Balai told The Wire, “I donated 5,100 rupees for the Ram Temple, I used to attend RSS shakhas as a child, and during the RSS centenary celebrations, my family showered volunteers with flowers.”
In May of this year, Vishnu Balai, a 40-year-old Dalit from Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district, wrote a letter to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat, seeking his help, alleging that anti-Dalit elements and some associated with the RSS had tried to prevent him from working as a priest at a temple in his village.
According to The Wire, Balai wrote to Bhagwat in a letter, “You talk about the entire Hindu society and mutual brotherhood. You are against caste discrimination, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is running a campaign for ‘one well, one crematorium, one temple.’ Yet, RSS volunteers have snatched my temple from me—a Dalit priest.”
He further said, “And now they want to implicate me and my family in false cases, send us to jail, and even kill us. Your volunteers are doing exactly the opposite of what you say.”
‘You are a low-caste man, we will make you drink dirty urine’
On July 16, Balai was allegedly attacked a second time near the Khakhul Dev temple while he was preparing for a puja.
The FIR, lodged at the Asind police station on July 16 based on the complaint of Balai’s wife, Sita Devi, states, “…they came with weapons, iron rods, iron pipes, and sticks and illegally entered the Khakhul Dev temple. They told my husband, ‘You are a low caste man, we will make you drink dirty urine and throw you out of the temple.'” Balai says he was first taken to the Asind health center and then referred to the Bhilwara district hospital, where he was admitted for a day and discharged on July 17. Speaking to The Wire, Balai alleged, “I was assaulted and suffered injuries to my body and ear. This was the second time I was attacked. I was attacked on August 14th last year, and I filed an FIR. My family has been serving as priests at the Khakhul Dev Temple for the past 400 years. But some people in our village, patronized by Asind MLA Jabbar Singh Sankhla and affiliated with the RSS, want to remove me from the position of temple priest.”
The FIR filed at the Asind police station on July 16th names six accused: Ramprasad Vaishnav, Govind Vaishnav, Bhagwan Lal Vaishnav, Ratan Lal Vaishnav, Sammu Jat, and Norat Vaishnav.
A case has been registered against them under sections 189(2) (unlawful assembly), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 126(2) (wrongful restraint), and 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
‘They don’t want a Dalit as a priest’
Balai further stated that this is his second FIR in this matter.
He added that the Rajasthan High Court had previously stayed the arrest of the accused in the FIR filed by Balai in August last year. Balai told The Wire, “They don’t want a Dalit to become a priest. The temple receives significant donations from devotees. The accused tried to create a trust and remove me from the priest’s position to seize the temple’s funds. I had previously sought help from Mohan Bhagwat. I donated 5,100 rupees for the Ram temple. I used to attend RSS shakhas as a child, and during the RSS centenary celebrations, my family showered flowers on volunteers. Am I not a Hindu? Am I being targeted just because I am a Dalit? Is this the Hindu unity the RSS talks about?”
Officials said the case is still in court, so the government has appointed a receiver for the Khakhul Dev Temple. After Balai’s wife filed an FIR on July 16 regarding the alleged assault, the accused also filed a counter-FIR against Balai, alleging that he had attacked her.
Bhilwara Superintendent of Police Sagar told The Wire, “Both parties have filed FIRs against each other, and the investigation is ongoing. We are also examining CCTV footage. Any decision on arrests will be taken only after further investigation.”
Activists have criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Rajasthan over the incident.
Activist Bhanwar Meghvanshi said, “If the case is in court and the government has appointed a receiver for the temple, how can a mob interfere and attack a Dalit man? What right do the villagers have to attack a Dalit priest? We demand strict action against the accused named in the FIR filed by Balai’s wife. Furthermore, the counter-FIR filed by the accused should also be quashed. This is an attempt to prevent a Dalit man from becoming a priest in the temple.”
BJP MLA denies allegations
When contacted, Jabbar Singh Sankhla, BJP MLA from Asind, denied the allegations made by Balai.
Sankhla said, “About 90% of the people in Barana village are RSS supporters. Balai’s family has traditionally been the priest of the Khakhul Dev Ji temple. Some educated villagers felt that this is such a popular temple, where thousands of quintals of grain are offered and lakhs of rupees are received from donations, yet there has been no development there. Even toilets for women are not built. They asked Balai to build toilets to stop open defecation and ensure cleanliness, which led to this controversy.”
Sankhla further said that the villagers formed a committee and decided that the money and grain received as offerings during religious rituals would belong to the priest, but a separate donation box (Daana Patra) was kept, the money from which would be used for the development of the temple.
He said, “The controversy escalated when Balai refused to install a new donation box or hand over its keys to the villagers. The allegations against me are false, and it is completely wrong to say that Balai was targeted because he is a priest. There is no truth in this. Priests do not have any caste. The law should take its course, and whoever is guilty should be punished.”
‘Return the temple to us Dalits’
In his letter to Bhagwat in May, Balai had said that the state government had ignored his complaints and requested the RSS chief to intervene. He alleged that RSS workers in the village had called a mahapanchayat against Dalits.
In a letter to Bhagwat, Balai said, “I request you with folded hands to stop the intimidation in the name of ‘Sakala Hindu Samaj’ and to stop the volunteers from snatching the temple from me, a Dalit priest. Also, please ask the BJP government in Rajasthan to remove the receiver and return the temple to us Dalits, and ensure police and legal action against the accused volunteers, so that we too can live with dignity like Hindus.”
Courtesy: Hindi News