New Delhi, April 26
Remembered only during death and relegated to the margins of mainstream society in everyday life, the Dom community has long fought stigma, but it all began to change for ‘Dom Raja’ Jagdish Chowdhary on Friday when he proposed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name as Lok Sabha candidate from this town.
Their children don’t find friends, they are not invited to weddings and not allowed into Varanasi’s temples, including the famed Vishwanath temple, said the ‘chief cremator’ from the family which lights every funeral pyre in town.
Friday, the first time that recognition has come their way, should hopefully mark a turning point towards a better tomorrow, said Chowdhary, one of the four people who proposed Modi’s name.
“It is the first time that any political leadership has recognised us, and that too the prime minister himself. We have been facing neglect and inequality for decades,” Chowdhary said over phone after Modi filed his nomination at the Collectorate here.
The two burning ghats at Varanasi, the Raja Harishchandra Ghat and the Manikarnika Ghat, are manned by Doms.
According to Chowdhary, there are around 500-600 Doms performing at both the ghats while there are more than 5,000 members in the ‘biradari’ (community), including women and children. — PTI
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2V02Quj
via Today’s News Headlines
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