Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president A. Padmakumar has said no decision has been taken to deploy women constables at the Sannidhanam of the Sabarimala Ayappa temple.
“Who has decided to send women constables to Sannidhanam? Whatever facility was there in the past, that is, whatever was there during the tenure of my predecessor Prayar Gopalakrishnan or during the time of his predecessors, wouldn’t those facilities suffice now,” Mr. Padmakumar asked reporters during an interaction here on Wednesday.
Women, he pointed out, had been reaching Sabarimala and offering prayers with the existing facilities. The Devaswom Board was not particular that women of all ages should visit Sabarimala to offer worship in the light of the Supreme Court verdict. It would submit a situation report to the Kerala High Court and take further steps as based on the advice of the court, he added.
Meanwhile, Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said that given the Supreme Court verdict, it would not be possible to detain any woman who reaches Sabarimala to offer worship. All that the government could do was to create the necessary facilities.
The government understood the pain and anger of the devotees, which was quite natural. In the past too, whenever there was any attempt at reform in matters relating to faith, such issues had cropped up, he said.
At the time of the Temple Entry Proclamation in 1936, there was a conservative section in our society who refused to permit the ‘untouchables’ to enter temples for years. The anxieties of the faithful were, therefore, understandable. The solution was for them to approach the Supreme Court once again, he said.
Show restraint
Hurling abuses at the government would not serve any purpose. This was something for the Supreme Court to intervene. Now that revision petitions had been filed, all concerned should show restraint and wait for its decision, the Minister said.
