More than a fortnight after she and fellow activists were detained on their way from Pune to Nashik to storm the Trimbakeshwar temple, gender rights activist Trupti Desai on Friday quietly visited the famous lord Shiva temple in north Maharashtra, but stayed away from into its sanctum sanctorum.
Desai, who along with activists from Bhumata Rangranai Brigade (BRB) had tried unsuccessfully on March 7 to storm the sanctum sanctorum of the Trimbakeshwar temple and took ‘darshan’ of the deity from outside the ‘garbhagriha’, the sanctum sanctorum where entry of women is banned.
Desai and other BRB activists, who were accompanying her on visit to the temple, were escorted out safely by the police. “Their visit to the temple was peaceful. They left the place without making any attempt to barge into the sanctum sanctorum of the temple,” a senior police official from Nashik said.
Desai, who was in Niphad taluka of Nashik district here to attend a programme, made a surprise visit to the Trimbakeshwar temple, which houses one of the 12 jyotrilingas.
Before she left for Mumbai, Desai did not hold any talks with the temple management about BRB’s demand for entry to the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. Nor was there any attempt on her and fellow activists’ part to force their way inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.
Talking to media persons at Niphad on Thursday, Desai had said that she and BRB activists would henceforth try to enter the inner worship areas of the temples unannounced and without law and order problems.
“Because of the age-old tradition that bars women from entering the core worship areas, women in towns of the temple towns of Shani Shinganapur and Trimbakeshwar are under tremendous pressure. We are not against anyone. But we are just opposing the traditions that bar us from entering core worship areas in temples,” Desai said.
It may be recalled that after trying unsuccessfully to storm the Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar district on January 26, the BRB women activists had embarked upon a similar mission on March 7. They were, however, detained by the police at Nandur-Shingote, 95 km from the temple town of Trimbak.
On March 7, the Nasik police did not have to face a high drama akin to the one witnessed on January 26, when the Ahmednagar police intercepted and detained 500-odd BRB activists at Supe toll naka, while they were on their way to the Shani Shingnapur temple.
On that occasion, the crowds had become unmanageable for the police considering that the women protesters were travelling in 7 buses and 15 cars.
The failed attempt by the BRB women activists on the occasion of Republic Day had come in the wake of a sensation that a still-to-be identified woman from Pune had created by breaking a five-century-old taboo, climbed up to “chauthara” (a platform) housing the idol of lord Shani on November 28 last year.
The act of her performing puja had been captured on the CCTV of the temple the following morning. Irked by the incident, the temple management sacked seven security personnel and “purified” the idol by performing an “abhisheka” with milk on the following day.