The Kerala Police are anticipating a tumultuous pilgrim season at Sabarimala when the temple opens for the Mandalam-Makaravilakku season on November 17.
They have barely four days to cobble together a conflict containment and resolution strategy with the Supreme Court refusing to stay its September 28 decision upholding the right of women of all ages to worship at the overwhelmingly male-only forest shrine.
As many as 560 women between the “prohibited age” of 10 and 50 have reserved their darshan time in advance via the Police Department’s digital queue system. More women, including high-profile social activists, are expected to arrive unannounced. The police have no choice but to provide them safe passage to the sanctum and back.
A senior law enforcer said dispute mitigation would be top on the agenda of the State police. The law enforcement would send its officers to engage agitators in a bid to persuade them not to escalate the situation. Officers said they hoped to use negotiation and compromise as policing tools in Sabarimala.
The police strategy would be to reduce the chance of confrontation with the “Save Sabarimala” campaigners. Any police response would be proportionate to the law and order situation.
Officers have already started laying the groundwork for ensuring peace at Sabarimala. They were in touch with political leaders. Importantly, the police want to avoid a repeat of the impromptu “flash mob” protests that targeted women devotees at Sabarimala last month.
Another key strategy would be to regulate pilgrim traffic to a more manageable level. The controls restricting the flow of pilgrims would start at Nilackal, the base camp 26 km downhill from the sanctum. However, the police would be hard pressed to ensure that the return traffic of pilgrims matched their inflow.
The police have declared the expansive courtyard in front of the “18 holy steps” a high-security zone. The district magistrate has imposed prohibitory orders there. However, such legal measures and police presence had not prevented agitators from turning the sensitive locality into a protest zone when the temple opened for special puja recently.
The government was also trying to negotiate a peaceful solution to the issue with other stakeholders, including the opposition parties. Senior officers were scheduled to meet Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to present their security plan for the pilgrimage season.
