Sabarimala a matter of devotion, not a gender right issue: BJP leader VT Rema

BJP Mahila Morcha state president VT Rema on Thursday said that devotion is of supreme importance in a place of worship and the temple is not a public place.

"How can people who are not devotees enter in a place of devotion and exercise their power? Gender equality is not a thing that has to be in Sabarimala temple or a religious place. Temple is not a public place. There is only one temple which is under this kind of restriction and it is also not for all women. Forceful entries are not devotion," she told ANI.

The BJP leader also attacked the CPM-led government and said that they are atheists.

"From a very long time we have been devotees of Lord Ayyappa. So, naturally, we expect a verdict so that our traditional customs and beliefs will be restored and protected. The unnecessary haste of the LDF government has caused all the problems. They did not consult anybody and it was a one-sided decision of CPM-led government," she said.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court in a 3-2 ruling has referred to a larger bench, the review petitions against the verdict allowing entry of women of all age groups in the Sabarimala Temple.

The Sabrimala verdict was delivered by a constitution bench comprising Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra today.

The order was reserved by the court in February earlier this year.

The Supreme Court on September 28 last year had permitted the entry of women of all age groups into the Lord Ayyappa temple when it declared a Kerala government law barring women aged between 10-50 years from entering the shrine as unconstitutional.

After which Kerala witnessed massive protests by various Hindu outfits and the BJP workers after the Supreme Court's verdict lifted the restriction on the entry of women of menstruating age into the Sabarimala temple, which devotees opposed.

This year, the temple is being opened for the three-month-long annual pilgrimage on November 16.