Lanka woman contradicts with Kerala police over Sabarimala entry

Interacting with media, Sasikala, who claimed to have attained menopause, said she was close to 18 golden steps that lead to the shrine but was stopped by police despite knowing that she has crossed her menstrual age.

Her passport gave her date of birth as December 3, 1972, reported The Hindu.

Officers told the newspaper Sasikala had walked up the “18 Holy Steps” without any hindrance and offered her prayers at the sanctum santorum.

“She finished her darshan at around 9.30 p.m. and reached Pampa safely by 11 p.m," sources told The Hindu.

A senior police officer told the newspaper plainclothes officers, including women, gave Sasikala and her family covert security. The squads, however, did not make their presence or the security cover visible.

Two women create history:

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said the two women in their mid 40s entered the shrine on Wednesday with police protection, media reports said.

Video footage of the incident, where two women could be seen entering the temple, has gone viral on social media.

The women reportedly reached the temple around 3:45 am.

According to some media reports, these two women have been identified as activists Bindhu and Kanakadurga. They have been hiding since then.

After the women's entry,  the temple was closed for "purification rituals", a move that was slammed by various outfits saying it was practising untouchability.

Why is the controversy?

On Sept 28, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court had lifted the ban on women's entry into the Sabarimala temple declaring the relevant rules as unconstitutional.

For centuries, menstruating women had been banned from entering the temple in devotion to Lord Ayyappa.   

Following the top court's verdict, the shrine opened on Oct 18 for the first time allowing menstruating women, belonging to the age group of 10 to 50, to enter the temple.

However, several men and women had protested outside the temple, and tried to prevent the entry of women in the shrine.

Congress, BJP on same page:

With the elections round the corner and the emergence of BJP in the state, the Congress is singing in the tune of the saffron party in Kerala.

Though Congress president Rahul Gandhi last year urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rise above politics by lending an unconditional support to the BJP in the Lok Sabha on women's reservation bill, the Sabarimala issue has exposed a different stand of the country's oldest party.

On Thursday, when the BJP supported a statewide shutdown called by right-wing organisations, the Congress observed a "black-day" in Kerala, apparently remaining in the same page with BJP on the issue of women's entry in Sabarimala.

Protests break out after women's entry:

Kerala was on an edge as several protests broke out after the two women's entry into Sabarimala temple on Wednesday. On Thursday, three BJP workers were reportedly stabbed in a clash in Thrissur.

Chandran Unnithan (55), Sabarimala Karma Samithi activist, who was injured in a clash during the protest against women's entry into Sabarimala temple on Wednesday, has also died.