india

Updated: Sep 18, 2019 03:01 IST

Local villagers in Karnataka’s Tumakuru district allegedly stopped Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker A Narayanaswamy from entering their village because he is Dalit, prompting authorities to order an inquiry on Tuesday.

Narayanswamy and state minister Jagadish Shettar confirmed that the Chitradurga MP was allegedly stopped on Monday at Gollarahatti, a village dominated by the backward Yadava community, because of his caste. The BJP’s lawmaker was on a visit to the village to discuss drinking water problems.

”I visited the village as part of a team to provide reverse osmosis water plants in every school in the village, when I was denied entry by a group of residents,” Narayanaswamy said.

“I could have forcibly entered the village but chose not to do so because I didn’t want to make the situation worse,” Narayanswamy said. “I think the incident highlights how much more work is required to be done in terms of educating the people about the Constitution and about human equality,” he added. The lawmaker said he had requested the authorities not to press charges against anybody in the village.

Meanwhile, some villagers told local TV channels that according to their tradition, “Dalits cannot enter” their community settlement.