Thiruvananthapuram: Protests erupted across Kerala on Wednesday after two women in the hitherto banned age group entered the Sabarimala temple before dawn, with the Sabarimala Karma Samithi (SMS) calling for a state-wide shutdown on Thursday.
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 women, draped in black and faces covered in veils, entered the temple at 3:38 am,
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. (Agencies)
