Tiruvannamalai, October 1, 2013: As many as 29 Dalits of Siruvallur village entered Sri Gangai Narayana Perumal Temple in their village, breaking age old social stigma, amid tension on Monday.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Untouchability Eradication Front launched by the party have jointly announced temple entry agitation in the village on Monday. They alleged that the Dalits could not enter the temple and there were double tumbler system in the village.

Cadre of the CPI (M) thronged the village and about 150 police personnel provided fool-proof security. The cadre led by their State secretariat member and MLA K. Balakrishnan tried to take a rally to the temple. However, led by panchayat president K. Ramamurthi, the caste Hindus argued that they never prevented any dalit from entering the temple in their village and hence ‘outsiders’ leading dalits of their village into temple under the banner of ‘temple entry agitation’ would bring disgrace to their village. “Indeed we are ready to escort willing dalits of our village into temple. But we would not allow outsiders, especially as part of agitation,” Mr.Ramamurthi said.

Polur DSP R. Ganesan and Kalasapakkam Tahsildar P. Gopal spoke with two sides separately several times. Revenue Divisional Officer, Tiruvannamalai, T. Kasi, DSPs A. Mani, Kumaravel and Pandiyarajan joined the negotiations and tried to explain the caste Hindus that they could not prevent an MLA from visiting a temple. Then, 29 Dalit members were taken in a van to the temple. While they entered the temple, for the first time in their life, Mr. Balakrishnan waited outside. “I never attempted to visit the temple out of fear. I feel happy now,” a woman among the dalits said.

The temple priest told The Hindu “no Dalit ever entered the temple before, though none prevented them. Out of fear they desisted from entering”.

Source: The Hindu, October 1, 2013