Focus on temple which discriminates against women.
A few months back, some women rights activists had started a campaign on social media seeking the removal of the ban on women entering temples during menstruation period. The campaign that gained support from many corners was widely publicized and discussed, especially among the younger generation.
The campaigners used the hashtag #happytobleed to highlight their demands. It was the Sabarimala temple in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala that was in focus during the campaign as the temple imposes restriction on the entry of women in the age group of 10-50.
Now, a group of women from Kerala has started a counter campaign saying that they are ready to wait till they are 50 to enter Sabarimala.
Using the hashtag #ReadyToWait, the campaigners are trying to highlight the fact that there is no complete restriction on women entering Sabarimala. Instead, there is only a restriction on women of a particular age group.
They say that each temple has a unique custom and it cannot be standardized and applied to all temples alike.
They argument raised by the women is that the devotees must be given the right to worship according to their will and it is not the atheists who are authorized to take a decision in the matters of devotees.
The campaign took off after Anjali George, a Facebook user wrote a post urging the devotees to come forward against the “Western-funded Feminists and Godless Commies.”
Here is the text from Anjali George’s #ReadyToWait Facebook post.
Sabarimala is not a gender issue. There is NO ban on entry of women in Sabarimala as the media is reporting. There is only a restriction on women of a particular age group. That has to do with the customs of the place. You cannot apply the Semitic scale which reduces God to a human figure to pagan traditions that worship nature and its forces. Each temple has a unique custom, and that cannot be standardized just because the so called liberals who proclaim to be atheists don’t understand it. Just like there is space for both theism and atheism in Sanatana-dharma, there is also space for male or female worship or their exclusion from worship.”
So dear Western-funded Feminists and Godless Commies, leave the customs of the native civilization to the devotees of the Temple.
Let the voice of devotees be heard instead of insensitive atheists from alien cultures.
#ReadyToWait
Hundreds of women came out in support of the campaign and posted their photos holding placards saying they are “ready to wait.”
“#ReadyToWait went2 shabarimala twice b4 i became 12years.i vl wait till i am 60years 2go there again,” tweeted a user named Mini Unnithan.
“Screw this fake feminism. I respect my culture and traditions and I’m #readytowait #Sabarimala,” wrote another Twitter user Jahnavi Bhagavatula.
Rahul Easwar, an activist who belongs to the family of priests at Sabarimala temple, tweeted, “Proud to see 100s of Hindu Woman standing up to defeat the Conspiracy against Sabarimala – #ReadyToWait ..May our Woman lead us”.