TN Minister Sekar Babu Has Annadhanam With Tribal Woman After Her Community 'Denied Food In Temple'

The Narikurava people are indigenous community members, who were earlier dependent on hunting, but now they are selling ornaments and beads for a living.

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Sekar Babu on Friday had annadhanam (free food offering provided in temples for the devotees) with the Narikurava community members after a woman from that community alleged that the people of her community were denied food in a temple in Mamallapuram. The woman Ashwini of Pooncheri village recently made a video explaining the hardships of people of her community since they were not allowed to have annadhanam at the temple. 

The Narikurava people are indigenous community members, who were earlier dependent on hunting, but now they are selling ornaments and beads for a living.

According to a report on Times of India, the Minister had food at Sthalasayana Perumal temple in Mamallapuram along with the people of the Narikurava community. Along with the Minister, Thiruporur MLA SS Balaji, Commissioner of HR & CE department J Kumaragurubaran and several other officials had the annadhanam in the temple premises. 

After having the food, the Minister also distributed dhotis and sarees ahead of Diwali.

The Minister said that he decided to have lunch reportedly after seeing the video of the woman where she said about the displeasure faced by them. He said, the video also went to the notice of Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin after it went viral on social media. Hence, to dispel the displeasure, the Minister said that he decided to have food with the people from Narikurava community. 

The Minister also said that everyone should be treated equally and told the officials to avoid defaming people while implementing a good scheme of the government.