Sabarimala temple opened on Friday for the first 2-month annual pilgrim season since the SC allowed entry of women of all age to the Ayyappa shrine.
Amid the tight security, Bhumata Brigade leader Trupti Desai, who vowed to enter the Lord Ayappa shrine, was stalled at Kochi International Airport 157 km away.The siege lasted for almost 14 hours. Desai could not leave the domestic terminal at the airport due to the protests and before leaving for Pune she said that she would return unannounced later.
Lakhs of devotees from the neighbouring states are expected to visit Sabarimala for the annual pilgrim season.The state government has announced tight police security and stringent conditions for visiting devotees even as Opposition parties and Hindu groups prepare to oppose the entry of women of all age into the shrine.
Till now, no young woman has turned up at the base stations of Pamba and Nilakkal though around 700 women have registered their names with police. The temple board has also symbolically erased a warning board at Pamba against the entry of women aged between 10 and 50.