Things escalated once again in the Sabarimala shrine as a group of 20 women belonging to the activist group, Manithi in the age group of 10 to 50 years tried to enter the temple. However, they had to withdraw after protests by devotees. The shrine has been a witness to protests ever since the apex court gave the verdict which allowed women of all ages including the women in the age group of 10 to 50 years to enter the Sabarimala shrine. While the devotees including local women devotees were reluctant towards the implementation of the verdict given Lord Ayyapa’s celibate credentials, Kerala Chief Minister Vijayan was adamant at getting the verdict implemented. This created friction of sorts which led to several protests by the devotees and the shrine went through tense moments whenever certain women ‘activists’ tried entering the Sabarimala shrine against the traditional beliefs of the Ayyapa devotees. This attempt to enter the shrine was made at a time when a batch of several review petitions against the apex court ruling have already been filed and the Court has fixed January 22, 2019, as the date for the hearing.
Now, things are getting tense again even as another women group led by activist Selvi Mano tried entering the temple. It seems that the Kerala government failed to anticipate the consequences of the women group trying to enter the temple. It also appears as if the CPI (M) government in Kerala blatantly ignored the controversial stand taken by Selvi Mano on several issues. Swarajya has reported several instances which make it clear that Selvi Mano does not seem to have good intentions on several sensitive issues. A look at her Facebook page clears the air around her ideology, motives, and intentions. On December 17, she put up a status on her Facebook page declaring that her organisation will not allow the reopening of Vedanta’s Sterlite Copper plant in Thoothukudi and that she will support the local people, who were against the copper plant. What must be noted here is the fact that she made this declaration two days after the National Green Tribunal quashed the state government order to shut the copper plant.
She did not stop here and in another status, she instigated people affected by Gaja cyclone to reject the relief material offered by the Sterlite. This clearly exposes her radical left ideology and the fact that in her ideological crusade she does not even care about humanitarian concerns. However, what is particularly shocking is the fact that Selvi Mano has been supportive of secessionist elements as well. For the last few months, the woman activist has been campaigning for a separate Tamil state. On November 29, she even came up with a separate map of Tamil Nadu and claimed that the state’s GDP was higher than that of Finland, and called for a separate nation. This shows her illogical and separatist mindset. She couldn’t have been clearer about her anti-India and pro-secessionist mindset. It has also been claimed by a few on Twitter that she is a supporter of a fundamentalist Islamic preacher, Zakir Naik who routinely causes communal trouble. All these instances clearly hint at the anti-India and anti-Hindu credentials of Selvi Mano. It establishes the controversial activities of the woman activist.
The Kerala government definitely committed a huge blunder by allowing the group led by Selvi Mano to attempt entering the temple. Given that review petitions have already been filed before the Supreme Court, CM Vijayan should exercise self-control and stop trying to let such controversial elements make attempts at entering the temple only with the intention of creating tense moments at the Sabarimala shrine.