Where does She Stand- In or Out?

The monkey has been inquisitive about the recent furore that has been happening in Kerala, my native, over Women’s Entry to Sabarimala. It has been (is still) the subject for most of the prime-time discussions in almost all news channels of State and as usual, the National media has also been turning their foci into the same, a bit late. We would today look into the quite intricate nature of this case and consider some valid arguments, both for and against the entry of women into Sabarimala. As promised in the prologue, we will try to look into the “grey areas” and not venture out much into the dark abyss of communal politics.

So let me get ready to be bashed!

Article 51 A (e) of the Constitution of India says, “to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women”. This, my dear friends is the 5^th among the Fundamental duties that a Citizen of India is supposed to do. Similarly, (h) of the same article would say “to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform”. However, our forefathers (the Constitution of India came into existence on 26^th of January, 1950 – almost 69 years ago!) left a great loophole here – The Fundamentals Duties of a Citizen cannot be enforced by writ petitions – i.e., if you are citizen of India and fail to comply what would be your “fundamental duties”, you cannot be taken for a ride by the executives; instead, the Constitution leaves it for the legislative to make appropriate laws to ensure that you follow it – democracy probably was supposed to be deliberately misspelled as “democrazy”.

To give a brief background, Lord Ayyappa’s deity at the Sabarimala Temple is  considered as celibate, and thereby does not “like” the presence of women in the menstruating age. Thus, a practice was developed over the years that women were not entering the shrine for a darshan in their menstruating age – which, defined by the local conventions is 10-50 years, and this practice, with time, became a hard and fast norm to be followed. However, a group of individuals argued that the same amount to “untouchability” in a manner and restricts their rights given under Art. 25 of the Constitution of India. The State government, presently led by the CPI(M) was/is keen to enact this verdict at the earliest – upholding their ideological values of an egalitarian society, where derogatory practices do not frequent. However, the right-wing groups and fringe elements associated with them, led by the BJP was in stark criticism of the same, and alleged that this move was meant for making political gains by making a communal split in the society and thrashing on the customs and traditions of the old-age society.

Initially the incidents were of protest marches and sloganeering, which turned into violent clashes when the news on 2^nd January, 2019 came that 2 women had offered the pilgrimage. The State was under large scale violence and clashes between the right-wing groups and left wing parties. A loss of close to INR 10 Crore has been reported for the public exchequer – apart from the loss in businesses transactions (if you are not aware, in Kerala there were more than 80 State-wide hartals in the year 2018! – let that sink in!)

What can we get from the monkey’s eye-view in this?

1. There should apparently be a clear demarcation between religion and governance. Being a multi-religious country, the Indian judicial mechanism will now have to entertain almost all religious debates – probably we have opened up a Pandora’s box.
2. Whatsoever the practices, traditions or cultural preferences are, should not be allowed to be a platform for any kind of discrimination. The monkey feels that in the year 2019, the need for rationalism is clearly evident. We have evicted/ made legislations against Sati, Child Marriage, Untouchability, the varna system and the subsequent restrictions in places of worship et al.
3. The choice of free-will should be made available to all the citizens of the country – this is still a great challenge in front of the Indian populace. Monkey quotes “your freedom ends at the tip of my nose”.
4. The need for a uniform civil code is greater than ever. Of course, the one-size fit for all might not work well in India, but we have experimented quite a few- and we have been successful at times. The legislative should probably speed up this process.

In short, we as a society should probably be more focussed to more towards a progressive (I do not suggest we leave behind our cultural values altogether) path, where inclusiveness, fraternity and tolerance is the key. The factions feeding on the fault-lines of communal disharmony should be kept away by deliberate efforts, which would be prerequisite for a new renaissance, an awakening that aims at some fundamental changes in the ideals of the society.

We should be investing more in the likes of Gagan-yaan, Chandrayan-2, NAVIC, Tejas; or clean energy, Solar Alliance, Hydro-power; or even better in better cities and villages. Let a society where peace and fraternity emerge within our lifespan. Adios!

PS: The Monkey does not believe in personification of God – prefers an “it” in place of a “he” or “she” to address “the God”. God, if exists, is apparently beyond the human comprehension, so the monkey - the lesser ape, does not even bother to think about the presence of God.