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Dalits boycott a festival at the Durgāparamēśvarī temple, Dakṣiṇa Kannaḍa district, KA, after being made to sit separately from the 'upper castes' for their meal. The organiser of the festival tells them to 'keep quiet', to avoid 'ruining the festival'. kannadaprabha.com/karnataka/karn…
This is why I'm not wholly convinced about the motives behind the 'free our temples from government' activism on Twitter. Temples freed will invariably go into the hands of the same sort of people telling the dalits above to 'keep quiet'. Social ills deserve to be eradicated.
'Dharma warriors' talk about 'free our temples' as a cause that's going to benefit all 'Hindus', but when it comes to walking the talk they tell us how a 'sampradāya' has 'special' rights. If you hold your sampradāya's rights above others', why use others' name in your campaign?
The dalits in the article make the same point, their labour is used for the preparations for the temple festival, but in the end they're prevented from eating with dignity in the same festival. There is a Kannada proverb apt for this situation, āṭakkuṇṭu lekkakkilla.
To put it simply, if a 'sampradāya', or any group, wishes to retain its 'special' rights, it must campaign solely in its own name. It is pure hypocrisy to campaign in the name of all, and then claim the benefits alone and not have the decency to treat people with basic humanity.
