After 80 yrs, Dalits enter TN temple amid tight security
Amid tight security by a posse of around 500 police officers, in the presence of top district and police officials, 300 families belonging to the Scheduled Castes entered the temple premises with garlands, flowers and other offerings to prepare Pongal.
Members of the Dalit community in Thenmudiyanur village of Tiruvannamalai district entered the state-controlled Muthu Mariyamman temple for the first time in 80 years on Monday, even as upper caste Hindus continued to protest the move.
Amid tight security by a posse of around 500 police officers, in the presence of top district and police officials, 300 families belonging to the Scheduled Castes entered the temple premises with garlands, flowers and other offerings to prepare Pongal.
“For about 80 years, Dalits could not enter the village temple. The district authorities including police officials together have got us a new liberation to offer worship. We thank the authorities and the government. We are overwhelmed by boundless joy. I am 41 years old and I am standing on the temple footsteps for the first time. Such was the caste barrier in the village and the authorities have reformed the people,” a local resident, C Murugan, told news agency PTI.
In the small and rural Thenmudiyanur village, there are 1,200 families belonging to 12 various caste-groups and the 300 families belong to the Schedule caste. About 500 metres from the Muthu Mariyamman temple, is the ‘colony’ a reference to where people in the SC community live in Tamil Nadu’s rural sections. The Dalits have their own temple inside this ‘colony’ which was funded by the other communities.
For about 80 years, they have followed a custom where the village has a 12-day Pongal festivities where each community is given a day to enter the temple, perform rituals and make Pongal, said Tiruvannamalai’s superintendent of police, K Karthikeyan.
The local police station had received a petition after Pongal from a person named Kuberan requesting that the SC community also be given a slot and pointing out that the temple belongs to the Tamil Nadu’s department of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments. “Initially, the locals opposed it but after we conducted a peace meeting with the DSP, RDO, Tahsildar, they agreed and gave the 13th day slot to the SC community from 9am to 12 noon,” said Karthikeyan.
“But we sensed tension on Sunday night to prevent their entry so we initiated security proceedings.” The police department placed their officials in strategic locations and asked suspected people to sign the bond under section 107 of the CrPc, a section usually invoked as a measure of prevention against breach of peace.
“And then this morning, the entire women population from other communities formed a human shield around the temple,” said Karthikeyan. “They said they will not allow the SC community inside. We negotiated with them and threatened them of serious consequences.”
Finally, Karthikeyan, along with district collector P Murugesh and 500 other police officers took the Dalits inside the temple under protection.
This incident comes on a day when the Tamil Nadu government administers an anti untouchability pledge observing January 30 as Martyrs Day. Chief minister M K Stalin, too, took the pledge.
The DMK, on Friday, suspended its party’s south Salem union secretary D Maickam for abusing a young man belonging to the Dalit community who entered a temple and a case has been registered under the Prevention of Authorities of SC/ST Act, 1989. A video of the incident which is now going viral shows the DMK functionary shout expletives at the youngster, pushing him while a huge crowd watches without intervening.
