Dalits from the Kuravakudi Village in Usilampatti submitted a petition to the Collector alleging that discrimination by the non-dalits in the village who had opposed their participation in a temple festival.
According to their petition, they claimed that during the Kumbhabhishekam of Sri Badhrakali Amman Temple held in January this year, they were ostracised and kept away from participating in the ceremonies. They further alleged that they were humiliated by the non-dalits of the village when they tried to lift ‘milk pots’ and ‘sprout pots’ for the temple festival.
In their petition, they further claimed that they were being forced to carry out menial tasks when there are deaths in the houses of non-dalits of the village.
However, a non-dalit from the village refuted their claims and said that they had not opposed their participation or humiliated their move to carry milk pots.
“We just questioned the need for them to introduce new customs as a part of the festival and when they insisted to carry out the customs, we did not stand in the way,” he said.
