Two women brave protests but forced to turn back at Sabarimala

PAMBA/SABARIMALA: Two women pilgrims in their mid-forties took up the challenge to trek from Pamba to Sabarimala on Monday, a day after a mob had forced 11 women to flee, abandoning their plans to worship Ayyappa. But they, too, had to turn back.

The two came as close as a little over a kilometre from the main shrine but proceeding further would have required the police to use force against a massive crowd of protesters and the consequences of such action were unpredictable.

Industries minister and senior CPM leader E P Jayarajan said on Monday that “the protesters are behaving like Taliban militants” but in the same breath said the government would not “take any stand which will destroy the peace in Sabarimala”.

Bindu (42), from Koyilandy in Kozhikode district, who works as guest faculty at the School of Legal Studies, Thalassery, under Kannur University, and Kanakadurga (44), a civil supplies employee from Angadipuram in Malappuram, reached Pamba by 3.30 am and started trekking uphill.

The police were unaware of their plan till they reached Pamba. Sources said the pilgrims didn’t wait for police clearance and began the trek by themselves and the police had no option but to escort them. As the trekking path was not crowded at the time, they managed to reach Appachimedu where a group of devotees blocked them. More police personnel reached the spot and removed these protesters.

But as news spread and hundreds of protesters gathered, it became impossible for the police to take the two women beyond Marakoottam. The protesters hovered menacingly while the police considered the options. The standoff continued for about an hour. The tension was rising and it was clear that the police couldn’t force their way through unless they resorted to force. Kanakadurga said she was feeling faint but Bindu insisted on continuing to the temple a little more than a kilometre away. “I am here to uphold constitutional values. There is the Supreme Court ruling allowing us to have darshan. Please make arrangements for that,” she told the reporters accompanying them.

The police special officer in charge of Sannidhanam, G Jayadev, urged the women to go back as the situation was becoming volatile. Bindu remained adamant but eventually the police convinced her to turn back. The two women were escorted back to Pamba, given first aid at a hospital, and then taken to Kottayam Medical College.

The opposition Congress attacked the Left government, saying it was playing a “double game”. “What was witnessed in Sabarimala on Sunday and Monday is a drama, which is an insult to Kerala, the police and the people of the state,” opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said.

A case has been registered against 150 people for rioting and causing obstruction, police said. On Monday, some BJP workers raised slogans at Thiruvananthapuram railway station against three women activists of “Manithi” who had tried to reach Sabarimala on Sunday and were returning to Tamil Nadu this afternoon.

Since the Supreme Court verdict on September 28, no woman in the 10-50 years age group (traditionally barred from entering the shrine) has been able to worship Ayyappa at Sabarimala. The two-month-long Sabarimala pilgrimage season began on November 16 and the first phase will end on Thursday.