Chennai: Kerala Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan drew flak after he used 'holy' water of Sabarimala temple as a hand sanitizer, said a report on IANS on Wednesday. The Devaswom Minister visited the temple while the priests were preparing to open the temple for a new season.
Along with the Minister, Devaswom Board president Ananthagopan and local legislator Pramod Narayanan were also present at the temple premises.
The priest while performing a pooja gave holy water to the people for them to consume and to apply the rest on their heads. However, when the priest gave the water to the Minister as part of the ritual, he reportedly did not smear the water on his head and was instead caught by photographers and videographers while using the water as a sanitizer.
Soon, the act of the Minister started drawing the ire of people and they accused the Minister of "disrespecting" the holy water. However, Devaswom Board president Ananthagopan and Kerala Congress (M) member Narayanan smeared the water on their heads.
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The Sree Dharma Sastha Temple at Sabarimala in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala reopened for the mandala makaravilakku festival for two days on Monday evening. The Kerala Minister Veena George also visited the temple to ensure that the arrangement are made to curb the spread of COVID-19 among the pilgrims who are likely to throng the shrine.
The Kerala government also said that the people who are going to come to the shrine must carry a negative RT-PCR test report and they should give their Aadhar card to receive permission to enter the temple. The government has also decided to allow 30,000 pilgrims into the shrine every day.