Tumakuru: Good sense appears to have finally won over prejudice in the village of Pemmanahalli Gollarahatti in Pavagada taluk. The people, who had stopped BJP Member of Parliament, A. Narayanaswamy from entering it last week because he was from the Madiga community, a scheduled caste, made history by welcoming him with garlands on Monday when he visited Gollarahatti, accompanied by a host of seers from various religious institutions in response to their invitation.
By opening their doors to the Chitradurga MP, the villagers of Pemmanahalli Gollarahatti have ended a centuries old custom of barring scheduled castes (SCs) from entering it. Mr Narayanaswamy is not the only elected representative, who was turned away by the villagers, as in the past former MP, N. Chandrappa and former minister, Venkataramanappa, who also belong to scheduled castes, did not dare enter it in face of their bias.
But following the uproar over Mr Narayanaswamy being refused entry to the village, the people here seem to have had a change of heart and Hiriyur BJP MLA, Poornima invited him to Gollarahatti to make up for the humiliation he had suffered the last time. Although the event was scheduled for last Friday, it was postponed and sources close to the MP say his followers wanted to make it a big affair.
And they succeeded, as he was accompanied by seers, Eshwaranandapuri swamiji, Krishnayadavananda swamiji, and Shantaveera swamiji, among others, as he made a grand entry into the village, with children welcoming him in a procession and flower petals being showered on him. Mr Narayanaswamy, in turn, was the picture of humility, apologising to the villagers for any hurt he may have caused them and promising to provide them all basic amenities.
He said he would make Gollarahatti a revenue village in a year's time. Pavagada Golla Community Association president, Narasimhappa appealed to him to bring pressure on the Union government to accord a scheduled tribes status to the Kadu Golla community and set up a Golla Development Corporation.
He claimed that all communities lived in harmony in the village but some "miscreants" had deliberately trigged the tension between two communities , which had caught the nation's attention recently.
