CPI(M) leader bats for 'right to worship' of women

Senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat said Wednesday every woman has the right to worship at the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Kerala. On two women in their 40s entering the shrine and offering prayers in the early hours of Wednesday, the party's politburo member said the LDF government in the state is implementing the Supreme Court judgment. The two women were identified as Kanakadurga and Bindu, both 42 years old. "Every woman has the right to worship if they so wish," Karat told PTI.

"(The) two women wanted to worship and they were enabled to do so and given the security required (by the Kerala government)," the CPI(M) leader said. Despite the Supreme Court's verdict on September 28 last year, permitting women in the 10-50 age group, no children or young women in the 'barred' group were able to offer prayers at the shrine following frenzied protests by a section of devotees and some right wing outfits.

(With inputs from agencies.)