|
Dalits in Chettipulam village, in Tamil Nadu’s Nagapattinam district, entered the Kamakshi Amman Sametha Ekambareshwarar temple in the presence of a huge police gathering. Tension prevailed on October 14 when a mob opposing the dalits’ entry into the temple clashed with police
Dalits in the village of Chettipulam, in Tamil Nadu, entered the Ekambareshwarar temple to offer prayers on October 27, 2009, ushered in by the collector and district revenue officer (DRO) amid considerable police security. Most of the men of the village are said to be on the run following a crackdown by police after violence erupted on October 14. A fortnight ago, a move by dalits to enter the temple, led by the administration, turned violent with attacks on security and government personnel by locals opposed to the move. Early in the day, arrangements were made for the dalits to offer special prayers at the temple. With police and district administration officials waiting outside the temple for the dalits to arrival, around 75 people from the Therkku Kaadu dalit habitations were ferried in vans escorted by police personnel. Collector C Munianathan and DRO A Annadurai also volunteered to serve prasadam to every dalit inside the temple, after the prayers were over. Hordes of dalit women and men jostled each other as they crossed the threshold of the temple and walked towards the sanctum sanctorum with flowers, garlands and coconuts as offerings to the deity. As they craned their necks to catch a glimpse of their god, the DRO and collector personally collected their offerings and passed it on to the priest in the sanctum for special prayers. Later, Munianathan expressed his unequivocal displeasure at the panchayat president and other local elected representatives over the past fortnight’s events. “Such barbarism of discrimination has no place in this day and age,” he said. He appealed to dalits to go about their business normally and without fear and assured them of every administrative support. Police personnel are slated to be stationed here for a few more days to ensure normalcy. Dalits allege they were not allowed inside the temple by the villagers and had organised agitations twice this month (on October 1 and 14). On October 1, the temple remained locked and the village witnessed a lathi charge and police firing as vehicles in which dalits, accompanied by police and revenue officials, were attacked as they proceeded to the temple. Following the violence, the collector organised a peace talk with members of all communities in the village. At the meeting, he stressed that any discrimination on the basis of caste would invite severe punishment. He also said that he would personally lead the dalits into the temple. The villagers assured him of their cooperation. Dalit entry into temples has often led to violent situations in Tamil Nadu. After just such an incident last year, in which members of the dalit community were threatened by upper caste Hindus and barred from offering prayers at a temple, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a notice to the collector of Tirunelveli and the state’s director general of police. “Despite an order passed by the sub-court to the village administrative officer and the police to make sure that dalits are allowed inside the temple, the dalits were not allowed entry into the temple, as the priest, after getting the temple locked, had left the village with the keys. Dalits of the area were forbidden from offering prayers at the Kannanullur Mariamman temple in the village, which has been a bone of contention between the two communities for the last 10 years,” an official of the NHRC said. ‘Hidden Apartheid: Caste Discrimination against India’s Untouchables’, a document produced as a ‘shadow report’ to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), in advance of its February 2007 consideration of a report by the Government of India on compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, has highlighted the denial of dalits entry into Hindu temples by private individuals. “The ‘untouchability in rural India’ survey documented this practice in each of the 11 states studied. The rate of prevalence was as high as 64% on average, with the practice occurring in 94% of villages surveyed in the state of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. This is the case despite the fact that the denial of temple entry is one of the most strongly resisted forms of ‘untouchability’, in relation to which numerous campaigns and court cases have been waged,” the document says while pointing out that denial of access to temples implicates the right to free exercise of religion and access to public activities that are held in temples, such as the midday meal scheme. Source: The Hindu, October 28, 2009
The Indian Express, October 28, 2009
http://www.chrgj.org/, October 2009
IANS, November 6, 2008
|
