Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that the government could not file a review petition in the Sabarimala case after having taken a stand in favour of allowing women of all ages to offer worship at Lord Ayyappa’s temple and assuring the Supreme Court that would implement it's verdict in the case.
Striking a combative stance on the issue which is the subject of a raging debate and agitation in the State, the Chief Minister said the BJP-Congress agitation over the issue has vitiated the atmosphere of cordiality that prevailed in the State in the immediate aftermath of the mid-August flood.
Mr. Vijayan, who addressed a news conference here a while ago, said there appeared to be a deliberate attempt to subvert the State's secular foundations.
He pointed out that the issue had not reached the courts because of intervention by the government, but following a letter sent to the Kerala High Court, which was admitted as a public interest litigation. During the hearing on the petition, it had become evident that women had for long been reaching the temple and offering worship and that even Rani of former Travancore princely State used to go to the temple. What the High Court had done through its order on April 5, 1991, was to put an end to menstruating women's entry to offer worship at Sabarimala, Mr. Vijayan explained.
In the present instance too, the case had reached the Supreme Court through petitions filed by others, Mr. Vijayan said.
All that the present government had done was to file an affidavit saying that a Commission comprising eminent scholars in Hindu theology and incorruptible persons should be constituted to advise the court on the question of allowing women of all ages to offer worship at Sabarimala. It had put forward this suggestion even while stating its total commitment to the principle of equality in the matter of worship, he said.
