Summary of this article
Congress strongly criticised the LDF government for its "unchanged" position on women’s entry to Sabarimala.
It dismissed Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan’s claim of any shift as a “blatant lie”.
The party demanded immediate withdrawal of the affidavit and urged adoption of the previous Oommen Chandy government’s stance that young women should not be permitted at the temple, calling the current position "cheating the devotees".
The Congress party on Sunday strongly criticised the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala for maintaining its "unchanged" position on the issue of women’s entry into the Sabarimala temple and rejected Kerala Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan’s assertion of any policy shift as a “blatant lie”.
The party demanded that the Pinarayi Vijayan government immediately withdraw its recent written submission filed before the Supreme Court on the matter.
Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, speaking to reporters, pointed out that the state government’s affidavit merely states that the Supreme Court can decide on permitting young women’s entry to the hill shrine after consulting religious priests and renaissance leaders.
He emphasised that a close review of the written submission shows no deviation from the government’s earlier stance on women’s entry.
“The Devaswom Minister’s claim that they have changed their stand in the Sabarimala women’s entry issue is a blatant lie. They have not made any change from their earlier stand in the matter. That is what we understand after going through the written submission submitted by the government before the Supreme Court,” he said.
Chennithala questioned why the Vijayan government does not openly declare that young women should not be allowed to visit the Lord Ayyappa temple. He described the refusal to change the earlier stand as "cheating the devotees" and insisted it was unacceptable.
“So, the government’s present written submission before the Supreme Court should be withdrawn at the earliest. They should adopt the stand taken by the previous Oommen Chandy government that young women should not be permitted at Sabarimala,” he said.
On Saturday, Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan had accused the BJP of being responsible for the 2018 Supreme Court verdict that allowed women’s entry into Sabarimala. He clarified that the LDF government’s current position remains identical to the affidavit it filed before the apex court in 2007.
Vasavan added that the Supreme Court had not sought the state government’s fresh position on women’s entry but only requested clarification on specific constitutional issues ahead of hearing by a nine-judge bench.
(with PTI inputs)
