A 100 sq.ft. temple on Jeeva Street at Singanallur here was demolished on Monday to enable full use of the street by a colony of Dalit families. The demolition, under police protection, opened up vehicle movement to the colony.
On January 30, authorities had demolished a wall that blocked access to the arterial Kamaraj Road for 58 Dalit families of Thanthai Periyar Colony. It was allegedly built across Jeeva Street to separate the colony of Dalits from a residential area of caste Hindus. The Dalits alleged that it was built 19 years ago to ensure that they did not pass through the colony of caste Hindus.
Though the wall was demolished, the temple was left alone in the face of a protest by Hindu outfits.
The authorities wanted to relocate it only on the basis of consensus.
It had held talks last week on shifting the temple that was located in the colony of the caste Hindus.
Supervised by senior officials, a special demolition squad of the civic body removed the structure after the idol of Lord Vinayaka was relocated and consecrated on a platform near an Amman temple. There was no resistance.
“First, the wall that stood as a symbol of discrimination for many years was demolished. Now, the temple also has been removed. Justice has been rendered to us,” said V. Rajan, a resident of the Dalit colony. “The younger generation in the colony was determined to do away with the discrimination that our elders had to put up with,” the 37-year-old Mr. Rajan said. “More than the mere physical block created by the wall, the discrimination it symbolised hurt us.” State convenor of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front P. Sampath appreciated the State government’s speedy action to remove the wall and the temple.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary N. Varadarajan welcomed the shifting of the idol.
It was after the vigorous struggle conducted by CPIM and Untouchability eradication Front that the 19 year old aparthied wall was demolished by the authorities. CPIM submitted a memoradum to the Coimbatore Corporation regarding this aparthied wall which is restricting the movement of dalits in the colony. CPIM Coimbatore Corporation Councillor C Padmanabhan, TNUEF leader U K Sivanjanam, V Perumal etc lead the movement
