Women have right to pray, says CM Fadnavis on Shani temple protests

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said his government believed in freedom of worship for women, hours after the state police stopped women activists from entering a Shani temple to challenge tradition.

"Women have always been given freedom to worship in Indian traditions and Hindu region. Discrimination in worship of God not our culture. Admin should take initiative to resolve issues," Fadnavis tweeted.

This after police took hundreds of women activists into preventive custody when they tried to march to the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra to enter the inner sanctum.

Fadnavis said the district magistrate and superintendent of police in Ahmednagar district have been instructed to facilitate dialogue between the temple's trust and the protesting women.

Maharashtra's minister of state for Home, Ram Shinde, said the government will facilitate talks between both sides.

The women were taken in custody at Supa village, 70 kms from the shrine, after they held a brief sit-in protest on being stopped by police and villagers from proceeding towards the temple.

The face-off continued for hours, with several women among the villagers who stopped activists from moving towards the temple. Some of the protesters complained they were roughed up.

"We were marching peacefully. This is a black day for women. They are stopping women from exercising their right, "said Trupti Desai, president of Bhumata Ranragini Brigade, who led the protests.

She demanded to know why women were being discriminated against and asserted that activists will go ahead with their plans.

The temple is dedicated to Lord Shani, the personification of planet Saturn, and women devotees are not permitted at the platform as per the tradition followed by the shrine.

All entry points to Ahmednagar district witnessed heavy security cover with barricades and police personnel deployed at every nook and corner of the locality to prevent the activists from reaching the temple.

Police authorities sealed all approaches to the shrine, which bars women from entering the platform where Lord Shani is worshipped.

The controversy gained some traction on social media as well and opinion was sharply divided.