Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka?

Is it the 21st century in India yet? India may be shining, but not in Kerala. According to the newindpress.com, “The Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala, on Monday informed the Kerala High Court that it proposed to order a vigilance enquiry into the alleged defilement of the temple idol by Kannada actress Jaimala.”

This is because “The revelation by the actress that she had visited the temple when she was in her late twenties and touched the idol has sparked off a row, as women devotees between 10-50 age group are barred from offering worship at the shrine.”

It will be interesting to see what the reaction Indians in general and of the BJP (the Hindu Nationalist party) in particular, will be to this news.

This gender discrimination is not limited to this temple alone. According to the Hindustan Times, “Harking back to the same ‘traditional’ not-for-women-for-their-own-good argument, women pilots in the Indian Air Force are denied the right to operate/fly fighter aircraft. Reasons cited include ‘concerns’ that in the event of being captured as PoW[s], women will receive a worse deal than their male counterparts. The message is clear: women can storm male bastions only to the extent that they are ‘allowed to’.”

If Indians are anxious to be a global force of significance, they have to shed this thinking. They have to treat their Constitution, which allows equal opportunity for all, more than a piece of paper.