No reason to ban women from Sabarimala: RSS

Controversy over the ban on entry of women into Kerala’s Sabarimala temple still fresh, the RSS has joined issue and lend its voice for opening up the shrine to any woman who wanted to visit the celibate god.

Controversy over the ban on entry of women into Kerala’s Sabarimala temple still fresh, the RSS has joined issue and lend its voice for opening up the shrine to any woman who wanted to visit the celibate god.

Leading the Sangh campaign is P Parameswaran, director of the Thiruvananthapuram-based RSS think tank Bharatiya Vichara Kendram. Speaking at a recent conclave of religious and cultural leaders in Thrissur, Parameswaran said, “If women are demanding that they should be permitted to visit the temple, there is no reason why it should not be allowed”.

Asked if he was making a qualified statement Parameswaran told The Indian Express, “It’s an exhortation to women to come out and take up the cause. Reforms happen in society only when those who need it most take it up. Only when women take up the issue on a mass basis will it be heard by the powers that be.”

Though there have been murmurs within the Parivar on the sensitive issue, this is the first time it is being lent a voice, that too by none other than its tallest leader in the state.

On the reasons, which made the temple out of bounds for women, the octogenarian thinker says it was mostly the terrain. “The shrine is located in the midst of a dense forest. In the earlier days, it took weeks of travel by foot to reach the top. So it was not an easy trek.”

But where is the opposition to allowing women into the shrine coming from? “It might seem a little paradoxical, but women themselves appear to be the greatest opponents of the move. For many of them, it’s a question of unshakeable faith,” he says referring to his meeting with a dozen girl students, pursuing M.Phil, after his address at the conclave.

“I asked all of them what was their view on opening up the temple for women. The majority reply was those who wanted to go should be allowed, but personally we wouldn’t like to disturb the status quo,” he sums up.

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This is the second occasion in recent time that the RSS has thrown it weight behind issues close to women’s hearts. The first was when a controversy erupted over calls for imposing dress codes for women following a spurt in crimes against them. The saffron outfit had then argued against the ill-conceived logic and said that was no solution for checking crimes on women.

The Supreme Court is already examining the Sabarimala issue on a PIL filed by some women lawyers who have challenged provisions of the Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship (Authority of Entry) Rules, 1965, which legalises the ban.