With the Supreme Court referring the review petitions on the entry of women into Sabarimala temple in Kerala to a larger bench, the Congress in Kerala welcomed referring of the review petitions and termed the judgment ‘a success of the devotees.’
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy also blamed the state government for distorting the peaceful atmosphere at the temple during the last Sabarimala season.
The leaders, while meeting the media at the Legislative Assembly as the session is going on, said that the government should not distort the peaceful atmosphere by making ‘women activists’ enter the temple.
"The Constitution bench's decision to set aside the hearing of the review petitions is an approval for the stand that the Congress had taken on the issue. Though there is no stay on the existing verdict, the referring of the petitions also implies that the verdict is not final. The government should not hurriedly send women to deliberately create problems there. The government has been trying to make Sabarimala a tensed land," Chennithala said.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front has always taken a stand against the entry of women aged between 10 and 50 into the temple. The Left government in the state has supported the Supreme Court’s September 2018 verdict.
When asked about the women who entered the temple during the last pilgrim season, Chennithala said that women who are ‘real’ devotees will not do something like that. On January 2, earlier this year, two women Bindhu Ammini and Kanaka Durga climbed the hill and entered the Sabarimala temple.
Oommen Chandy said that the UDF always stood with the devotees and now that it has been proved that the stand of the UDF was right. Prayar Gopalakrishnan, who was the President of the Devaswom Board when the UDF was in power, had filed an affidavit in the court against the entry of women.
"The government should take effective steps to make this year's pilgrim season smooth and shouldn't try to send women activists to the temple. If the government won't try to do this, there will be peace at the temple," Chandy said.
When asked about the alleged involvement of right-wing groups in the violence that broke out in some places where protests were being held last year across the state, Chandy refused to comment.
The pilgrim season for this year will begin on November 15.