Valmikis said that at the SDM office, the upper-caste people agreed to allow entry into the temple and apologised for their behaviour, but they aren’t satisfied.

They said they are being economically suppressed.

“They aren’t entertaining us at their shops. They are neither selling milk to us nor buying from us. After that incident, they have not called us to work in their fields,” a man said.

No End To Birth-Based Discrimination?

Normal as the village may seem on the surface, a little scratching reveals deep wounds and deep-rooted social problems.



The Thakurs and the Brahmins seem to be one community and the Kolis, Jaatavs and Valmikis seem to be another, even though there may be further fissures within the two groups.

The Indian Constitution abolished untouchability by law but birth-based discrimination persists.

If law does not allow prohibition in the temple, the casteists have found another way to practise discrimination — a silent social and economic boycott.

And well, the Valmikis do not plan to go to the temple anytime soon. They don’t want to further rile up the upper castes, on whom they depend for their livelihood.

Watch the video statements of the communities in this Twitter thread: