“Our position has always been clear on this. It is not that we were compelled to support the Supreme Court. We had always taken a stand in support of the emancipation of women. Even the affidavit we filed in the Supreme Court underlines our commitment towards equality for women.”
This is what Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told The Quint in February after his government ensured that two women activists of menstruating age were taken to the Sabarimala temple, with police protection.
His response was to a specific question from The Quint on whether he would take similar action again, despite a strong reaction from the Right and the Orthodoxy in the state, to the entry of women of all ages.
However, the drubbing in the 2019 parliamentary elections seems to have made Mr Vijayan and the Left leadership forget both emancipation of women and their vow to uphold the Supreme Court’s September 2018 verdict allowing women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala temple.