CHENNAI: The DMK government of Tamil Nadu has announced that women will be appointed as temple priests in the state. Tamil Nadu Devaswom Minister PK Sekar Babu said the government would provide training to women who want to become priests.

The minister was responding to a question from a journalist. The question was whether the government would approve if women came forward to become priests. "Since all Hindus can become priests, interested women can also become priests. With the approval of Chief Minister MK Stalin, the training of women priests will begin. Then, they will be appointed in the vacant temples," the minister said.

Sekar Babu said that the order regarding this will be issued soon. Following the announcement, there was a lot of criticism on social media. Sekar Babu also said that the DMK government would appoint non-Brahmin trained priests in Devaswom temples before the completion of 100 days.