NEW DELHI: Kerala ’s Left Democratic Front (LDF) government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that all women, irrespective of their age should be allowed to enter Sabarimala temple and gender discrimination should be done away with.

Making the state government stand clear of the controversial issue, senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for the state, told a constitution bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra , justices Rohinton F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra that state was not taking a stand that women cannot enter the temple.

The state government stand assumed significance in view of its changing stand on the issue over the years. The LDF government in 2008 had filed an affidavit in the Supreme court saying that putting a restriction on entry of women was discriminatory and should be discontinued. But the state government led by UDF in 2016 did a U-turn and told the court that it was duty bound to protect the centuries-old tradition banning entry of women into the temple.

The Congress-led UDF government's affidavit had said, "The restriction on women between the age of 10 and 50 has been prevailing in Sabarimala from time immemorial. This is in keeping with the unique 'pratishta sangalp' or idol concept of the temple."

"The same is an essential and integral part of the right of practice of religion of a devotee and comes under the protective guarantee of the Constitution under Articles 25 and 26 which have been held to contain guarantee for rituals, observances, ceremonies and modes of worship which are an integral part of religion," the state government had said.

Taking a stand diagonally opposite to previous government, the state told the bench that it had now withdrawn the affidavit filed in 2016 and stood by the affidavit filed in 2008.

Taking a dig at frequent changing of stand of state government, Justice Nariman said in a lighter vein, “you are keeping pace with changing time”.

