HASSAN: It was a new awakening for the Scheduled Castes of Sigaranahalli in Holenarsipur taluk of Hassan who entered Basaveshwara Temple in the village and performed pujas to the deity in the presence of police officials on Sunday.
There was tension in the village after four Dalit women were driven out of the temple by upper caste Hindus on August 31 last year and since then, the temple was locked up owing to tension between members of two castes.
To put an end to the matter, Superintendent of Police Rahul Kumar along with other officials opened the temple on Saturday evening and members of SCs entered the temple on Sunday to perform pujas.
Mr Rahul Kumar told DC that the temple was re-opened after obtaining consent from all villagers. He felt the tension at the village has been reduced by reopening the temple. But the SP added that “It would take some time for differences among villagers to settle down.” Meanwhile, police deployment at the village will continue until there is peace in the village.
One of the SC women, Tayamma who was among 35 others who performed pujas at the re-opened temple, was not happy over Dalits entering the shrine with police security. She said, “It would have given pleasure to us had upper castes too joined us in pujas.” Though, the temple has been re-opened, there is no priest to attend to the devotees.
Shivappa, a priest who used to perform pujas before it was locked up, has refused to perform pujas at the temple citing tension at the village. Efforts to rope in other priests have not yielded positive results so far.
