While India struggles in Sabarimala, Iranian men fight for women’s entry in sporting venues

Tehran, Oct 29: While India continues to see a crisis over the entry of its women in the age-old Sabarimala temple in its southern state of Kerala with hardliners refusing to abide by the verdict given the country's Supreme Court recently, another Asian country also sees something similar, though there the popular mood seems to be more in favour of the women.

A video went viral recently on Twitter. It showed men singing at a football stadium in the city of Tabriz in north-western Iran protesting the law that disallows women from entering sports stadiums. The tweet, which was posted with the hashtag #IraniansWantRegimeChange, also said that spontaneous outburst of civil obedience were visible everywhere and the new generation of the country could no longer be repressed.

Iran has seen debates recently over the issue of allowing women in sports stadiums. In June 2015, the country's hardliners protested in front of the sports ministry in Tehran to oppose the idea of allowing women in stadiums. They resorted to protests after reports said that a limited number of Iranian women could be given entry to stadiums to witness male volleyball games.

In September last year, Iran's women protested outside the Azadi Stadium in Tehran for being barred from seeing a qualifying game between Iran and Syria for World Cup football held earlier this year. Women Iranian MPs questioned why the country's women were kept outside while their Syrian counterparts got entry into the venue.