When it comes to faith even Communists quail. Those were the signs to be read into the way the arguments have gone back and forth in the Supreme Court on the ban on menstruating women undertaking the Sabarimala pilgrimage and worshipping before Lord Ayyappa in his jungle abode in the Western Ghats. In its current avatar under Pinarayi Vijayan, the LDF has changed its mind on the issue and said it was for upholding the traditions of centuries, one of which was that women, generally between the ages of 10 and 50, could not go on the pilgrimage. Having earlier taken the stand that the principle of equality should prevail, which the UDF had once opposed in its arguments before the top court, the LDF is inclined to play it safe now by listening to the voices of religious authority that it would amount to sacrilege to let menstruating women into the shrine.
At a time when there has been a sexual revolution of sorts in women standing up for their right to do many things, including pray in places such as Shani Shingnapur and Haji Ali, the Kerala government’s latest stand must be considered very disappointing. Steeped as they are in tradition, religious matters are not as simple as temporal ones. But the mere fear of treading on the interpreters of such rules as banning women from worshipping before certain gods should not preclude action on first principles. Unreason must be fought in a time when shibboleths are being upended on fundamental principles such as gender equality and the right of women to do what men are free to do anyway.
