Friday, a mob of upper-caste villagers in Uttarakhand’s Chakrata area wounded BJP parliamentarian Tarun Vijay and some Dalit leaders for purportedly going into a temple where the entry of backward caste people is banned.

Rajya Sabha member Tarun Vijay, local Dalit activist Daulat Kunwar and other members of the community were hit with stones while coming out of the Silgur Devta temple in the remote Punah villager around 180 kilometres from state capital Dehradun.

A police official said, “The (upper caste) villagers of a nearby area had organised a bhandara (feast in honour of local god). The irritated villagers pelted stones when they saw the Dalit crowd coming out of temple and injured all of them”.

Police added that the injured MP was rushed to a nearby military hospital as the irate crowd damaged his car and threw It into a gorge.