[Pune] Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Shows Solution For Shani Temple Gender Row
Spiritual guru Sri Sri today claimed to have broken the impasse on the ‘gender bias’ at Shani Shingnapur temple by proposing the “Tirupati Balaji” darshan model that keeps both men and women away from inner sanctum, but women’s activist Trupti Desai said she is awaiting a “proper decision” from Chief Minister on the issue.
The Art of Living Foundation founder today mediated on the issue by holding separate meetings with the trustees of the temple and Bhoomata Brigade leader Trupti Desai, who had recently led an agitation against the traditional ban on women at the temple’s sacred ‘chabutara’ (platform) at the temple.
“There are two models for darshans by devotees namely Kashi Vishwanath and Tirupati Balaji. This solution is based on the Tirupati Balaji model where no one — men or women — are allowed in the inner sanctum,” Sri Sri Ravi Shankar told reporters after the meeting.
However, responding to Sri Sri’s suggestion, Desai said, “If both men and women are to be disallowed to have darshan by stepping on the chabutara in future, then activists of Bhoomata Brigade should have an opportunity to perform the last Pooja at the sacred platform in the presence of Sri Sri and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.”
On January 26, at least 400 women volunteers, mainly hailing from Pune, led by Desai had made an unsuccessful attempt to storm the chabutara of the temple when police stopped the marchers at Supa village, 70 km from the shrine.