Women's right to pray in temples: who said what

This issue has led to some astute as well as flippant statements. Here are some of them.

HYDERABAD:07/03/2012:Festival of colours kicked off as the women pray around an Holi-bonfire after they set on fire on the eve of the Holi festival of hues is a riotous celebrations of spring and falls on the day after full moon in early March annually, in Hyderabad on Wednesday..-Photo: Mohammed_Yousuf.

Dwaraka-Sharda Peeth Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati’s statement that the entry of women into the Shani Shingnapur shrine will drive more rapes, has further heated up an issue which has been on the boil for over a year.

The Shani Shingnapur temple trust in Maharashtra recently >allowed women to enter the sanctum sanctorum , breaking a decades-old tradition, yielding to a court order and a high-voltage campaign by activists.

With the Supreme Court, in the >Sabarimala case , also stating that no temple or governing body can >ban women from entering temples , there have been many instances of women >breaking tradition to practise their right to pray. This has led to some astute as well as flippant statements on the issue. Here are the some of those:

Supreme Court

" Why can you not let a woman enter? On what basis are you prohibiting women entry... What is your logic? Women may or may not want to go [to worship at Sabarimala], but that is her personal choice "

Dwarka-Sharda Peeth Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati

" The entry of women into the famous Shingnapur shrine, which is devoted to Lord Shani, will drive more rapes. "

Vidya Balan

Actor

" It is great that we ask these questions now. Men and women should get equal opportunity at work, social life and everywhere. We are saying how unfair it is... I think we will see the changes in our lifetime "

Trupti Desai

Bhumata Ranragini Brigade chief

" We will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urge him to enact a law to put an end to such restrictions on worshipping "

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

founder of Art of Living

" The solution is based on the Tirupati Balaji model of darshan where no one, be it a man or woman, is allowed in the inner sanctum. Thus, there will be no gender discrimination "

Hamid Dabholkar

son of the late Narendra Dabholkar

" The opening up of the Mahalaxmi temple to women vindicated the decade-long struggle. It has proved that irrespective of ideological labels and political brownie points, different people can rally together for a just cause "

(Compiled by Anusha Surendran)