Claiming that CPI(M) had always intervened in such issues

of social relevance cutting across minority and majoritycommunity barriers, Balakrishnan said in the past the partytook a strong stand in "certain anti-women practices" whichexisted in Christianity and Islam also. "We are following the same stand in the issue of women’sentry in Sabarimala also. Women were denied entry during thetime of Brahmanical dominance. The temple authorities andtantris imposed the restriction, adhering to the then socialsystems," he said. Balakrishnan also urged KPCC president V M Sudheeran tomake his stand clear on the issue and asked whether theCongress was against giving equal status to women. The Congress’s women’s wing Mahila Congress should alsoreveal their stand on the matter, he said. "Barring women from public space and places of worship isunbecoming of a progressive society," the CPI(M) leader said. He expressed hope that the entry of women of all agegroups into Sabarimala would help them to be viewed as an"equal social being along with men." Women, belonging to the age group of 10 and 50, have beenbarred at the shrine dedicated to Ayyappa, considered a"perennial celibate" (naishtika brahmachari), for decades. While hearing a PIL by the Young Lawyers Association,seeking entry for all women and girls in the temple, theSupreme Court, earlier this year, had wondered if man-madecustoms can prescribe such prohibition when "the God does notdiscriminate between men and women". In 2008, the then LDF government had submitted anaffidavit favouring entry of women belonging to all agegroups. Later, in 2016, UDF government submitted an affidavitopposing entry of women. PTI LGK JRK BNRCJ