When the State bids adieu to 2018 and embraces the New Year, the bruises and scars left by an agitation against a landmark Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all ages to Sabarimala will remain fresh at least till January 22, when the apex court takes up for hearing a batch of review petitions on its verdict.
The State has remained on tenterhooks for over three months since the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple was opened for monthly pujas post-verdict on October 17 for a week and then for a day’s puja for Chithira Attavishesham, a ceremony linked to the birthday of Chithira Tirunal Balarama Varma, ruler of the erstwhile State of Travancore.
The Mandalam season that began on November 17 too witnessed sporadic incidents of violence.
The temple, considered an abode of peace and communal harmony beyond caste and religion, witnessed violence.
Legions of pilgrims chose to relinquish their pilgrimage plans and the Nilackal base camp, Pampa, and the trekking route to the temple saw vigilante groups waylaying women who made abortive attempts to visit the temple on the strength of the verdict.
The groups comprising Sangh Parivar activists took upon them the onus of protecting the ritualistic tradition of the temple and resolved to block the entry of women aged between 10 and 50 to the temple.
Charge against govt.
Much more than faith or spirituality, the verdict was used for brewing a heady potion of religion and politics, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the United Democratic Front accusing the government of taking on the faithful.
The government’s attempts to explain that it is constitutionally bound to implement the verdict remained a cry in the wilderness.
The Nair Service Society, which was in the forefront of the Renaissance movement, too joined the street protests, triggering a debate on its equidistant policy.
TDB caught in the melee
The incidents and interpretations of the verdict triggered an intense political sparring and the Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages the temple, was caught in the melee.
Scores of policemen on duty acted with restraint to avert untoward incidents and braved provocation from political leaders of all hues with poise.
The dispute drove a deep communal wedge that may have wider ramifications in future too. Now, the wait is for the judgment on the review petitions and that is expected to cap the row.