After decades of purported restriction imposed by persons of intermediate castes, Dalits of Rajavoor village in Madathukulam taluk of Tiruppur district reportedly offered worship at the Rajakaliamman Temple, administered by the HR&CE Department, in the Myvadi Panchayat hamlet on Sunday.
However, officials of the Revenue and the Police Departments maintain that discrimination ceased to exist three decades ago, and claim that all community members offered joint worship at the temple on Saturday in their presence, when they had visited the place. On Sunday, about 60 Dalits belonging to the Arundathiar sub-caste led by Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front members proceeded to the temple to offer worship. Discrimination against Dalits in the hamlet also reflected in the form of two-tumbler practice in a tea stall, according to the functionaries who had visited the hamlet to carry out a fact-finding survey following the attack on Dalits by members of dominant castes earlier this month. Subsequently, on behalf of VCK and other Dalit outfits, a petition was submitted to Collector T. Christuraj a week ago seeking an end to the practice.
Udumalpet RDO R. Jaswanth Kannan said when he and Madathukulam Police Station Inspector enquired with the villagers, it was found that discrimination existed three decades ago and the residents have been living in harmony since.
It came to light that a property dispute within members of a Dalit family had taken the dimension of caste issue, he said.
According to him, there was a property issue in a Dalit family and that an elder who went to resolve the issue on invitation belonged to an intermediate caste. An exchange of blows did take place during the course of their discussion, but it was within the Dalit family, with members of intermediate castes supporting warring sides of the Dalit family. “The issue had been given a twist,” the Udumalpet RDO said, adding: “No complaint of discrimination has been received from Dalits in the hamlet over the last three decades.”
Meanwhile, flagging another instance, the Vidudhalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) has alleged that Dalits are being restricted from entering the Mariamman Temple at Pongupalayam near Perumanallur.
In a petition to the district administration, former Tiruppur district unit Secretary of VCK A. Tamilvendan claimed that the Dalits are able to offer worship at the temple only from behind an iron fencing about 100 feet away from the temple compound.
