Priest in Jamnagar village bars entry of untouchables into temple

Rajkot: A priest in a village of Jamnagar district has stoked a controversy after he put up a banner barring entry of untouchables in the temple.
According to sources, the banner that read "untouchables, including gents and ladies that include Muslims, Koli and dalits are strictly prohibited entry to this temple'' was put up outside the temple that belongs to the Rabari community in Satapar village of Jamjodhpur taluka.
When contacted, Satapar sarpanch Jagdish Dodiya told TOI the banner was put up by Parbat Rabari, the community temple priest. "I received a call from the collector's office informing about such a ban on Monday. We inquired and found that the banner was put up 3-4 days ago. We immediately removed it and warned the priest not to do so again," Dodiya told TOI.
Dodiya said that there was no animosity between any community in the village, which has a population of around 5,000, and everyone has been living in harmony.
"There has never been any caste-related dispute or quarrel in the village. But this priest seems to be very orthodox and he slapped the ban on his own,'' the sarpanch said.
However, dalit rights activist Kantilal Parmar, who sounded off social justice department officials in Gandhinagar about the discriminatory banner, said that merely removing the decree is not enough and action must be taken against the responsible persons.
"This is the dark reality of dalits in Gujarat where even after six decades of independence, they are being humiliated and their entries are banned in temples,'' Parmar said.
Jamnagar collector R J Makadia said they will inquire into the matter. "I just got to know that the discriminatory banner was removed. It seems that the complaint was made directly to Gandhinagar to the concerned department and it may have directed the taluka level officials but we were not intimated about it."