Former Minister and MP for Chitradurga A. Narayanaswamy faced humiliating moments after he was denied entry into a Gollarahatti (settlement of Golla community) of Pemmanahalli in Pavagada taluk of Tumakuru district on Monday.
Mr. Narayanaswamy went to visit the Gollarahatti along with four doctors of Narayana Hrudayalaya and two persons from Biocon, Bengaluru, around 5.30 p.m. Some of the people of the Gollarahatti told him not to come inside as he belonged to a Scheduled Caste community and as per their tradition, people from Scheduled Castes were not allowed entry. Mr. Narayanaswamy confirmed the incident and told The Hindu , “I was deeply pained I was not allowed into the Gollarahatti as I am a Dalit. I had gone to listen to their problems and provide them housing and other basic amenities, as they have been living in huts for several years without amenities.”
Later, another group of people of the same Gollarahatti told him to enter their hatti , but he refused as he “did not want to make them to quarrel among themselves”. The MP said he could have forcibly entered the Gollarahatti with the help of police and registered a complaint, but did not do so as he was more keen on changing people’s mindset and educating them. “The people of the Golla community of that Gollarahatti told me that former MLA Thimmarayappa, who also belongs to a SC community, had not entered either,” Mr. Narayanaswamy said.
He expressed confidence that he would succeed in changing the mindset of the people of the Gollarahatti so that they themselves would invite him to visit in future.
Narayana Hrudyalaya and Biocon have come forward to provide housing and other amenities to the deprived classes of society as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility programmes.
