Kerala: Amid tight security, Sabarimala Temple re-opens for two-month long pilgrim season

The Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Kerala was re-opened on Friday evening for the two-month long pilgrim season amid tight security in the backdrop of the standoff over the entry of women in menstrual age. As the shrine opened at 5 pm in the presence of head priest Kandararu Rajeevaru, the large number of devotees present there chanted "Swamiyae Ayyappa".

Two new melsanthis (priests) M L Vasudevan Namboodiri (Ayyappa temple) and M N Narayanan Namboodiri (Malikapapuram) assumed charge.

The 41-day mandalam festival will conclude on December 27 after Mandala pooja, when the shrine will close after the 'Athazhapuja' in the evening. It would reopen for the Makaravilakku festival on December 30. The Makaravilakku festival would be celebrated on January 14 after which the shrine will close on January 20, marking the culmination of the pilgrim season, when laksh of devotees are expected to throng the shrine.

Earlier in the day, high drama was witnessed at the Kochi airport as activist Trupti Desai and six other women flew to Kochi to pray at the shrine but were forced to remain in the airport for hours as hundreds of BJP and Hindu activists blocked their exit.

The airport turned into a noisy protest site as Desai and her group arrived from Pune at around 4.45 am, with some 100 protesters shouting slogans and preventing her from leaving the complex despite police presence.

As the hours passed, the number of demonstrators, including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists, swelled. They virtually took charge of every entry and exit gates both inside and outside the airport. Kerala BJP leaders joined the protest.

BJP spokesperson Shoba Surendran said, "We will not allow her to leave the airport. Desai has got all the support from atheists like our Chief Minister who is determined to see that a lady gets to visit the temple. She is nothing but an activist who has scant respect for the tradition of Sabarimala. So it`s best that (Pinarayi) Vijayan sees that she is packed off from here at the earliest."

BJP demanded that Desai and her colleagues be sent back to Pune.

Justifying the agitation being held at the domestic terminal of the airport, BJP state President P S Sreedharan Pillai said the devotees of Lord Ayyappa were expressing their anguish over the move of the activists to enter the temple. "Desai is challenging the devotees of Lord Ayyappa. This should not be done. The government should send her back considering the mounting protest in the state against her visit," he told reporters.

Protesting outside the Kochi airport, activist Rahul Easwar asked Trupti Desai to go back. "She will have to step on our chests and walk over us if she wants to enter Sabarimala Temple," said the activist.

Despite pleas from the police officers, Desai said she would not return without visiting the shrine. She had already spent nearly 10 hours at the airport.

Meanwhile, speaking to the media from the Nilackal base camp near the Ayyappa shrine, state Minister for Devasoms (which looks after temples) Kadakampally Surendran said Desai arrived in Kochi after writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chief Ministers of Kerala and Maharashtra.

Surendran termed as "uncivilised" the BJP "orchestrated protest" preventing free movement of a citizen. Taking a dig at the Congress and the BJP, Surendran alleged that the activist was closely associated with these two parties and she would return if leaders of BJP and Congress make such a demand.

Prior to her arrival, the activist wrote to Pinarayi Vijayan seeking police protection from the time she steps out of her plane at Kochi till she takes her return flight out of the state.

Unprecedented security arrangements have been made at the shrine which is opening for the third time since the Supreme Court allowed women of all age groups to offer prayers, a move being opposed by devotees and others. 

Police, who were present in large numbers, later in the day registered a case against around 200 devotees who can be identified for preventing the free movement of the activists, but did not make any attempt to remove them so far. They have been charged under various sections of the IPC including unlawful assembly, disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant and criminal intimidation, police said.

Talking to the media over phone, Desai said she would not go back without darshan at the Lord Ayyappa temple. Taxi drivers at the airport said they would not take Desai and her colleagues outside the airport.

Desai, who spearheaded the campaign for women to be allowed into various religious places, including Shani Shingnapur temple, the Haji Ali Dargah, the Mahalakshmi Temple and the Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple, had sent an email to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan seeking security, saying she fears threat to her life.

"We will not return to Maharashtra without darshan at the Sabarimala temple.We have faith in the government that it will provide security for us," she had said, citing the Supreme Court order allowing women of all ages to offer prayers at the shrine.

The temple town has witnessed protests by Hindu groups since the September 28 Supreme Court verdict that allowed women of all ages to enter the temple that hitherto banned girls and women aged between 10 and 50. The apex court this week refused to stay its earlier verdict.