Chennai, April 10 (). Tension prevailed in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram on Monday after upper caste Hindus did not allow members of the Dalit community to enter the local Sri Dharmaraja Draupathi Amman temple at Melapathi village.
Interestingly, the temple is controlled by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department of the state government.
Kathiravan, a 23-year-old Dalit youth, had gone to the temple on Friday with two of his siblings and was attacked by caste Hindus, who barred them from entering.
Speaking to , Kathiravan said, caste Hindus prevented us from entering the Sri Dharmaraja Draupadi Amman temple and even assaulted us. We are not even allowed to take pictures of the idol, leave alone entry, he said.
For the past 70 years, Dalits were not allowed to enter the temple, but six months ago, the district authorities allowed them to enter when the idol of Dharmaraja was reinstalled. However, there was a curtain that prevented Dalits from getting a glimpse of the idol.
Melpathi village itself is divided into two areas – Oor where upper caste Hindus live while Cheri is where Dalits live.
There is tension in the area after caste Hindus started abusing and abusing Dalits. Heavy police force is deployed in the area to prevent any untoward incident.
The District Collector and the District Police had a round of talks with the Dalit leadership and upper caste Hindus on Saturday, but could not reach any conclusion.
Tamil Nadu Police has been given strict instructions to deploy heavy police force in Mapathi village and surrounding areas of Villupuram district to prevent any untoward incident.
SKK/ANM
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