The Nair Service Society (NSS) carried out a demonstration in Thiruvananthapuram to express their “concern” about the Supreme Court’s judgement in the Sabarimala temple women’s entry case. The march, which began at 9.45 am in Palayam, near Ganapathi Kovil, went up to the Government Secretariat. The protesters returned to Palayam, where they undertook a pledge to protect customs and age-old beliefs.

Sangeeth, head of NSS Thiruvananthapuram, told TNM, “Usually, in Supreme Court cases, it is the aggrieved party that protests. Here, this would probably be a unique instance where a Supreme Court ruling has come in favour of a section and that section itself is protesting against the judgement. The Supreme Court ruled in favour of women and gender equality in this case. However, as far as Sabarimala is concerned, women do not want this ruling. This is the biggest highlight of this case.”

Stating that their main demand is the protection of religious rights and rituals, he says, “There is no complete ban on women going to Sabarimala; only women of a certain age group cannot go. That is a custom and a belief. Protection of customs and practices is our concern. The custom has been in practice for over 5,000 years.”

A few days after the verdict, the state has been witnessing several protests, organised by various organisations, including NSS.

When asked why the NSS had taken out a protest after a review petition had anyway been filed in this same case on Monday, he responded by clarifying that the event was not in fact a protest, but an expression of concern.

“It’s not a protest. We are not against the Supreme Court ruling; we just wanted to show our concern. The gathering had bhajans. We walked through the main roads leading up to Secretariat chanting bhajans. We did not raise slogans. When we returned to where we started, we undertook a pledge to protect our customs and practices prevailing in various temples,” he adds.