00:00In Tamil Nadu now, Kalakuruchi Temple opens for SC devotees.
00:05SC devotees enter temple under police watch.
00:08Cops break temple lock and allow scheduled caste devotees to enter.
00:14Over 50 cops have been deployed at the Kalakuruchi Temple.
00:18SC devotees have entered the temple after decades.
00:22And this brings about an end to a 50-year-long exclusion of Dalits from the temple.
00:30The temple entry, however, has also sparked tensions in Kalakuruchi itself.
00:35Cops have stepped in to prevent any sort of clash or untoward incident over the temple entry.
00:40Adi Dravidar devotees offer prayers under police protection.
00:45And we have Pramod Madhav joining us on the broadcast to put things into further context.
00:51Pramod, a very good afternoon to you.
00:53This is, in a way, historic in itself.
00:56A 50-year-long bias that the Dalits have faced comes to an end with their entry to this very
01:03temple.
01:04Maybe under police watch for now, but still a big step towards them being allowed in the first place.
01:12As you might know, Tamil Nadu always considered itself as one of the progressive states when it comes to social
01:18justice.
01:19And I know the way that any party, be it DMK, AI, DMK, and now even TVK calls its alliance
01:24as one of the social justice alliance in the state.
01:26But unfortunately, such instances are still continuing.
01:29And now, imagine, even like this particular temple have reportedly washed with the private maintenance for the past 50 years.
01:36And since two years, we've been told that the government has taken control of this particular temple.
01:40And even after that, the Dalit community in that particular village near Chinnasalem, and they have been fighting to enter
01:47the temple.
01:47And we've been told that the villages from that area claim that they were allowed to come to the temple
01:52gates, worship and go.
01:54But after some time, the people over there wanted to actually enter the temple, which has forced the police to
01:59actually give them protection, open the temple's gate locks, and allow them to enter inside.
02:04The question is that even at 2026, such things are still pertaining in the state of Tamil Nadu, where a
02:11large fight is required for a community of people to enter a temple.
02:15That is something that needs to be pondered about, Freya.
02:19And on that note, Pramo, do stay back with us.
02:22We have some more news coming in.
02:23But for now, viewers, these are the details on the temple in Kalakuruchi that we are speaking of, where Dalits
02:29have made an entry after 50 long years.
