It's silly to compare jallikattu, Sabarimala orders: Vijayan

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 4 (IANS) Reiterating the Kerala government's stand on the 2018 Supreme Court order that allowed woman's entry to the Sabarimala temple, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, here on Monday, said it was foolish to compare this with verdict on jallikattu.

Vijayan was reacting to demands from the Congress-led opposition in the Assembly that the government must come out with laws to help protect the tradition and culture of the Sabarimala temple.

"It's foolish to compare jallikattu with Sabarimala (verdict). Hence, it's not possible to do what the Tamil Nadu government did when it came out with laws after the apex court ruled against jallikattu. It has also been the Centre's stand, but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here is hiding this and fooling believers," said Vijayan.

On September 28, 2018, the apex court ruled that menstruating women could also enter the Sabarimala temple. But the Sangh Parivar forces have protested against this and even drove away such women from the temple.

But when two women got to pray at the temple in January, the Vijayan government was blamed for violating the temple traditions.

"Women can decide on their own on Sabarimala visit. The state government has done nothing to take women to Sabarimala. All what we did was to see the apex court order was implemented. Even the former Chief Justice of India, who was former state Governor agreed with our stand. Some vested interests were behind the ruckus at Sabarimala," Vijayan said.