Kerala On Edge After Two Women Enter Sabarimala Temple

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala was on the edge on Wednesday after two women, apparently in the 40s entered into the Sabarimala temple during the early hours. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan confirmed their entry.

1. As soon as the news broke out, clashes erupted out across the State.

2. Bindu Ammini and Kanaka Durga entered Sabarimala temple at around 3.30am on Wednesday and said they faced no opposition from Lord Ayyappa devotees.

3. The temple, however, remained closed for an hour for purification rituals.

4. BJP alleged the women were escorted by the police in an ambulance and extended its full support to all protests planned. Some right-wing Hindu organisations called for dawn-to-dusk hartal on Thursday as the state simmered in tension.

5. Police had a tough day controlling escalating tension. Clashes also broke out between BJP and CPM workers in front of secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, police use tear gas and water cannon.

6. Fearing trouble during the hartal, Calicut University decided to postpone all examinations scheduled to be held on Thursday.

7. Merchant unions have unanimously decided not to cooperate with tomorrow’s hartal call and open all establishments, shops, and take out all vehicles.

8. Kerala has been on the boil since last September, when the Supreme Court overturned an age-old ban preventing women of menstrual age from visiting the temple.

9. Over a dozen women attempted to do so, but were stopped by a wall of protesters less than a kilometre away from the temple.

10. However, the Left government remains firm in its resolve to stand by the Supreme Court verdict. On Tuesday, it organised a massive women’s chain extending from the northern tip of Kerala to its extreme south to push for equal rights for women in all spheres of life.