Mumbai, Jan 2 : Over 1,000 women formed a humanchain in Mumbai to express solidarity with the 'Women's Wall'formed in Kerala as part of an initiative to uphold genderequality amid the row over entry of females of certain ages inthe Sabarimala temple.
On Tuesday, over 35 lakh women stood shoulder-to-shoulder across the national highways in Kerala, creating a620 km-long human 'wall' from the northern end of Kasaragod tothe state's southern tip.
The 'Women's wall' was conceived in the backdrop offrenzied protests witnessed in the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappaat Sabarimala after the Kerala government decided to implementthe Supreme Court verdict, allowing women of all ages to offerprayers at the shrine.
Extending support to the campaign, women from severalorganisations and social activists came together to form anearly one km-long human chain from DadarChowpatty to ShivajiPark in Mumbai on Tuesday evening.
Sonya Gill, a member of the committee which organisedthe Mumbai women's chain, said around 1,000 to 1,200 womenfrom the megapolis and the neighbouring Thane district andNavi Mumbai town gathered at the venue to form the chain.
"We gathered to express solidarity for gender equalityand what our sisters were doing in Kerala. We are notfollowing our old values and traditions where women used to begiven due respect in all fields," she said.
A number of Muslim women also took part in thecampaign and they carried banners with messages like "neitherwe are impure nor second rate citizens. Let's unite againstall sorts of discrimination."
