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Activism not allowed, Sabarimala temple not tourist spot: Kerala ministers

Kavitha Jakkal of Hyderabad based Mojo TV and woman activist Rehana Fatima, started the journey at 6.50 am amid heavy rain under heavy police protection.

Activism not allowed, Sabarimala temple not tourist spot: Kerala ministers

Hindu devotees, many of them female, have protested in recent days against allowing women to pray in the Sabarimala temple. (File Photo: AFP)

Taking objection to activists entering the Sabarimala temple, State Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said although people of all ages are allowed into the shrine, activists will not be allowed to showcase their power there.

The minister was referring to the Mojo TV journalist and the woman activist who had attempted to make a trek to the Sabarimala temple.

“There are some people like activists trying to enter. It’s impossible for the government to figure out who is who. We know there are two activists. One is believed to be a journalist as well,” Kadakampally Surendran told media.

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“People of all ages will be allowed to go there. But at the same time we won’t allow it to be a place where activists can come and showcase their power. It can’t be a place where they prove certain points of theirs,” he added.

Kerala Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala who reportedly met Governor Palanisamy Sathasivam on Friday to discuss the present situation at Sabarimala said the temple was not a tourist spot for everyone to go there.

He said the Kerala Police was wrong on its part to give police uniform to activist Rehana Fatima.

“Not only Hindus but people from all religions are going there. Everyone is worried. The woman activist (Rehana Fatima) was given a police uniform. It was wrong,” Chennithala said.

The Congress leader also took the opportunity to accuse the ruling LDF government of failing to maintain peace. He said if it had been the Congress government, the party members would have spoken to the devotees and no violence would have taken place.

Kavitha Jakkal of Hyderabad based Mojo TV and woman activist Rehana Fatima, started the journey at 6.50 am amid heavy rain under heavy police protection from Pambha, the base of the hilltop temple.

Their trek ended after Sabarimala chief priest Kantararu Rajeevaru said he will shut the shrine and hand over the keys to management if women of menstruating age climbed up the 18 steps to the temple.

The Supreme Court, last month, had struck down a rule that disallowed girls and women in the age group of 10-50 years from entering the Sabarimala temple in Kerala.

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