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Tension gripped Akividu town in Andhra Pradesh’s West Godavari district on Sunday, April 5, after members of Hindu groups called for a rally in support of building a Ram temple in the Pedapeta area of Akividu.
Police took members of some Hindu organisations into custody while they were heading to the town to demand construction of a Ram temple in Pedapeta. However, Dalit residents of the village have opposed these plans, saying the structure originally housed the deity Gonethenamma, worshipped by the Mala (Scheduled Caste) community.
According to reports, the Hindu groups insisting on building a Ram temple do not belong to Pedapeta. Dalits living in the village have said they wouldn’t oppose the dilapidated temple being reconstructed in honour of the Gonethenamma deity, but don’t want it to be turned into a Ram temple.
On March 5, police stopped leaders and workers of Hindu groups marching towards the town from various places and took them into custody. Additional forces were deployed in the town in view of the call given by Hindu organisations for a rally amid the dispute between sections of Hindus, and Dalits.
Prohibitory orders have been imposed in the town to prevent any gathering. Police made it clear that there is no permission for any rally or public meeting.
Police set up a checkpost near the town to check every vehicle entering the area. Buses of the Road Transport Corporation (RTC) were also checked to ensure that outsiders do not enter the town to create disturbances.
Actor Karate Kalyani, a right-wing proponent and member of BJP Telangana, was stopped and detained by police at Kaikalur in Eluru district as she was heading to Akividu in support of the demand for construction of a Ram temple.
Last week on March 27, tensions broke out between Dalit residents of Pedapeta and leaders and workers of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) over the Ram temple dispute. A scuffle broke out after Deputy Speaker K Raghu Rama Krishna Raju garlanded a Ram idol in the structure on the occasion of Sri Ram Navami.
Groups led by Deputy Speaker K Raghu Rama Krishnam Raju visited the region twice — first on March 7 and then on March 27, the festival of Sree Rama Navami.
Following a scuffle that broke out on the first visit on March 7, cases were booked against both sides. However, in the aftermath of the violence that broke out on March 27, only the Dalits were charged with cases. The police booked 58 Dalit persons, of whom 27 were arrested and remanded to judicial custody, according to a recent fact-finding report by the Human Rights Forum (HRF).
HRF found that the structure housing the Gonthenamma idol is not a temple in the conventional sense. Instead, it is a choultry (inn) where the idol was placed. A few decades ago, idols of Ram and Sita were also installed in the structure with the assent of the Gonthenamma temple caretaker. It is the allegedly “dilapidated condition" of this structure that gave rise to the RSS demand for a Ramalayam.
HRF alleged that attempts were made to convert the Gonthenamma shrine into a Ram temple. It further alleged that Raghu Rama Krishna Raju, a TDP MLA, along with some Hindu organisations, is behind these attempts.
With IANS inputs