Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani. (Photo/ANI)
Union Minister Smriti Irani's latest statement over the raging issue over the entry of women inside Kerala's Sabarimala temple is likely to trigger a fresh round of the debate. Speaking at an event - Young Thinkers' Conference - in Mumbai, Irani said everyone has the right to pray, but not to desecrate.
"I have right to pray,but no right to desecrate. I am nobody to speak on SC verdict as I am a serving cabinet minster. Would you take sanitary napkins seeped in menstrual blood into a friend's home? No. Why take them into house of God?" the Union textiles minister said.
"I am a practising Hindu married to a Zoroastrian. I have ensured that both my kids are practising Zoroastrians, who can go to the fire temple and pray," Irani added.
WATCH: What Smriti Irani's remark over Sabarimala row
Smriti Irani's statement has come at a time when women were stopped by Lord Ayyappa devotees from climbing up to the Sabarimala temple as protests against the Supreme Court order opening the hilltop shrine to women of all ages continued across Kerala.
The Supreme Court's five-judge constitution bench headed by then chief justice Dipak Misra had on September 28 lifted the ban on entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine.
Despite the apex court's order, no women below 50 years of age could enter the temple which opened for five days last week.
