Bangalore: Kannada actor-turned-director Jaimala, who is in the eye of a storm after confessing to entering the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala hill shrine in Kerala, got solid backing from the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Friday. Now, Congress chief of Karnataka Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday said that women should be allowed to enter the temple.
Congress member S S Patil described the curbs on women visiting the temple as an "insult to the entire womenfolk and nothing but practicing untouchability".
When the issue was raised during Zero Hour by Patil, legislators, cutting across party lines, supported Jaimala and criticised the 'anti-women' practices at the temple.
The issue even saw Vatal Nagaraj of the Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha staging a walkout.
Meanwhile, the thantri's (head priest) family has asked Karnataka legislators to not politicise the issue.
Jaimala had recently revealed that she had entered the sanctum sanctorum of the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala, where women between the age group of 10-50 are not allowed, and touched the idol when she was 27.
Jaimala claims she was "pushed" into the sanctum sanctorum by the crowd and she caught hold of the idol's feet to steady herself.
Jaimala insists that she did not know then that what she was doing was wrong and that she had touched the feet of the idol because that was how they prayed at home.
She added she had later realised what she had done amounted to sin and had thus faxed an apology to the concerned authorities.
Controversy surrounding women's entry to Sabirimala is not new.
A few years ago, actress Sudha Chandran had performed a dance programme below the 18 holy steps of the temple leading to a hue and cry.
After the dance performance, the Kerala High Court asked the Travancore Devaswom to disallow women from climbing the hill to the shrine.
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