Months after the Supreme Court said that women of all ages can enter the Sabarimala temple and the huge resistance against the judgement, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, firm in his stance to implement the verdict, has made an announcement of forming a human chain of women on January 1, from Kasargode to Thiruvananthapuram. Calling it a ‘vanitha mathil’ (women wall), the CM said that the decision was made after a meeting with various Hindu organisations.
At the meeting, they reached an agreement that a women-centric programme should be organised in the state. “This is against the attempts to destroy the renaissance values and to spread awareness to people. The various communities are joining hands to make a big intervention that the country should make note of, and understand that Kerala society cannot be sent back to the old dark ages by anyone; we will not allow that,” he said.
A general council will be formed for the programme, with SNDP general secretary Vellappally Natesan as chairman and KPMS leader Punnala Sreekumar as convener. “Kerala should not be made a madhouse again, is the message. We will not allow that, is the slogan,” the CM said, recalling Swami Vivekanandan’s past observation about the caste-based discriminations practiced in the state.
He requested “all believers of democracy and protectors of renaissance values” to come forward and give support to the movement.
Among the 190 Hindu organisations invited for the meeting, 176 had accepted and a few, including the NSS, did not turn up. Vellappally Natesan, apparently taking a dig at NSS, said that when one community leader joined with the king and the thantri, Kerala became a mess.
The meeting was called by the CM in the aftermath of strong resistance put up by the BJP/RSS since September 28 when the Supreme Court allowed women of all ages to enter the temple that hitherto banned girls and women aged 10-50. The protests, however, did not appear to have helped BJP in the recent local body elections, when the LDF won 21 of 39 seats, while the Congress won 12 seats and the BJP got two seats.
Congress condemns:
The Congress on Sunday condemned the 'women wall' protest, saying it it will only whip up communal passions. Addressing the media, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said it was rather strange that Vijayan was doing what no Communist Chief Minister in the state had thought of.
"This 'women wall' will only help to polarise communities and compartmentalise people in the name of caste. What is even more strange is that this was decided at a meeting of representatives with dozens of Hindu social organisations where the Chief Secretary was also present. Vijayan should see that this is not a state-sponsored programme," he said.
(With inputs from IANS)