Ahead of the Ram Mandir pran pratishtha event in Ayodhya, a foundation laying ceremony of a temple was held at the Gujjegowdanapura village. A resident of the village, under Harohalli Panchayat in the Mysuru district, had given a stone block to carve the idol of Ram Lalla made by Karnataka sculptor Arun Yogiraj.

The stone block had come from the land of a Dalit farmer Ramdas H, who has also donated land to build a Ram Temple in the village and the foundation ceremony was held on Monday.

Pratap Simha, who represents Mysuru-Kodagu in the Lok Sabha, was asked by the villagers to leave as he arrived at the spot where the villagers along with elected representatives, including former minister S R Mahesh and local MLA G T Devegowda, were participating in the event.

Suresh, a former taluk panchayat member, said, “You have never visited the village in 10 years and now for political reasons you are here. Other elected representatives including BJP MLAs have come here and were involved. You never bothered to listen to us and we do not want you to come here”.

While speaking to The Indian Express, Swamy Harohalli, a cousin of Ramdas, said villagers were unhappy with the MP. He said, “During Mahisha Dasara last year, Pratap Simha spoke against the community and its leaders. Some of our villagers were also arrested at his behest. He never cared to visit the village or bothered to ask our problems. But now, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, he came from nowhere."

“Besides, JD(S) leaders, even BJP MLA T S Srivatsa visited the place and spoke to the people but Pratap Simha never bothered to visit them,” he said.

Facing the ire of villagers, Pratap Simha left the place a few minutes after his arrival. Even though G T Devegowda and other leaders tried to pacify the villagers, they were not convinced.

• Category Title