Dalit residents of Gollapalli village in Tirupati district alleged that temple trustees of Polakshamma temple, belonging to the dominant caste, prevented them from taking part in the annual temple festival. The victims alleged that the temple trustees had been making some excuse or the other to prevent them from the festival for the past two years. Alleging caste-based discrimination, the Dalit residents protested in front of the temple on Saturday, August 19. Polakshamma is a deity distinctive to the Rayalaseema region. The protest seemed to have enraged the Temple Trustees, and when the deity’s procession was taken a day later, on Sunday, the temple management committee skipped the routine plan of passing through Gollapalli village, which has only Dalits.
Gollapalli falls under Ramakrishnapuram Panchayat in Puttur Mandal. While other six villages in the Panchayat are dominated by Reddys, Gollapalli houses about 70 families, all of them belonging to the Scheduled Caste (Mala), and there are two sections among them- Tamil and Telugu.
According to the village residents, the Polaskhamma festival is a week-long celebration observed by other villages under Ramakrishnapuram Panchayat limits. During the celebrations, the temple located about 150 meters from the village is open to visitors throughout and the residents of all villages can offer prayers and Prasadam. In the premises of the temple, they offer sacrifice to the deity. Culminating the celebrations, a procession of the deity passes through in all seven villages and is then taken back to the temple in Gollapalli.
“We went to the temple with 80 people including women and children with a traditional procession. However we found that the temple was locked. We waited for three hours until 6 pm and then offered prasadam from outside the temple. We called the temple trust committee members and they made us wait and did not open the temple,” Gajapati, resident of Gollapalli said.
Dalit women with offerings for the deity wait outside the temple
CPIM member and anti-caste activist Venkateshwarulu told TNM that after the incident, the police Circle Inspector intervened and held a discussion with seven trustee members all who belong to the dominant caste Reddy community and assured that the procession will take place in the village.
“Last year, the procession did not take place in Gollapalli, similar discussions were held when the dalits raised concerns similar discussions were held in the presence of board members,” Venkateshwarulu said.
Gajapati, alleged that the procession did not enter the dalit village of Gollapalli last year too. “If there are 30 lanes in a Reddy village the procession passes through all the streets, but not in Gollapalli. Why is there discrimination? The temple trust members must answer,” Gajapati said. “We demand justice(what). No SC MLA, Minister or anyone is talking about it as the temple trust members have links with ruling party leaders,” Gajapati alleged.
On Monday, August 21 anti-caste organizations held a round table meeting with the residents where they expressed to file cases against the trustee members of the temple for preventing temple entry.
Vandavasi Nagaraju, an anti-caste activist from Kula Vivaksha Porata Samithi (KVPS) said, “The possession did not pass through Gollapalli even after the intervention of public officials. We demand to take action against the board members who prevented the procession and discriminated against the residents on the basis of caste,” Nagaraju said.
Puttur Circle Inspector Laxmi Narayana told TNM that there are differences between two sections of Dalit Communities- Telugu and Tamil and not with the dominant caste Reddys. According to the Inspector, the Telugu Dalit community is opposing the entry of the procession into the lanes where Tamil Dalits live in Gollapalli due to issues in the past.
It was decided between the groups that the procession will not take place and that all the residents of Gollapalli can pay a visit to the temple. However, the Tamil Dalit community members maintained that the procession should be brought into all the lanes and filed a complaint against the trust board members.” He added that the police are finding facts and investigating the case.