The All India Democratic Women’s Association, the Democratic Youth Federation Of India and the Students Federation Of India held a protest demonstration near the Parliament House on Friday to express their strong objection to the purification rituals carried out by priests after two women visited the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala earlier this week.
Constitutional right
Opposing purification rituals, which they claimed is demeaning to women, the group in a release issued said, “The two women visited the Sabarimala Temple as their constitutional right under Article 25, which holds that women have an equal right to worship. The purification ritual is demeaning to women as it projects them as ‘impure’ and ‘unclean’. It is also a clear violation of the Supreme Court verdict.”
The protesters also condemned the attempts of BJP-RSS backed right wing groups to create a communal frenzy and subvert the implementation of the orders of the Supreme Court in the Sabarimala case.
“They have resorted to threats and attacked the houses of the two women imperilling the lives of their families. The Supreme Court in its judgment in the Sabarimala case on September 28, 2018, had allowed the entry of women of all ages into the temple. The court had said that to restrain women from pursuing their right to worship on physiological grounds is unconstitutional,” said all-India general secretary of the the All India Democratic Women’s Association, Mariam Dhawale.
Protection of rights
The release issued by the group noted that the Modi government should bear in mind that they are duty-bound to protect the rights of Hindu women.
‘Anti-women ideology’
“Their opposition to women’s equal right vis-à-vis temple entry exposes their anti-women ideology which they are trying to impose on the women of this country,” noted the release.
