THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sasikumar Varma, president of the Pandalam Palace Coordination Committee, has said that royals should not be blamed if devotees block the way of women pilgrims who come to the Sabarimala shrine on Wednesday.
Varma made the statement after the meeting between Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) and representatives of various outfits including members of the royal family failed.
When both sides hardened their stance on the issue of the entry of women after the Supreme Court's nod, the representatives of the royal family and the Hindu outfits walked out of the conciliatory meeting.
Varma said the meeting failed to reach a consensus over a host of issues raised by the devotees. The first and foremost demand of the devotees and the royal family was the immediate filing of a review petition against the Supreme Court verdict permitting women of all age groups to offer worship in Sabarimala.
“The TDB refused to heed the request of the devotees and sought time till Friday to take a decision. We can’t afford to buy time at a critical point of time as there are only a few hours left for the opening of the hill shrine. Further, the Board has also rejected the stance of the royal family that the 1991 Justice K Paripoornan verdict upholding the restriction on women of a particular age group trekking up the holy hills and offering worship at the shrine is still maintainable. And the second issue we raised was the continuance of the status quo till the apex court took a decision on the review petition”.
"But as the TDB rejected the proposal of the immediate filing of the review petition, there was no scope for holding a talk over maintaining the status quo at the temple,” Sasikumar said.
He also said that a meeting of priests and representatives of various outfits including the Pandalam Palace, the Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sanghom and the Sabarimala Ayyappa Seva Samajom would be convened soon to decide the next course of action.
Sasikumar further said they have no plans to block the pilgrims who come to the shrine.
Meanwhile, TDB president A Padmakumar said the adamancy of the representatives of devotees to file a review petition on Tuesday itself led to the failure of the meeting. The TDB is ready to hold another round of discussion with various stakeholders involved in the issue, he said.