In poll-bound Kerala, Congress brings back Sabarimala issue as Chandy writes to CM Vijayan

In poll-bound Kerala, former Chief Minister and Congress leader Oommen Chandy raised the issue of Sabarimala and wrote a letter to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. In the letter, Chandy said that there should not be a delay in healing the wounds afflicted in the minds of Ayyappa devotees due to the Supreme Court order and efforts by the state government to implement it using police force. 

Chandy who was recently appointed as in charge of Congress-led UDF's poll campaign, also said the state's plea before the Apex Court should be based on the affidavit filed by the UDF government in 2016, the verdict of the Kerala High Court in 1991 and clauses of the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950. He noted that in 2016, the UDF government headed by him had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court opposing the entry of women in the 10-50 age group, highlighting the legal, customary and factual issues involved in it. However, the LDF government took a stand with the petitioners, who filed the plea seeking entry of women in all age groups in the hill shrine. It was contrary to the positions taken by the Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages the administration of the temple, he noted.

It must be noted that despite supporting the pleas, the LDF, particularly CPI(M), had drawn flak from several quarters over the women's entry issue for its alleged hastiness in implementing the Supreme Court order.

READ | Kerala CM on Sabarimala verdict: 'The government's stand has been clear about it'

SC transfers Sabarimala issue to 7-judge bench

A 5-member constitution bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Nariman, Justice Khanwilkar, Justice Chandrachud, and Justice Malhotra has referred the Sabarimala review pleas to a larger 7-member bench by a 3:2 verdict. While delivering its verdict, the apex court clubbed the entry of women in mosques and the tower of silence, the legality of female genital mutilation in the Dawoodi Bohra community along with the Sabarimala issue. But there will not be a stay on the earlier judgment which allowed the entry of women between the age group of 10 to 50 years into Sabarimala temple.

READ | Sabarimala review plea: Justice Nariman and Justice Chandrachud pen dissenting judgment

This came after the historic verdict on September 28, 2018, when the SC lifted the ban on entry of women belonging to all age groups in the Sabarimala temple. This sparked off huge protests across Kerala. The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) which manages the shrine, argued that the SC could not interfere with a century-old belief. The ban on entry of women has been justified on the grounds that Lord Ayyappa, the presiding deity is celibate. On the other hand, the government of Kerala supported the verdict maintaining that religious practices that clashed with fundamental rights could be set aside. Review petitions were filed by the TDB, Pandalam Royal Family and a group of devotees against the order. 

READ | Sabarimala review pleas kept pending by Supreme Court; matter referred to a 7-judge bench

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