A section of protesters, including AIDWA members, who staged a protest against discrimination meted out to one particular community by denying them entry into a temple at Thoppalakarai near Aruppukottai on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Former CPI (M) MLA, K. Bala Bharathi, has flayed Virudhunagar district administration for its ‘lethargic’ attitude in finding solution to an issue wherein people belonging to one particular community have been denied entry into Shri Rengi Muthamman Temple at Thoppalakarai for the last eight years.
When members of the AIDWA, led by its general secretary A. Radhika, and district secretary Uma Maheswari, gathered to stage temple entry with the women belonging to a backward community who were not allowed into it, they were arrested by the police on Wednesday.
Ms. Bala Bharathi complained that the police detained her outside the village in order to prevent her from participating in the Pongal event organised at the temple as part of temple entry programme.
The protesters said public address system installed in the temple was making periodical announcements claiming that the temple belonged to only six particular communities.
“The people had lodged a complaint with the revenue officials, but no action has been taken to stop it. Even the banned cone speakers have not been removed,” she said.
The former MLA wondered how the Revenue and Police officials allowed such a discrimination against people of one particular community in a temple that has been constructed on government poramboke land.
Ms. Bala Bharathi said the Left parties had extended support to the TVK Government that had promised to uphold social justice. “We want the government to give suitable instructions to the officials to ensure social justice in the temple,” she added.
Published – July 01, 2026 07:53 pm IST
