with the trouble-makers at the temple premises, and their leaders — who, thanks to the laxity of the police and the silent sanction of savarna CPM patriarchs, appeared there again and again to lead the thugs. The police could have well done exactly what they did to the women who were suspected to be planning a pilgrimage — they could have called in local RSS elements and especially the parents of the young men and teenagers despatched there by the Sangh and educated them on the gravity of the crime and its legal consequences. Instead, they chose to terrorize and defame the women. The government could have admitted its difficulties in less misogynist ways, but instead chose to admit it indirectly, and through assembling on the roads the simulated critical mass of women under the command and supervision of the patriarchs.  In sum, the police , the CPM, and the government, could have acted in less misogynistic ways.

What is truly interesting is that once again, it seems that critical mass-making has anti-patriarchal effects that are unintended! The CPM’s Woman Wall drew away the attention of the terribly irresponsible mass media and the right wing, providing a small window of time for the two women to attempt entry. Indeed, the social, cultural, and political mainstream in Kerala is so used to the idea that only critical mass matters, that they do not even anticipate critical acts!

We have of course to brace for the reaction. Right now, the ‘purity rituals’ undertaken by the brahmin priest at Sabarimala only confirm the observation of the Supreme Court, that the denial of entry to women of menstruating ages to the temple is a form of pollution — that is, a manifestation of untouchability — and so it must be removed.

We will deal with that later. For now, we dance in joy.

Courtesy: Kafila.online
 

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The temple was shut for an hour to conduct “purification rituals” after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan confirmed that Bindu and Kanaka Durga had ‘darshan’ at 3.30 a.m., having been stopped on December 24 by predominantly male pilgrims from entering the hill shrine.

The temple was reopened after an hour.

SKS activists vowed not to rest till Vijayan was ousted from office and called a dawn-to-dusk shutdown on Thursday.

Speaking to the media over telephone, Bindu said she and Durga reached the Pamba base camp around 1.30 a.m. and along with a few police officers in civilian clothes went up the pathway.

“The government had assured us all help… We, however, did not climb the hallowed 18 steps, instead went through the way normally used by VIPs,” said Bindu.

“We did not have any problems. Barring minor protests, there was no other issue.”

As the news spread, Sangh Parivar outfits took to the streets across Kerala blocking traffic, burning tyres on main roads and stoning buses.

In the state capital, the police used water canons and tear gas to disperse clashing CPI-M and Sangh Parivar activists.

Protests were also reported from Kochi, Palghat, Kozhikode and Kasargode.

Kerala’s biggest traders’ body, KVVES, announced it won’t shut shops on Thursday as frequent strikes were causing huge losses.

Once it became known that the two women had entered the temple, the chief priest and temple tantri met the Pandalam Royal family and decided to shut the shrine for “purification rituals”.

Women and girls in the age group of 10 to 50 are barred from praying at the Sabarimala temple. This ban was struck down by the Supreme Court in September.

Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan said the tantri had no right to close the temple.

“This is a challenge to the judiciary. The government only did its role in upholding the Supreme Court directive,” he told journalists.

Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala called for protests against the Left government. “Vijayan will have to pay a heavy price for this,” he said.

Another Congress leader, K. Sudhakaran, called Vijayan “a fascist” and said the two women who entered the temple were his “puppets”.

State CPI-M Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said there was no reason to shut the temple.

“Those who should observe the temple rules are themselves violating it,” he said. “The role of the government is to abide by the Supreme Court order and it has done just that. The police did their job of providing security to the women.”

Nair Service Society’s General Secretary Sukumaran Nair thanked the temple priests for closing the temple for “purification rituals”.

State BJP General Secretary M.T. Ramesh thundered that Vijayan will have to pay “a heavy price” for violating the temple traditions.

“What they did was to act like cowards. In pitch darkness, they took the two women,” he said, adding that protests would be held in Kerala on Wednesday and Thursday.

BJP activists protested in front of Devasom (Temples) Minister Kadakampally Surendran when he came to attend a programme in Guruvayoor.

Similar protests took place when Health Minister K.K. Shailaja came for a function at her home district in Kannur.

The temple town has witnessed protests by Hindu groups since the September 28 Supreme Court verdict that allowed women of all ages to enter the temple.

Since then, around three dozen women in that age group have tried but failed to go up the pathway leading to the temple due to protests.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

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Image Courtesy: The Pioneer

The decision has reignited the regressive religious campaign led by the RSS-BJP legion, and for them, Sabarimala has become no less than a battleground. Consequently, the region has been witnessing a series of violent protests ever since the judgement was passed. In light of the violence caused by these protests, Section 144 of The Code of Criminal Procedure was imposed in Sabarimala and nearby areas ahead of the Chithira Avittom Pooja. The protestors, however, decided to go ahead with the agitation despite Kerala High Court’s order that no protests or demonstrations should be held at Sabarimala, holding that it was not a place for such activities.

In the month of November alone, around 69 people were arrested for allegedly breaching Section 144 imposed in the vicinity of Sabarimala. The protests, however, continue to intensify as the Kerala unit of BJP started an indefinite relay hunger strike before the Kerala secretariat on December 03, to press demands such as the lifting of prohibitory orders against protesters and withdrawal of cases against party leaders.

In tune with BJP, the Congress-led UDF is also blaming the LDF government for not handling the situation appropriately. “Centuries-old practices and rituals that are followed at Sabarimala temple must be protected. The Devaswom board has failed in its duty to carry out its functions correctly and the state government is in a rush to implement measures without considering the option of bringing an ordinance. The duty of the Devaswom Board is to protect the interests and well-being of the devotees, not that of Pinarayi Vijayan,” said the UDF leader Ramesh Chennithala.

Not giving in to the pressure of protests, the LDF government is firm on its decision that the government is duty-bound to implement the Supreme Court order. “I will not allow the Sangh Parivar to make Sabarimala into another Ayodhya. There is a concerted bid to defame the state citing Sabarimala,” said Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The Kerala government has also announced a million women wall on the New Year’s Day to prevent the state from “sliding back into medieval madness”. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that a women wall would be formed on January 01 from the Northern district of Kasargode to the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram in order to garner support for the state government. The CM said that the decision was made after a meeting with various Hindu organisations. “This is against the attempts to destroy the renaissance values and to spread awareness to people. The various communities are joining hands to make a big intervention that the country should make note of, and understand that Kerala society cannot be sent back to the old dark ages by anyone; we will not allow that,” he said.

Among the 190 Hindu organisations invited for the meeting, 176 had accepted and a few, including the Nair Service Society did not turn up.

Speaking to the Indian Cultural Forum on the issue, activist and academic Meera Velayadhun said, “In Kerala, notions of equality emerged from the missionary era itself. Gender equality was a key part of social reform, anti-caste, nationalist and communist movements and women’s struggles played a distinct role in them. It was the wide participation of women in these varied movements in Kerala that expanded democratic dialogues and widened democratisation. However, all gains of the past are now under attack and for the first time in modern Kerala’s history, a violent, anti-women struggle has been launched by communal forces and organisations opposing the Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala. The violence unleashed by these communal organisations also includes a section of women, who propagated their own exclusion as “tradition”. At the time when a political template is sought to be built on the basis of mob violence and anti-women communal agenda, democratic dialogues are difficult.”

The announcement of a women wall at this time, Velayadhun said, can act as a peaceful form of protest against the violent attacks on women. “It is time for women from all sections of society to hold wide discussions among themselves, oppose the newer forms of patriarchal ideologies that threaten the constitutional rights of women and more significantly, come together so that these rights are part of the on-going political debates,” she concluded.

Ramesh Chennithala, leader of the opposition party UDF, has come out against this announcement. “The government order is another blunder like the salary challenge. The order is applicable to not just the government, semi-government and public sector undertakings, but also to members of ASHA, Kudumbashree, Anganwadi, and MGNREGS. Its tone makes participation compulsory,” he said.

There are also reports doing round that the sangh parivar is getting ready to form another women’s wall to counter the LDF-led women’s wall.

Daniya Rahman is a member of the editorial collective of the Indian Writers’ Forum.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum
 

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