Union Minister Smriti Irani, yesterday in Mumbai attended an event called the “Young Thinkers” conference where she made certain remarks regarding the current Sabarimala Temple issue and menstruation that did not sit well with people.

It was at this event organised by the British High Commission and the Observer Research Foundation that the question about the recent issue with the Sabarimala temple came up.

Recently, the Supreme Court on 28th September allowed females of menstrual age to enter this temple after a long ban, but on October 17th 2018, when the temple gates were to open to all, males and females, huge number of people came out protesting against this, not letting any woman enter the premise.

Females were not allowed inside no matter what, with protesters arguing how it was breaking tradition and would sully the purity of the temple.

Irani, the current Union textile minister, was asked about this issue at the conference where she went on a tirade about how women might have the right to pray but not the right to desecrate.

Here is the full video:

https://www.facebook.com/ORFMumbai/videos/289640451877547/

What Happened At The Event?

First of all, Ms. Irani did not even let the moderator finish the question, and then she responded to a person by the name of ‘Vinay’ who had earlier, in an unrecorded part of the conference perhaps asked something on the Sabarimala issue.

To this she stated that,

“I believe I have a right to pray, but I do not have the right to desecrate. And that is the difference, that we need to recognise and respect. So the difference is…I am nobody to speak of the Supreme Court verdict, because I am a current serving cabinet minister. But just plain common sense. Would you take sanitary napkins seeped in menstrual blood and walk into a friend’s home? You would not. Would you think it is respectful to do the same thing and walk into house of God? So that is the difference. I have the right to pray, I do not have the right to desecrate. That is my personal opinion.”

After she was trolled and attacked for these remarks, she stated in a string of tweets of how this was fake news and that the actual truth was missing.

Why Her Statement Is Still Strange?

There have been some reports on how Ms. Irani’s statement was taken out of context since she was allegedly responding to a question of how someone was planning to take a sanitary pad to the Sabarimala temple as an act of rebellion.

In the past few days, rumours had been going around, largely on social media and certain right-wing websites, about how an activist by the name of Rehana Fathima was going to bring a sanitary pad (whether new or blood-soaked is not clear) inside the Sabarimala temple.

As per IndusScrolls it was stated that, “[Rehana] Fathima had told her friends that she wanted to throw sanitary napkins at Ayyappa idol and told her friends to remain glued on to their TV sets.”

All these reports were unverified and had little to no evidence to them, but the strange part is that even if Smriti Irani was replying in regards to this rumour, her statements still don’t make sense. Also, the above claims could just be fake news created for ulterior motive of religious disharmony.

Read More: Smriti Irani: Crisis And Controversies Makes Her Fall Prey To Cabinet Reshuffle, Again

But in the midst of all this, we did get some interesting reactions from netizens about Ms. Irani’s comments and tweets.

Some memes and reactions that erupted on social media with her statements:

https://twitter.com/EastIndiaComedy/status/1054734950191296514

https://twitter.com/ShantiseAshanTi/status/1054665622049689601

https://twitter.com/ngogoi98/status/1054811023692234752

https://www.facebook.com/sanitarypanels/photos/a.278726238966813/1035555376617225/?type=3&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARDjKUe3lUfLIo05Kgoc0JBR8UuQEPRRmnCj_EGzWQyD7uDDIvEYbSB1wOC_2AwEIblAKJrDBJZnpwW8oxahvuxOThpdJicGLpH3mBDfKmhdX_Uj5HHtl4UxWFcmjnX9j1TdHw7wovphJUEsJWTdh8sb5N6NXWpS9LsaFeP8ISc9WKK2MwpNimfKqmbeN0OOGIunPluqF6ppv_Hsj9i1KTPEj8fsgg&__tn__=H-R

Image Credits: Google Images

Sources: Hindustan Times, Scroll, Firstpost 

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