On March 13, as Mamata Das, Santanu Das, Lakkhi Das, Puja Das, and Sasthi Das — all members of the Das Dalit sub-caste — climbed the stairs of the Gidheswar temple in the Purba Bardhaman district of West Bengal, a discriminatory practice that had persisted for more than 200 years was brought to a welcome end. The Gidheswar temple entry also showed how breakthroughs can happen when the administration acts to uphold the constitutionally enshrined rights of citizens. Dalit families of Gidhagram village have been barred from entering the temple for centuries. On February 24, just days before the festival of Mahashivratri, they wrote to the district administration seeking intervention. Despite protests from the upper caste communities, who cited the “tradition” of the village as grounds for denying them entry, police and civil volunteers ensured that the Dalit families could offer puja safely.
In 1930, Babasaheb Ambedkar led a protest outside Kalaram temple in Nashik to secure Dalit entry. If even after 75 years of independence, similar concerns persist, they call for a wider questioning and introspection. Gidhagram has shown that when the administration doesn’t give in to the demands of the powerful upper castes and remains steadfast in its commitment to uphold constitutional guarantees of equality for all, a “casteless” society can draw closer as a reality, rather than remaining a convenient myth.
