Kerala on Tuesday waited with bated breath for the opening of the gates of Sabarimala temple tomorrow, the first time since the Supreme Court allowed women of all age groups to enter the shrine, under the shadow of ominous warnings of “mass suicides” and threats of disruption.

The last gasp effort by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which manages the temple, to defuse the situation came to nought with the Pandalam royal family and other stakeholders walking out of a meeting called by it over its reluctance to discuss the issue of filing a review petition against the apex court order.

Meanwhile, hundreds of women devotees picketed the road to the hill shrine and prevented women they suspected were of menstrual age from proceeding to the shrine some 20 km away.

Among those was a woman journalist Ritu, who claimed she was heading for the temple on assignment.

“No woman belonging to the banned age group of 10-50 will be allowed to travel further from Nilackal and offer prayers at the shrine when it opens for the monthly pooja tomorrow evening,” asserted a woman protester as tempers ran high at Nilackal, the gateway to Sabrimala.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, is facing a tough time tackling the issue which has also acquired political overtones.

“We will ensure security to all. Nobody will be allowed to take law into their hands. My government will not allow any violence in the name of Sabarimala,” he told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.

The Shiv Sena recently warned of “mass suicides” if women of menstrual age were allowed into the temple. Some other organisations have said women and girls will have to tread on them before entering the temple.

Actor-turned-BJP politician Kollam Thulashi said women of “banned age” visiting the shrine should be “ripped apart“.

Even though Kerala is on edge a day before the temple gates open, some intrepid women like Reshma Nishanth, a 32- year-old Kannur native, has decided to offer prayers there despite being “slut-shamed“.

Claiming she is an ardent Ayyappa devotee, she said she had started the 41-day ‘vrata’ (penance) to trek to the forest temple during the annual pilgrimage season beginning from Wednesday.

“A large number of people have extended support for my decision to visit the shrine. But slut-shaming and body shaming are also going on,” she said.

Bindhu, a young homemaker from Kozhikode also plans to visit the shrine with 30 other women during the three-month- long Mandala-Makaravilakku season.

The TDB, meanwhile, covered a signboard at the base camp in Pamba which said the entry of women of menstrual age into the temple was prohibited.

The multi-lingual board reading “Women between 10-50 are not allowed to visit Sannidhanam (Sabarimala temple)” was covered in the evening with a plastic banner that said: “Use of plastic is prohibited here”.

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