The campaign by Bhumata Brigade, whose plan to offer prayers at the sacred platform in Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar district, about 250km from here, was foiled today, also got support from various activists and rights groups from across the country.
"Women are justified (in seeking to enter the sacred sanctum of the temple) as there was no sanction to gender discrimination in our scriptures.
"Many people are not even aware of such a thing so we need to educate our people that women and men have equal rights. A few years back women were not allowed to chant 'Gayatri mantra' but today women are learning Vedas (scriptures) and becoming priests in Pune," Sri Sri said.
"Awareness (on gender equality) has to be created, scriptures have to be understood properly. It is the work of religious and spiritual leaders to make people understand. Though they may be following some traditions, it has no scriptural injunction," he said.
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The founder of Art of Living, an educational and humanitarian movement, said religious leaders should intervene in such issues.
"This can be resolved without much friction if the religious people take a pro-active role... I am with them (the women). They want to claim their right to worship.
"The other side is, they fear if they do something which has not been done for centuries, may be some bad thing will happen. This sort of psychological fear or concern needs to be addressed.
the campaign and said preventing female devotees from entering temples was no way justified in modern era.
Former Chairperson of Maharashtra State Women Commission Susie Ben Shah said "God is equal to all and right to worship is also equal to all. Why should there be gender bias in praying to God? All should be allowed in the temple."
Former bureaucrat and advocate Abha Singh said there were enough statutory provisions that give woman equal rights everywhere.
"When the Constitution provides for equality before law, how can women be banned from entering Shani Shingnapur Temple? Outdated practices need to be shunned. If women are agitating for entering the temple, they are within their fundamental rights to do so," she said.
Mumbai BJP spokesperson Shaina NC expressed the hope Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis would intervene to end the protest.
"I am very much confident that our Chief Minister would intervene in the matter and facilitate dialogue between agitating women and temple authorities. But nobody should take law into their hands," she said.
Shaina said the protesters should understand that the State administration has to to ensure there is no violence while dealing with such emotional issues.