The Kulavivaksha Vyatireka Porata Samithi (KVPS) and several other organisations on Monday took out a procession and staged a demonstration at the foot of Indrakeeladri demanding scrapping of GO 1060 that makes it mandatory to employ only Brahmins in temple kitchens to prepare prasadam.
Along with activists of the KVPS, those of Dalit Sena, Dravida Satta, Mala Mahanadu, MRPS, Rajaka Vruththidarula Sangham, AP Girijana Sangham and a few other organisations participated in the protest programme.
In the light of a recent controversy in the temple of goddess Kanakadurga atop Indrakeeladri, where the executive officer had to rescind his decision to enforce GO 1060 after the kitchen staff protested the termination of their services, the KVPS demanded that the GO should be completely scrapped, lest other temples would try to enforce this “highly discriminatory” order. If the GO was scrapped by April 14, it would be a fitting tribute to B.R. Ambedkar, whose birth anniversary falls on that day.
KVPS city secretary G. Nataraj and others pointed out that workers belonging to several backward communities and depressed classes were working in the kitchens of some of the major temples in the State.
The argument that only a particular community could ensure hygiene and cleanliness in the preparation of prasadam was derogatory, they said.
