Sabarimala is set to close down in few hours with its record number of woman below 50 being allowed in despite the Supreme Court ending the temple's ban on women of a menstrual age - 10 to 50 years. Due to the information of targeted attack on the media this Monday, journalists who were reporting from Pamba, which is one of the main access points to the hilltop shrine, were told by the police to leave the area.
After the Supreme Court's landmark ruling, the temple was opened on October 18, for the first time. Rejecting the court order, the protesters did everything in their power to block women. In the last four days, nine women tried but failed to make history as they were stopped by protesting devotees from going into the temple.
A 47-year-old woman reached closest to the temple's main area yesterday and suffered a panic attack at the entrance after protesters surrounded and heckled her.
The temple administration writes to the government that it will stop performing rituals if any tradition is broken. The administration claims it is concerned over more than 1,000 men camping inside the temple, who could take the law into their hands.
BJP is on the same side as the Congress on the subject and denies allegations that it has sent its party workers to escalate the protests near the temple; the Congress is asking the Centre to bring an ordinance or special order to override the Supreme Court's ruling. Both the parties have alleged that the CPI(M)-led government in Kerala is trying to destroy the sanctity of the shrine by not opposing the court order.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was blamed by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for the attack on women journalists last Wednesday at Sabarimala. In a blog on Facebook, he writes saying, "Sabarimala has a uniqueness that other temples lack. It allows entry for people of all faith. Sangh Parivar and RSS have always been intolerant of this fact. They have made many attempts to erase this distinction of Sabarimala."