The Kerala government has finally admitted that their guesstimate of the number of women between ages 10 and 50 who had entered Sabarimala was way off the mark.
At a question hour session in the state Assembly, Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran admitted that it was not 51, but just 2 women who entered the sanctum of the temple ever since the Supreme Court verdict allowed women to pray at the temple. The Minister did so by citing a report made by the Travancore Devaswom Board executive office, according to Indian Express.
The two women who managed to enter the temple are Bindu and Kanakadurga from Kerala, both in their early 40. The duo had visited the temple in early hours of January 2.
Last month, the ruling LDF government had submitted to the Supreme Court a ‘list’ of 51 women who had entered the temple this season. On further enquiry, it was found that the list was not just unverified, but also had names of several men who climbed the hill shrine that season.
Most women mentioned in the list were above 50 years of age.
The list also violated the privacy of the 51 people by mentioning their Aadhar details, phone numbers and addresses. Copies of the list too were soon made available to the media thereby breaching their privacy. This move by the government eventually turned into a major headache for them as most of the people mentioned in it had denied the claims by the state.
Following the confusion, an inquiry was ordered to find out how the mistake had been made. Subsequently 34 names were struck off the list and the number brought down to 17.
The government has now backtracked from this claim as well and have said that they have proof only to show that 2 women had entered Sabarimala.
Meanwhile, the two women who did enter Sabarimala, Kanakadurga and Bindu Ammini, have received threatening letters from protestors for having visited the sanctum. A police case has been filed after the administrator of a shelter home where Kanakadurga is now staying received the threatening lette.
The Perinthalmanna police station have begun a probe and have stated that they knew the miscreants behind the letter.