Prohibiting ‘Sarana ghosham’ and arresting people who chanted ‘Sarana ghoshom’ at the Sabarimala Sanidhanam will only harm the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) and the temples in the State, Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sanghom (ABASS) general secretary N. Velaydhuan Nair has said.
Talking to The Hindu here on Sunday, Mr. Nair stressed the need for the TDB to remain as an autonomous body.
He said sustenance of the TDB as an autonomous body was a necessity as far as the Ayyappa devotees were concerned.
Mr. Nair said that clamping prohibitory orders on Sabarimala, where scores of devotees from different parts of the country converge, could not be justified.
The ABASS leader said the police should have avoided the arrest of devotees chanting `Sarana ghoshom.’
Moreover, it was not at all judicious on the part of the district administration to clamp prohibitory orders at a pilgrim centre like Sabarimala, he said.
Meanwhile, TDB member K.P. Sankaradas said the board never considered any proposal, at any point of time, for fixing a particular period for providing darshan exclusively for women devotees at Sabarimala.