When media contacted a few whose mobile numbers were on the list, they said they were above the age of 50 and hence naturally eligible to enter the temple.
New Delhi: The Kerala government’s contention that 51 female devotees in the age group of 10-50 years have entered the Sabarimala temple since the Supreme Court lifted the ban on their entry in September 2018, has given way to another controversy in the state. The state government submitted the list of female devotees to the Supreme Court while the court took up a petition by two women who sought security after they visited the shrine. It has now come to light that the list contains wrong information regarding the age of many devotees and at least one male name appears on the list. No one from Kerala figures on the list, including the two women who had a darshan at the temple. The name of a Sri Lankan, whom the Chief Minister had acknowledged as entering the shrine, too does not figure on the list. All those who appear on the list are mostly from the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The two, Kanaka Durga and Bindhu Ammini, visited the temple in the early hours of 2 January, sparking a state-wide bandh, followed by large scale violence. It was then alleged that their entry to the temple was pre-arranged by the state government and they were ushered in through a side door and not by climbing the traditional 18 steps leading to the sanctum sanctorum. There were apprehensions at that time itself the government would cite their entry as a case to prove that young women had already entered the shrine. After this they have been targeted by Hindu organisations and one of them is in the hospital following physical attack apparently from her family. The court has now ordered the state government to provide “round-the-clock foolproof security” to the aggrieved. However the bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices L.N. Rao and Dinesh Maheshwari said it was only going into the aspect of security of the two women and would not like to entertain any other prayer made in the petition. The court was to take up a bunch of 49 review petitions against its 28 September ruling scheduled for 22 January now stands cancelled as one of the judges is on leave.
Though the list is not part of an affidavit and hence will not count as an act of misleading the court, it is baffling that how the state government, especially the Kerala police, goofed up on an important document on a very contentious issue. The details of 51 women on the list include their names, Aadhaar numbers and in some cases telephone numbers too. The Kerala government said that as per the digital queue management system run by the Kerala police, which is an online system for advance booking for darshan, a total of 16 lakh devotees had registered this year. Of them around 8.2 lakh devotees have visited the shrine, it said. The note of Kerala government given to the court stated that “…a total of 7,564 women between the age group of 10-50 years had registered for darshan and as per the digitally secured records around 51 women in this group have already visited the shrine and had darshan without any issue.” Interestingly, when the media contacted a few whose mobile numbers were given in the list, they said they were above the age of 50 and hence naturally eligible to enter the temple. The first name on the list is one Padmavathy from Andhra Pradesh aged 48. But when the media contacted her, she said she was 55. Another woman from Chennai too claimed she was above 50 and not as was entered on the list.
State BJP president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai said the Kerala government list is the “biggest lie” and this was something which no government should have done. A member of the erstwhile royal family of Pandalam, which owns the Lord Ayyappa temple, Narayan Varma rejected the government claims outright. “Nothing of the sort happened. We will believe only in truth, and what has been said is not true,” Varma told newspersons. State Devaswom Minister Kadkampally Surendran said “As many as 7,564 women in the age group 10 to 50 had registered. From this 51 had their darshan at the temple. We are not interested in finding out how they came and which way they went away.”
Now that the most auspicious pilgrimage season to Sabarimala has ended and the shrine closed for devotees, it may be easy for the minister to shrug off questions regarding how many young women entered the temple and how they exited. But the truth remains that the Sabarimala issue is refusing to die down. It has practically crippled the state for the past three months. The state was witness to multiple shutdowns in the name of Lord Ayyappa and otherwise also. It means so many man hours have been wasted, not to mention the colossal loss for businesses. All these come at a time when the state is struggling to recover from the deluge which uprooted thousands last August. Many of them are still struggling to find their feet and their homes. Kerala, which is highly dependent on tourism for its revenue, has witnessed a substantial slump in tourist arrivals thanks to the disturbances here. Even the revenue from Sabarimala has come down drastically. If the state wants to steady its financial ship, the captain has to be sensible. This is not the time to win petty scores in a court of law, but to move forward. Kerala has to put Sabarimala behind.