The slogan “Hurray Menstruation” reverberated across Marine Drive as hundreds turned up to participate in the “Aarpo Aarthavam” campaign that got under way here on Saturday.
The campaign is to drive home the need for legislation to curb menstruation-based untouchability.
A rally attended by people from various walks of life marked the continuing agitation against efforts to portray menstruation as impure. They held placards condemning those advocating that menstruating women should be banned from entering temples.
Activists of the art group, Kalakakshi, designed the placards and boards used for the campaign.
Noted Tamil filmmaker Pa. Ranjith inaugurated the public meet held after the rally. Praising the women for their united struggle against those trying to portray them as impure in the name of menstruation, Mr. Ranjith said that such an agitation held immense significance in the fight against fascist forces in the country. This was a fight for gender justice and equality and its reverberations would be experienced across the nation, he said.
Transgenders Renju Mohan, Avanthika Vishnu, Ananya, Trupti Shetty, who had offered prayers at Sabarimala, inaugurated the programme in the morning. Discussions on “Menstruation, Belief and Constitution” and “Menstruation-Society-Experience” were held after the inaugural session.
A team of Tamil folk singers led by Kovan rendered songs that echoed the right of women to enter any place of worship. They also questioned the forces that continued to divide society in the name of religion and caste.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate a public meet at the venue on Sunday. Punnala Sreekumar, Annie Raja, C. K. Janu, and Anita Dube are among those expected to attend the meeting.
Indira Jaising, noted Supreme Court lawyer, will address an open discussion on “Sabarimala: Supreme Court verdict and subsequent Kerala High Court verdict” in the morning. Sessions on “Aarthava Campus” and “The relevance of Renaissance and the need to ban the practice of untouchability in the name of menstruation” will also be held on the occasion.
