CHIKKAMAGALURU: Hundreds of people from the Dalit community at Nidaghatta village in Kadur taluk of Chikkamagaluru district on Tuesday entered the caste Hindu temple of Anjanaeya Swamy, where they were denied entry for decades, and worshipped the deity.
Expecting trouble, the district administration had deployed hundreds of police personnel in the locality, however, the caste Hindus did not put up any resistance.
Kadur Tahsildar CS Poornima, Tarikere Deputy Superintendent of police VS Halamyrthy Rao, Taluk Panchayt Executive Officer CR Praveen, Circle Inspector M Rafiq and Sakrayapatna Sub Inspector Pwan monitored the situation.
Close to the Anjanaeya Swamy temple, the Dalit community has built a temple for Mahatma Gandhi and worshipped him there since independence.
Educated Dalit youth and progressive protagonists of Dalit movement in the village and surroundings had been fighting for their rights, including the provision for them to gain entry into Hindu temples, for the past five decades, but villagers had always put up a stiff resistance.
The Dalits leaders in the village had also taken up the issue with the Kadur taluk administration, but there were no positive steps so far.
After the incident-free movement on Tuesday, Dalit leaders YT Govindapa, Raghavendra, Banur Suresh, Kadur Pramod, Banur Naganna, Y Malapaura Thammaiah, Basur Prasana, Gopal, Jayanna and Kedigere Chandrapp thanked the taluk administration and the police department for the security arrangements.