Udupi: CPI (M) Protest - Clashes Erupt, Police Resort to Lathi Charge

Pics: Hemanath Padubidri
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SM)

Udupi, Dec 27: Clashes erupted near Sanskrit College here on Thursday December 27 after CPI (M) activists tried to forcibly enter the Car Street during their protest against Made Snana and discrimination over serving food at Sri Krishna Temple.

The CPI (M) had launched its protest on December 21 at Kukke Subramanya Temple and flagged off its rally from Mangalore to Udupi on December 24 which culminated on Thursday.

The protestors were on their march towards Car Street and then on to Sri Krishna Temple, when they were stopped by the police near Sanskrit College. Several protestors and policemen were injured in the lathi charge that followed and admitted to hospital at Ajjarkad.

Many of the protestors were detained and later released.

During the protest, working president of CPI (M) Sriram Reddy said that such beliefs as Made Snana and Ede Snana are superstitions which should be eradicated. "Similar protest was organized before when BJP was ruling and court had ordered the government to submit its opinion on Made Snana. The Pejawar Swamiji suggested replacing Made Snana with 'Ede Snana' but the ritual is same. The government is not bothered about the people but only concerned about temples," he said.

"Differences between Puttige and Sode Maths are creating problems for people as food is not being served properly. We are not against Puttige Swamiji. Also, Pejawar Swamiji says that all are one but it is only for publicity," he alleged.

CPI(M) secretary B Madhava also called upon people to raise their voice against discrimination in serving food at Sri Krishna Temple and against Made Snana.

CPI (M) politburo member M A Baby said that similar things had happened in Kerala's Guruvayur and Vaikom temples. "All religions should support such movements," he said.

G N Nagaraj, Nityananda Swamy, K R Sriyan, Prasanna Kumar, Varalaxmi, Basavaraj, Maruthi, Shivaram and others were detained.

The protest began in the morning in a peaceful manner, but turned violent later in the day.

Tahsildar agannath Rao said policemen were not responsible for the injuries. "Policemen only tried to pull back the protesters. The protestors were not locals. They were arrogant and aggressive because of which the incident took place," he said.