: After two days of tension over Dalit participation in two temple kumbabishekams , normality returned to villages on the outskirts of Salem on Wednesday as families returned to their houses and decided to fight the issue legally.
Trouble erupted after Dalit community members demanded participation in the kumbabishekam , scheduled for Wednesday, at Sri Sailagirishwarar temple in Thirumalaigiri and Sri Varatharaja Perumal temple in Vedukathampatti, which were renovated recently by Vanniyar community members.
Peace talks failed and the district administration invoked Section 144 on March 2 that prevented villagers from gathering or conducting the kumbabishekam .
On Tuesday morning, villagers gathered at Siddhar Temple and demanded that the kumbabishekam be conducted and they be allowed to participate. They besieged two revenue officials, who were later rescued. However, they continued camping in the Siddhar Temple in the night and left home in the Wednesday morning.
Sources said that both the community members decided to take the issue to the court and started their routine activities. Shops were opened and normality returned in the afternoon. However, the huge police contingent remained in the villages. Steel Plant police registered case against three identified persons and others for besieging revenue officials under Sections 147, 342, 186 and 188 of the IPC.
Meanwhile, addressing reporters in Salem, Pattali Makkal Katchi president G.K. Mani blamed the district administration for the trouble that has created fear in the minds of the devotes who were fasting all these days for the kumbabishekam .
“They do not belong to these villages. A few people from outside induce them to create trouble,” he said, condemning the invocation of Section 144 that came as a shock to the villagers and demanded its withdrawal.
“The administration favours only a particular community. There is no communal harmony and it works against the welfare of the people,” he claimed.
The PMK would stage a protest in Salem for which date would be announced soon. The district unit of the Marxist Communist Party of India also demanded the conduct of kumbabishekam at the earliest.
