The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) expresses strong objection to the purification rituals carried out by the priests after two women visited the Sabarimala Temple. Two women visited the Sabarimala temple yesterday morning as their constitutional right under Article 25 which holds that women have an equal right to worship. The purification ritual is demeaning to women as it is projected them as ‘impure’ and ‘unclean’. It is also a clear violation of the Supreme Court verdict.
AIDWA strongly condemns the attempts of BJP-RSS backed right-wing groups to create a communal frenzy and subvert the implementation of the orders of the Supreme Court (SC) in the Sabarimala case. They have resorted to threats and attacked the houses of the two women imperiling the lives of their families.
The Supreme Court in its judgement in the Sabarimala case on September 28, 2018, has allowed the entry of women of all ages into the temple. The court has said that to restrain women from pursuing their right to worship on physiological grounds is unconstitutional.
AIDWA has called upon all its units in the country to condemn this regressive stand of the communal forces in all its programmes on January 3, birth anniversary of the legendary social reformer Savitribai Phule.
Malini Bhattacharya Mariam Dhawale
President General Secretary
