New Delhi: Restriction on entry of women in any temple is “unfair” and managements in the temples doing so should change their mentality, RSS said on Sunday, against the backdrop of some cases highlighted through recent agitations in Maharashtra.
“Because of some unfair traditions, at certain places there has been a lack of consensus on the question of temple entry. Such sensitive issues should be resolved through discussion and dialogue and not through agitations,” RSS general secretary Suresh Bhayyaji Joshi said at a press conference here.
“Women go to thousands of temple across the country but in reference to some, where their entry is an issue, there is a need to change the mentality. Management of such temples should also understand this,” he said.
In the recent times, some women groups have been agitating for ending the practice of disallowing women to certain temples like Shani Shingnapur Temple and sanctum sanctorum of Trimbakeshwar Temple in Nashik in Maharashtra.
“Women have been learning the Vedas and also performing religious practices,” the RSS leader said.
On the controversy over Sri Sri Ravishankar’s cultural programme in Delhi, Joshi said if there was an issue of environment, rules should be followed by all. However, at the same time, he said systems which bring about change in the society will get weakened if only penal measures are used.
Meanwhile, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Sunday said parties should not politicise events having a bearing on the country’s reputation and suggested that the media has been “harsh” in its criticism of the event. He claimed that his Foundation has already received invitation from Australia, Mexico and other nations for holding the next one.
Brown trousers in, Khaki is out: RSS
The RSS has finally decided to “move with the times” and let go of its traditional “ganvesh” (uniform) of trademark khaki shorts with brown trousers.
Since its inception in 1925, this will be the fourth major change in the RSS’ uniform after white shirt, canvas shoes and belt. But for many of the Sangh’s old guard, the khaki shorts are a reminder of its “glorious legacies and history”. The decision was taken at the RSS’ Akhil Bhartiya Pratinidhi Sabha conclave, that ended on Sunday at Nagaur in Rajasthan.
