Temple entry row

That activist Trupti Desai and members of her Brigade were barred from entering the sanctum of the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra (April 3) shows that the State government pays only lip service to our constitutional tenets, and is quite eager to look the other way when it does not suit the establishment, even if it violates a court order. The temple concerned and the deity therein seem to have become the private property of the temple and State administrations. Sadly, most intellectuals in Maharashtra are ominously silent on the whole issue.

Sukumar Shidore,

Pune