Various Dalit activists led by former Mayor Purushotham take objection to temple plans on a Dalit-owned land

Mysuru: The ceremony to lay foundation stone for the construction of Dakshina Ayodhya Sri Baalarama Mandira (temple) at Harohalli-Gujjegowdanapura village in Mysuru, scheduled to be held yesterday, was suspended at the last minute, following the stiff opposition of various Dalit activists.

Harohalli-Gujjegowdanapura is the village from where the black schist stone for the carving of Balak Ram idol installed at Ayodhya Sri Ram temple in Uttar Pradesh, was sourced.

Baalarama Shilodbhava Kshetra Charitable Trust (BRSK), founded by H. Ramdas (in whose land, where one Srinivas Nataraj is running a quarry and the black schist stone was found) and Jayamma couple, as its Trustees, had taken the initiative to develop the place into a religious destination.

Udupi Pejawar Mutt Seer Sri Vishwaprasanna Theertha Swamij, MP Yaduveer Wadiyar, MLA G.T. Devegowda, sculptor Arun Yogiraj, RSS leader M. Venkatram and others were scheduled to take part in the ceremony.

Prior to the foundation laying ceremony, the religious rituals had begun, when a posse of Dalit activists, led by former Mayor R. Purushotham, arrived at the spot and took exception to the puja rituals.

They alleged that, this being the agricultural land allotted by the Government and owned by a Dalit, we won’t object if any educational institution or a library is built at the same place. But, we won’t allow any attempts to grab the land in the name of constructing a temple.

The activists warned of not allowing the temple to come up at any cost saying, “For several years, we had been kept in dark, by those worshipping Lord Ram. The literacy rate among Dalits has touched 75% against 5% literacy rate that existed earlier, which was possible due to the knowledge of law provided by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. How fair it would be, if we are pushed towards practicing superstitious beliefs again? asked Purushotham.

If any bid is made again to continue with the plans, the chief guests will be restrained from attending the ceremony, warned Purushotham, who along with fellow activists, damaged the flex boards related to the ceremony and raised slogans against the organisers.