Kozhikode: Historian M.G.S. Narayanan feels conservatism is encroaching into public spheres in various garbs and people should identify and isolate them. “The time cries for standing strong for democracy and secularism,” he said inaugurating the Democratic Convention on Kerala’s Future: Constitution or Religious Diktats in the wake of Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala here on Thursday.
Writer N. Sasidharan said it's high time people "mulled over liberating men from the clutches of religion. People are deeply entangled in religious tentacles.”
“The street protest against the women entry indicates that our left movements had failed to carry forward the spirit of the Renaissance.”
Writer Khadeeja Mumtaz said the protest against the verdict had turned out to be anti-woman, anti-human and untruth. “The higher age ban for women is 50 years based on menstruation. Who told that all women do not menstruate after 50? There are women having menstruation even at 57. Women’s health has considerably improved,” said Ms Mumtaz, a gynaecologist.
She wondered why women are not allowed to enter the temple with postponing their menstruation for 41 days with medicines so that they can adhere by the custom.
Prof T.P. Kunjikannan warned that the issue is part of a broader agenda of BJP to destabilise Constitution and reinstall ‘Manusmriti’. Prof Hameed Chennamangallur, Prof Kalpetta Narayanan, K. Ajitha, K.K. Rema, Dr K.N. Ajoy Kumar, Dr A. Achuthan and others spoke.
