Yesterday’s high drama at Sabarimala told us quite a lot about the games that politicians play in Kerala. Rehana Fatima, a young woman activist who decided to take the challenge (it is now a challenge, since the trekking path to the shrine is in effect controlled by Hindutva goons heaping verbal abuse, threatening open violence, and using children as shields) had to face not only the naked threats of the so-called bhakths and the vandalisation of her home at Kochi by the same elements, she had also to swallow the Kerala Minister Kadakampally Surendran’s jibe that Sabarimala was not a playground for ‘activists’! By saying so, he hinted that only ‘pure’, ‘untainted’ women believers who are apparently by definition not activists, can be helped by the Kerala Police to reach the shrine. So much for Pinarayi Vijayan’s evocation of Kerala’s legacy of enlightened Hinduism!
This is a piece I wrote in the TOI today on the issue.
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 
The whole fiasco surrounding Sabrimala is due to lack of a ‘women entry movement’ , to change mindsets of patriarchal priests and authorities it needs more that two women to challenge and break the shackles of patriarchy that has subjugated half the human population for centuries. More women need to enter Sabrimala and bring change. Inspite of all the setbacks they faced I appreciate the two women who had the courage to do that when none had.
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