Students of Dalit community and Abhibhak have complained of caste discrimination by Brahmins who were brought to perform Saraswati Puja at Budhakot Mavi in Sanfebagar Municipality-9 of Achham.
Chetraj Bhatta, a local, was invited by the school on Monday to perform puja at the Saraswati temple on the premises. The students themselves complained that the priest put Dalit students on the ground by placing them on the ground.
Surgeon Pariyar of Sanfebagar Municipality-9 Budhakot, who is also the president of Teachers' Parents' Association, said that he was also wrapped in a red teak sal leaf and placed on the ground from a distance. "My wife and I went to the temple of Saraswati Mata inside the school to offer offerings. Others were applying tika by the hands of the priest called by the school. I also went to get vaccinated. But he wrapped tika in a sal leaf and placed it on the ground,' he said, 'I left there saying that I would not wear tika after being discriminated against.'
He said that he was the president of the Teachers' Parents' Association for three terms and that he had to be harassed because he was always a Dalit in the school's prayers and other events. Every year there is discrimination against Dalits in Saraswati Puja and other events. It happened last year as well," said the surgeon, "We always kept quiet about the fact that we have to live in the same village, why make it a big issue. But discrimination against us did not stop. Now we are forced to speak too much.
The headmaster of the school, Chakra Kuvar, also admitted that Pariyar, the president of the Teachers' Parents' Association, was put on the ground by Pujari Bhatt, wrapped in a leaf and placed on the ground. "Guru gave a tika to some. Many people had yet to be vaccinated. When the surgeon Pariyar also went to inoculate, the Guru told him to put it on a leaf and apply it himself," Prof. Kuwan said, "Nobody can be discriminated against in a public place like this. Instead, I also told the Guru at that time that you should not vaccinate anyone.
Budhakot High School has 220 students, 25 percent of whom are from the Dalit community.
Dhruv Thapa, chairman of the school management committee and former ward president, said that he is constantly talking about social evils and the unnatural behavior of the priest to Dalits in the school premises. After the surgeon raised the issue of discrimination from the priest, the village people sat down and had a one-stage discussion. But the Guru was not there," President Thapa said, "It has become a topic of discussion in the village as well. Our attention has been drawn to the issue of discrimination against Dalits in public places.'
45-year-old Bhatt, who went to pray at the school, also admitted that he had placed tika on the floor. I did what was customary in the village. I was also in a hurry. I put the tick on the ground and gave it. Even if it was a mistake, it happened. Whatever happened," he said, "I did not disrespect him as a Dalit. Since it is always the custom to apply the vaccine in the same way, I did the same.'
