Terming "made snana", rolling over plantain leaves
containing leftovers of the food served to Brahmins, and “pankthi beda”,
discrimination in serving food based on caste, as “anti-people” and
“anti-constitution”, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) launched
their series of rallies against the rituals in Kukke Subramanya on
Friday.
The inauguration was marked amidst the
presence of several police personnel, after the department granted them
permission to stage the protest only outside the temple town. CPI(M)
State Secretary G.V. Sriram Reddy, who launched the rally, said the
party “completely opposed” the “regressive” rituals. “The government has
to make their stance clear on the issue. When the Karnataka High Court
asked for a stance, the government said they opposed made snana and the
ritual should be modified to Ede Snana (rolling over food offered to the
deity). There is no difference in the rituals. Both should be banned,”
he said.
He said that if practices such as sati and
dowry could be banned despite the “blind belief” of people, then even
Made Snana and Pankthi Beda could be banned. K.S.
Shivaram of the Karnataka State Backward Classes Awareness Forum, who
was assaulted last year by devotees during the Made Snana at the temple,
said that by condoning the ritual, the government shows that it “did
not care” about the backward classes. He urged the Pejavar swamiji to stop pankthi beda in Udupi Math.
The party's district secretary, B. Madhava, said the rallies were not against the devotees but against the government. On
December 24, the awareness rally would proceed, on foot, from Mangalore
to Udupi, culminating in a protest meet on December 27.
(Source : The Hindu)
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