Kerala: Shiv Sena calls for statewide hartal on Monday in protest against SC verdict on Sabarimala

The Kerala unit of the Shiv Sena has called for a statewide strike on October 1 against the Supreme Court’s verdict to allow women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala Temple. Saying that the age-old traditions at the hill shrine should be protected, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party announced the call for a hartal on Monday.

In a 4-1 verdict on Friday, the Supreme Court ended the entry ban on women of menstruating age at the Sabarimala temple, saying the centuries-old custom at the shrine was not an essential religious practice and “the attribute of devotion to divinity cannot be subjected to the rigidity and stereotypes of gender”.

Addressing a press conference, the Shiv Sena said it would also ask other Hindu outfits to file a review petition against the verdict, according to Manorama News. While the state’s Left Front government and Congress have welcomed the apex court verdict, Kerala BJP president P S Sreedharan Pillai said the government should not hurt anyone in its attempt to implement the order.

The Sabarimala temple head priest has said that the Supreme Court verdict on women’s entry to the temple was disappointing. Meanwhile, Rahul Easwar, president of Ayyappa Dharma Sena and a member of the priest’s family, said the outfit would file a review petition. “Lord Ayyappa, the deity is an eternal celibate. Hence, the privacy of the deity should be upheld. The deity’s private space is the temple,’’ he said.