Sabarimala shrine opens amidst furore

​Nilakkal (Kerala): Amidst protests and uproar by a group of Hindu activists following the Supreme Court’s verdict allowing women in the age group of 10-50 to have darshan of Lord Ayyappa in the famed Sabarimala Temple in Kerala, the hill shrine was opened for devotees at 5 pm on Wednesday.   

Madhavi, a 40-year-old woman from East Godavari in Andhra Pradesh, who was the first female devotee to reach Nilakkal to go to Sabarimala, was forcefully brought down from the bus she was travelling and made to return without going to Pampa.   
 
Tension prevailed at Nilakkal, a small town near Sabarimala and the base camp for devotees, as the agitators stopped all vehicles including the State-run buses en route to Pampa and forcefully sent back women aged between 10 and 50. There was a scuffle between the police personnel and the protestors when the police cane charged the agitators who went out of control. 

The protestors lobbed stones at the police who retaliated in the same manner. In the melee, cameras, vehicles and other equipment were damaged and several journalists sustained injuries. Three policemen and five agitators also sustained injuries in the fracas.   

In the morning hours, as there were not sufficient police personnel to keep things under control, the protestors stopped all vehicles and even attacked those who resisted. Later, about 300 police personnel were deployed to brings the situation under control. 

The presence of Sangh Pariwar activists and members of the Hindu Mahasabha on the temple premises led to more tension and the devotees who wanted to have darshan had to face a lot of hardship. Fearing backlashes from conservative Hindu outfits, the Pattanamthitta District Collector had clamped a prohibition order at areas including Pampa, Nilakkal, Sannidhanam and Ilavunkal from Thursday. 

The Collector said no protest would be allowed anywhere near the temple.  Sabarimala Karmasamithi, an outfit protesting the apex court order, has called for a hartal on Thursday. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) announced their support to the hartal. Meanwhile, the police arrested Ayyappa Dharma Sena president Rahul Eswar on charges of forcefully sending back a woman devotee from Andhra Pradesh. 

Reacting on the violent protests unleashed by Hindu fundamentalists near Sabarimala, Kerala Minister for Industries and Devaswam E P Jayarajan said the government would initiate strict action against those are trying to stop it from implementing the Supreme Court order allowing entry to women of all ages to the famed Sabarimala hill shrine. He said RSS activists were behind the violence and said adequate police personnel would be deployed to keep law and order in the area. 

Meanwhile, Indian Journalists Union condemned the attack on journalists at Nilakkal by Hindu fundamentalists. Journalist union members took out torchlight rally in Thiruvananthapuram to protest the attack on journalists. Senior Congress leader K Sudhakaran who came out in support with the protestors alleged that the police were behaving in a brutal manner with the believers of centuries old ritual.