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In a major move to woo the devotees of Sabarimala Sri Ayyappa temple ahead of Assembly polls, Congress-led UDF on Saturday stated that if the UDF comes to power, it will bring in legislation to protect the interests of Sabarimala devotees and safeguard the rituals and traditions.
Senior Congress leader and former home minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan has released a draft of the legislation in Kottayam on Saturday.
Releasing the draft, Thiruvanchoor said that the draft proposes imprisonment for a period of two years to those who enter the Sabarimala shrine violating the customs, rituals and traditions.
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Thiruvanchoor said the LDF government is doing nothing to protect the interest of the devotees, they claim that they cannot do anything since the matter is before the Supreme Court.
However, in reality, the state government can definitely intervene, since this comes under the concurrent list, said Thiruvanchoor. He said that the state government can override the Supreme Court verdict on women entry in Sabarimalatemple by bringing in a new legislation.
According to traditions and customs, women in the age group between 10 and 50 are not allowed to enter the hill shrine as the deity of the temple-Lord Ayyappa is considered a “Brahmachari”.
The Sabarimala women entry issue has helped the Congress- led UDF to win 19 out of the 20 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, taking advantage of the ire of the Hindu devotees against the Pinarayi Vijayan government, which allowed women of the banned age-group to enter the hill shrine.
Congress and UDF leadership expect by promising to enact a law to protect the rituals of the hill shrine,they can gather support of the devotees and romp home in the upcoming Kerala Assembly elections.
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