THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi said the passage of the
Bill
banning triple talaq in
Lok Sabha
marked a great step towards providing social justice to Muslim women. "Several Muslim women had struggled for years because of triple talaq. Now they will get justice," he said while inaugurating the 85th Sivagiri pilgrimage conference through video conferencing on Sunday.
The Prime Minister, who had visited Sivagiri a couple of times in the past, hailed the contributions of Sree Narayana Guru in his short speech. "Guru had exhorted emancipation through education. Even at that time, he realised the importance of science and technology. His repeated messages on cleanliness are always relevant," said Modi.
The event also witnessed the presentation of the first edition of Guru Ratna awards instituted as part of Sivagiri pilgrimage. Sivagiri Dharma Sangham trust president Swami Visudhananda gave away awards to M A Yousaf Ali, B R Shetty, PNC Menon, T V Vinayan, Sunilkumar V, C K Anilkumar, Dr Sundar Menon, Cheruvayal Raman, P Damodaran Nair and Syamala Nair. General secretary Swami Sandrananda congratulated the winners.
SNDP
Yogam general secretary Vellappally
Natesan
, who spoke in another conference at Sivagiri on the day, said the Yogam and
Sivagiri Trust
will collaborate to promote teachings of Guru across the world.
He said the teachings of Guru were aimed at both believers and non-believers. "Irrespective of caste, creed and geography, his teachings appeal to all," he said.
The SNDP general secretary was attending the conference after a long gap as both SNDP and Sivagiri Trust had been in a cold war. The ice melted after Swami Visudhananda took over as the president, and Natesan visited Sivagiri to attend a function in June, 2017. This time, the three-day annual pilgrimage to Sivagiri is being organized with the support of SNDP. Indirectly referring to the cold war that existed between both organizations, Vellappally Natesan said the SNDP Yogam is always ready for any compromise and adjustment aimed at greater good of human beings.