A day after Sabrimala temple was closed after the monthly rituals, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday took on the thantri (priest) for threatening to close the temple in the event of entry of women of menstruating age, as directed by the Supreme Court, and Sangh Parivar, which, he said, wants to turn Sabarimala into a “battle zone”.
Addressing an LDF meeting to explain the Left’s stand on Sabarimala at Pathanamthitta, where the temple is located, Vijayan reminded the thantri: “Don’t think that Sabarimala temple will remain shut if they close it and go away with the keys. There have people who thought in this manner (earlier). When a king in north Kerala opened a temple for backward communities in the past, the thantri closed the temple and left. The king appointed a new thantri and the temple remained opened.”