CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday vowed to establish equality in temples by breaking barriers that prevent ‘archakas’ of various castes from performing poojas.
Expressing happiness over 115 students, including 11 women, successfully completing training for priests and Oodhuvars in HR and CE temples, Stalin, in a poetic post on X handle, said, “They said don’t enter the street where the temple is. We entered! They prevented us from stepping into the temple. We did! They excluded us from entering the sanctum sanctorum. We enacted laws to ensure all-caste archakas made this possible and started schools to train them as priests. Now, many people are passing out after training. Dravidam rejoices over this! We will thwart all the barriers to stop them and establish equality!”
In a letter written to party cadre, Stalin said following visits to Coimbatore and Virudhunagar districts, he will visit Perambalur and Ariyalur on November 14 and 15 to assess the progress of projects and review their implementation.
Highlighting the government’s commitment to welfare measures, Stalin noted that ministers, officials, and he himself are dedicated to ensuring that no one misses out on their rightful welfare benefits. He also said that during his Perambalur and Ariyalur visit, an international shoe company plans to establish a factory in the region.
On behalf of the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, Stalin on Tuesday inaugurated newly constructed panchayat union offices in 17 districts, including Coimbatore, Erode, Kanyakumari, Pudukkottai, Tenkasi, Trichy and others, from the secretariat through videoconference facility. These buildings were constructed at the cost of Rs 64.53 crore.