LDF govt, CPM do U-turn on entry of women at Sabarimala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the Supreme Court hasn’t altered its September 28, 2018, ruling allowing the entry of women of all ages in Sabarimala shrine, the CPM state secretariat on Friday advised Kerala’s LDF government that unlike last year, it should not push too hard on the matter in the larger interests of preserving law and order.
The CPM’s top decision-making body discussed the verdict by the apex court’s five-member constitution bench on Thursday and advised the Pinarayi Vijayan government not to be proactive in giving security to young women going to the shrine the way it did in the last pilgrim season.
The state government was quick to indicate it would follow this new line during the two-month pilgrim season, which begins from the early hours of Sunday. Devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran said: “If any woman wants police protection to trek to Sabarimala, she will have to produce a court order for that.”

This is in sharp contrast to the government’s stand during the pilgrim season last year, when police protection was readily given to some young women devotees attempting to enter Lord Ayyappa’s shrine.
The minister also had a word of caution for women who have declared they would have darshan at the temple. “The government will not allow any activists to display their activism in the hill shrine. People like Trupti Desai (who had unsuccessfully attempted to visit Sabarimala last year) should not utilise the opportunity to show their strength. Sabarimala is not a place for such dramas,” the minister said.
CPM state secretariat’s suggestion coincided with the legal advice given to the LDF regime recommending that the government has no responsibility in ensuring that women get darshan at the shrine despite SC not staying its last year’s order allowing darshan to all women.
Senior lawyer Jayadeep Gupta is learnt to have advised the government that both the factors – SC not staying the 2018 verdict and referring to the seven-judge bench many of the issues that had led to the 2018 order for further scrutiny - need to be considered with equal importance. Similarly, advocate general C P Sudhakara Prasad, who represented the government in SC, has communicated to the CM that the government is not liable to give protection to women who come for darshan as most of the decisions taken by the five-member bench in its order on September 28 have now been referred to the seven-member bench.
Sources said the state secretariat has decided to adopt a wait-and-watch approach. The party’s central leadership also communicated to the state leaders that the politburo meeting scheduled for Saturday and Sunday will discuss the Sabarimala order and the party’s final stand will be decided after that.