Trupti Desai will now take battle for gender equality to Mahalakshmi temple

A day after breaking the age-old tradition that prohibited women from entering the sanctum sanctorum of Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra, Bhumata Brigade activist Trupti Desai on Saturday vowed to take her fight against the gender bias at temples to the next level by launching an agitation seeking entry for women at the Mahalakshmi temple in Kolhapur. She said that the stir for Mahalakshmi temple would start on April 13 and thereafter her brigade will go to Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik.

"Fight to continue wherever there is gender bias in temples, From 13 April, will fight for entry into Mahalakshmi Temple in Kolhapur," Desai said.

"It's been 3 months and after that the women power has won, this is just the beginning," she added.

Desai on Friday welcomed the decision of the Shani Shingnapur trust to allow females to enter the inner sanctum of the temple and offer their prayers.

Earlier on Friday, around 100 men were seen storming into the inner sanctum of the holy place, defying the Trust's orders.

On the festive occasion of Gudi Padwa, with hundreds of devotees in line to worship, a mob of men arrived outside the temple and stripped to their undergarments as they barged aside the security to enter the inner sanctum of the temple and pray at the holy site.