Kerala Govt withdraws guideline barring women's entry to Sabarimala

Sabarimala: The controversial move to throw open the Lord Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala to women of all ages had severely roiled the LDF government in Kerala a couple of years ago. The CPM-led alliance has now intervened to pull back a police guideline expressly stating that the women below the age of 50 years won't be allowed 'darshan' at the Sabarimala temple during the ongoing Mandala-Makaravilakku season.

The guideline was issued by the Kerala Police for the second leg of the virtual queue booking system for visiting Sabarimala temple. It clearly stated that women below 50 years of age are barred from entering the temple.

This guideline barring women was taken off immediately, soon after media picked it up, as the government obviously didn't want a bad press in view of the local body polls in Kerala.

The Left government’s decision to allow entry of women cutting across age in Sabarimala temple following the Supreme Court verdict had led to widespread protests from various sections of people. After that spontaneous movement by the Hindu devotees this is the first time that a state government agency had officially stated that women below the age of 50 years are barred from entering the temple.

Sources say the police withdrew the bar after a section of the ministers and leaders of the CPM expressed unease over the guidelines.

In place of the ban on women below 50 years of age, the third guideline now says that the devotees between the ages of 60 and 65 should carry medical certificates while coming for darshan.

Interestingly, the dos and don'ts issued for the first round of virtual queue booking, which began ahead of the current pilgrim season, didn't mention any bar on women's entry.

The second leg of virtual queue booking, which allowed more devotees, began on December 2 at 5 pm.

As all virtual queue booking slots for the current Mandala-Makaravilakku season had got over within just one hour it is likely women below the age of 50 could not have made it. Hence the government found it convenient to withdrew the guideline banning women's entry without resulting in any hubbub from any quarter.

The review petition against the Supreme Court judgment allowing women of all ages to have darshan at the temple is pending before the apex court.

The CPM's drubbing in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections was attributed to the anger over the state government letting women enter the temple.