Bengaluru: A week after he was stopped from entering a village in Tumkur district of Karnataka, Dalit MP Anekal Narayanaswamy was welcomed by residents of the same place on Monday.

The villagers of Gollarahatti in Pavagada taluk showered flowers, beat drums and garlanded him when the Chitradurga MP returned to the village where he was “not allowed to enter" on September 17 as belonged to the Dalit community. The village in Tumkur district falls under Chitradurga Lok Sabha constituency that Narayanaswamy represents.

"What happened that day was not intentional. Before I stepped into the village, some people told me that no one from my community (Madiga) had entered the village before as that was tradition. Nobody threatened me, nobody forced me to stay out. I appreciate the villagers for allowing a social change to take place today,” said the MP, accompanied by seers of various mutts, while addressing the villagers.

For long, the Yadava village had barred members of Madiga community from entering their locality. Last week, when Narayanaswamy had reached the village along with corporate representatives for initiating developmental work under their CSR programmes, he too meted out the same treatment.

Although this amounted to atrocity against a member of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe, Narayanaswamy had refused to file a complaint stating that he wanted a change in people’s outlook. "I don't want to file an FIR and take legal action. That is not going to change their mindset,” he had said.

Meanwhile, the district administration and officials from the social welfare department held discussions with the villagers about the discrimination they had shown and how this was wrong, following which the Member of Parliament was invited to the village and accorded a grand welcome.