AHMEDNAGAR: A day after breaking the age-old tradition that prohibited women from entering the sanctum sanctorum of Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra, Bhumata Brigade activist Trupti Desai on Saturday vowed take her fight against the gender bias at temples to next level by launching an agitation seeking entry for women at the Mahalakshmi temple in Kohlapur.
She said that the stir for Mahalakshmi temple would start on April 13 and thereafter her brigade will go to Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik.
“Fight to continue wherever there is gender bias in temples, From13th April will fight for entry into Mahalakshmi Temple in Kolhapur,” Desai told ANI.
“It’s been 3 months and after that the women power has won, this is just the beginning,” she added.
Escorted by the state police, Trupti Desai-led Bhumata Brigade cadres offered prayer at the sanctum sanctorum of Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district on Friday evening.
Talking to mediapersons after offering prayers with her supporters and cadre, she earlier said, "We are happy that we have launched our agitation from Shani Shingnapur, and it succeeded. Earlier, the Maharashtra Government had taken a wrong decision. The Chief Minister was wrong, but now he has agreed and won't stop us from going to inner sanctum of the temple."
Desai yesterday welcomed the decision of the Shani Shingnapur trust to allow females to enter the inner sanctum of the temple and offer their prayers.
Earlier on Friday, around 100 men were seen storming into the inner sanctum of the holy place, defying the Trust's orders.
On the festive occasion of Gudi Padwa, with hundreds of devotees in line to worship, a mob of men arrived outside the temple and stripped to their undergarments as they barged aside the security to enter the inner sanctum of the temple and pray at the holy site.