Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Saturday demanded an immediate ban on an alleged practice in Karnataka in which Scheduled Caste people are made to roll on used food plates made of leaves in the belief that it will cure skin diseases.
Continuing with this tradition for the treatment of skin diseases was inhuman, humiliating and derogatory, Ms. Mayawati said in a statement here, and demanded that a ban be imposed on the “scurrilous” tradition forthwith.
She issued the statement in reaction to a private news channel showing people belonging to the Scheduled Caste rolling on used food plates outside a temple in Karnataka.
Noting that the custom went against the right to equality enshrined in the Constitution, Ms. Mayawati said casteist elements were playing with the dignity of the Scheduled Caste people.
