Sabarimala Temple Row News Updates: Protests Intensify as 2 Women Head to Temple Amid Security; Kerala IG Urges Protesters to Calm

Ahead of the meeting, the TDD, which administers the Sabarimala temple, on Thursday said that it it ready for any sort of compromise to end the standoff.

Updated: October 19, 2018 7:28 PM IST

By India.com News Desk | Edited by Abhinav Gupta

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Thiruvananthapuram: Two women, including a reporter from Hyderabad, began trekking to Sabarimala hill Friday amid strong protests by devotees opposing the entry of girls and women of menstrual age into the Lord Ayyappa temple.

Their attempt to reach the shrine came a day after a New Delhi-based woman reporter of a foreign media outlet made a failed bid to visit the temple.

Police led by IG S Sreejithhave have thrown a security ring around the women who had requested security to go to Sabarimala Sannidhanam.

There have been strong protests by devotees opposing the entry of girls and women of menstrual age into the Lord Ayyappa temple.

The woman reporter is in her late 20s while the details of the second woman, who was carrying Irumudikkettu (holy bundle), was not immediately known.

If they climbed the hills, they would be the first women from the menstruating age group to visit the Sabarimala temple of Lord Ayyappa after the Supreme Court order permitting women of all age groups to enter the shrine.

Amid violent protests by devotees forcing women to keep out of the Sabarimala temple despite the Supreme Court’s verdict allowing women of all age groups to enter the hill-top shrine, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) will meet today to find an amicable solution to the standoff.

Ahead of the meeting, the TDD, which administers the Sabarimala temple, on Thursday said that it it ready for any sort of compromise to end the standoff.

TDB president A Padmakumar said the board has always taken a stand that it was ready for any sort of compromise to end the protest and bring normalcy.

“We are not for any politics over the issue,” he told reporters here.

Seeking to reach out to devotees opposing entry of women of all age groups, he asked if the protests would end if the TDB files a review plea in the Supreme Court against its verdict.

The scheduled meeting comes after a crucial meeting between the board and the stakeholders ahead of the temple’s reopening to resolve the vexed issue of entry of women of all age groups into the shrine failed to reach a consensus.

However, TDB, which manages over 1,200 temples in the state, including the Lord Ayyappa Temple, had said talks with the stakeholders would continue to find a solution.

Last week’s meeting attended by various stakeholders of the shrine, including temple tantri (head priest), the Pandalam royal family, ‘Ayyappa Seva Samajam’ and ‘Yoga Kshema Sabha’, had failed to arrive at an agreement as the TDB stuck to its stand of not going for a review plea.

Representatives of the Pandalam royal family had walked out as TDB refused to concede their demand to take a decision on filing the review plea Tuesday itself.

However, the TDB president had said the meeting was not a “failure” and the board wanted to settle the issue and go ahead with the talks with the people concerned again.

Hindu outfits had called for a hartal in Kerala on Thursday over the issue which evoked a good response with buses keeping off the roads and shops remaining

Barring a few minor incidents of violence in which some Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses were pelted with stones, the day-long shutdown passed off peacefully.

The Sabarimala temple, located on the mountain ranges of the ecologically fragile Western Ghats, opened Wednesday for the first time after the recent apex court order, allowing entry of women of all age groups there.

The shrine will close on October 22 after the five-day monthly puja during the Malayalam month of Thulam.

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