By Girish Menon
“I do not wish to join any club that will accept me as a
member” quipped Groucho Marx once. I will pass on this wisdom to women of
menstruating age whose efforts to enter Sabarimala have been stopped by their
own sisters, male priests and political activists.
In essence the Indian Supreme Court has decided in favour of
allowing all women to worship at Sabarimala as failing to do so could be
interpreted as discriminatory and in violation of every Indian’s fundamental
right to equality guaranteed by the constitution.
The recent violence is testimony to the failure of the
Indian state as it could not ensure protection to those women who wished to
worship at Sabarimala. This is a replay of Ayodhya 1992 when a mob destroyed
the Babri Masjid in violation of court strictures.
I have read reports that those opposed to the Supreme Court
verdict in the Sabarimala case have now filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.
This is a welcome move and should have been the first step in their protests
instead of physically stopping women from entering the temple.
In a democracy the legislature is superior to the courts. So
it should have been up to the political activists to pass legislation that
suits their political views. However, such legislation will always be of
secondary status to the fundamental rights of every Indian which can only be
curtailed under special circumstances, if at all.
Tradition
Tradition has been quoted as the main argument to defend the
practices of Sabarimala. Leaders of most denominations use this argument to
protest against demands for reforms. This argument gains most momentum because
of the historical failure to pass a uniform civil code bill that applies to
every Indian uniformly.
In the case of Hindus, The Paliyam Satyagraha in Chendamangalam
in 1947-48 enabled a break with tradition as lower caste Hindus were hereafter allowed
to enter temples. Thus tradition is only a convenient term to fight against
reform and modernity.
Uniting all Hindus
The demographic changes in India
In the book The Global Minotaur the author Yanis Varoufakis
defines the term aporia
–
that state of
intense puzzlement in which we find
ourselves when our certainties fall to pieces ; when suddenly we get caught in
an impasse, at a loss to explain what our eyes can see, our fingers can touch,
our ears can hear. At those rare moments, as our reason valiantly struggles to
fathom what the senses are reporting, our aporia humbles us and readies the
prepared mind for previously unbearable truths.
For Indians the moment of aporia has arrived. Now maybe the best time to introduce the
uniform civil code and ban religious conversions. Else the charge of India
On the other hand, why would modern, rational women with a
scientific bent of mind and a claim that ‘God does not exist’ fight for rights
to worship Ayyappa is something that I have found hard to understand.