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Tamil Nadu District Tense As Authorities Plan To Lead Dalits Into TempleA community of Scheduled Castes in Tamil Nadu who were denied entry into a temple for several decades will be taken into the temple for worship by the district administration in the Tiruvannamalai district, authorities said today. The issue came to light during a parent-teacher conference, and the historic step became possible following a series of meetings with the dominant communities in the area. However, there's heavy police deployment outside the temple to avert any untoward incident as the situation is tense because of fierce opposition by some.
Around 500 Scheduled Caste families live in the Melmudiyanur village, and the community has been denied entry to the 200-year-old temple for over three decades. The dominant communities are reluctant, saying the communities agreed to pray at different temples decades ago, and no change in that so-called tradition is required now.
There's heavy police deployment outside the temple as more than 750 people from the dominant communities are protesting the move, and demanding the dealing of the temple. The district administration plans to make the move at 10 pm today.
The District Collector and the Superintendent of Police led a series of peace committee meetings to persuade the dominant communities to allow temple entry for SCs.
This is part of the Pongal celebrations and if everything goes according to what the police have planned, people from the Scheduled Castes will be taken inside the temple and allowed to prepare Pongal and perform prayers and rituals.
Around 15 to 20 families from the SC communities have come forward to go into the temple and worship, and the police hope this could be a fresh beginning. Others also would come in later, and this could break the 'communal divide', as many call it.
This will be the second such incident recently in the state. In the Pudukkottai district, too, the District Collector had led a group of delegates who were denied entry into a temple. She ensured entry for them after reports of excreta being mixed in the drinking water tank that supplied water for a community of Scheduled Castes.
Around 500 Scheduled Caste families live in the Melmudiyanur village, and the community has been denied entry to the 200-year-old temple for over three decades. The dominant communities are reluctant, saying the communities agreed to pray at different temples decades ago, and no change in that so-called tradition is required now.
There's heavy police deployment outside the temple as more than 750 people from the dominant communities are protesting the move, and demanding the dealing of the temple. The district administration plans to make the move at 10 pm today.
The District Collector and the Superintendent of Police led a series of peace committee meetings to persuade the dominant communities to allow temple entry for SCs.
This is part of the Pongal celebrations and if everything goes according to what the police have planned, people from the Scheduled Castes will be taken inside the temple and allowed to prepare Pongal and perform prayers and rituals.
Around 15 to 20 families from the SC communities have come forward to go into the temple and worship, and the police hope this could be a fresh beginning. Others also would come in later, and this could break the 'communal divide', as many call it.
This will be the second such incident recently in the state. In the Pudukkottai district, too, the District Collector had led a group of delegates who were denied entry into a temple. She ensured entry for them after reports of excreta being mixed in the drinking water tank that supplied water for a community of Scheduled Castes.