Dairies boycott 500 dalits who visited Galsana temple

The around 500 dalits of Galsana village are having to pay dearly for trying to enter the village’s temples. Now, they are being boycotted by local dairies which have refused to give them milk and milk products. This has forced the dalits to purchase milk from some shepherds who have been temporarily camping in the village for the last six months.

Galsana village is located in Dhandhuka taluka of Ahmedabad district and is a mere 100 km from Ahmedabad city. Forward caste members of the village have never allowed the dalits to enter any of the village’s five temples.

Sunil Parmar, one of the dalit youths who raised his voice against discrimination by the forward castes, said that initially (from February 5) only four families were denied milk and milk products. “Later, however, when we stuck to our demand to allow us entry into the temples, the dairies stopped selling milk to all of us,” he said.

Another dalit from the village, Dhanabhai Vegda, said that they had been discriminated against for years. “How can they say that everything is normal when the condition here is worsening by the day,” he said.

The director of social justice and empowerment department, MA Narmavala, along with his deputy and other officials from the department visited the village on Wednesday. However, they did not say anything about any discrimination and boycott of dalits.
Narmavala did not accept that the dalits of the village are not being allowed into the temple but he told DNA that if dalits do enter the temples en masse, the government will surely support them.

The de facto sarpanch of the village Savji Kolipatel (his wife is the elected sarpanch of Galsana) denied that any discrimination against dalits existed in the village.