Bindu Ammini planning to leave Kerala, cites ‘ostracisation’ the reason
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Bindu Ammini, one of the two women between the ages of 10 to 50 to enter the Sabarimala temple, is planning to leave Kerala, all thanks to the ostracisation she says she has been facing from all sectors.
Talking to The News Minute, the lawyer- activist said that she was tired of the unpleasant experiences she had been facing from various sections of the society, whether it is from the government, politicians, or activists.
The decision to leave Kerala is my way of registering a protest against the ill-treatment meted out to me, she told TNM. “I am not leaving Kerala because some other state is better. I am leaving as a protest,” she said and added that she is planning to move to Delhi.
Bindu made history on January 2, 2019 when she, along with another woman, Kanaka Durga, visited the Sabarimala shrine after the Supreme Court allowed the entry of female devotees of menstruating age in the shrine. As protests erupted from devotees over the entry of the women, the temple authorities closed the shrine to conduct a purification ritual.
As protests spread over the next few weeks, police arrested nearly 10,000 people to stamp down on simmering tensions across the state. Later, the Supreme Court intervened and referred the issue to a larger bench, which is yet to deliver its verdict.
Bindu, who works as a temporary lecturer at Kozhikode Government Law College, said that she will not be renewing her application for the job. “Every year, I renew my application and get a job. This year too, if I apply, I will get through as I have experience. But, I did not want to do that and stay here,” she said.
“My name figures in the Public Service Commission’s legal assistant list. But the list was cancelled as the validity was over. Though there was a favourable court order, the government did not act on it. There are a lot of vacancies, but still no notification. I think that all this is done deliberately to show that people like me are unwelcome,” she said.
Bindu alleged that she was intentionally not invited to any of the seminars, workshops and other programmes that happen in the city citing some reason or the other. “I have the same experience from social activists too. Still I remained active, but I had to fight on all sides to survive.”
Bindu faced threats and was assaulted several times, even in public, but she did not get support from the state government. “I was assaulted several times in public places, but I did not get justice or a positive response from the law and order system here. I have lost trust in them,” she said.
The activist, however, does not regret what she did as all the steps she took in her life were her firm decisions. “The politics I espouse cannot be destroyed through all these attacks,” she added. Bindu says she will not be discontinuing ‘She Point’, an initiative she started to provide legal aid, short stay, and a library for women in Wayanad. She said her priority is to clear off the financial liabilities associated with the project.