CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president and Sriperumbudur MLA K Selvaperunthagai was reportedly denied respect commensurate to an elected representative and was prevented from participating closely in the consecration of the Vallakottai Murugan temple, located in his constituency, on Monday.

When reporters asked him about the incident, Selvaperunthagai, the first Scheduled Caste leader to become TNCC president in 35 years, said, “It is a 2,000-year-old problem that cannot be solved overnight,” without explicitly stating that he was discriminated based on caste.

He was initially stopped from climbing the vimana of the temple, where the consecration rituals happened, by officials of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR&CE) department.

He had to wait and reason with the officials to climb. Former Telangana Governor and former state president of BJP, Tamilisai Soundararajan, had, however, climbed the vimana before Selvaperunthagai and was present throughout the ritual.

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