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    Administrative apathy and cynical politics fan caste violence in Tamil Nadu

    Synopsis

    Caste-clashes are on the rise in many districts of Tamil Nadu. In March, a Dalit youth Sankar was chopped to death in broad daylight near the textile hub of Tirupur.

    ET Bureau
    Balaji’s wary eyes dart around in the dark as we sit on plastic chairs outside his uncle’s modest house in a Dalit pocket of Samayapuram, which literally translates to the place of time.

    T Balaji, a Dalit schoolteacher, is being hounded by the family and relatives of his girlfriend of a different caste higher than his in the social hierarchy of deeply caste-riven Tamil Nadu.

    In December he made a failed attempt to elope with the girl, who was then three-month pregnant. The family and relatives caught them and beat him black and blue and made him drink urine.

    Since then Balaji has not seen his girlfriend. He himself is in hiding and never travels alone. He believes the girl’s relatives will kill him some day. He says his parents are being hounded and his attempts to get justice from the police have failed.

    On the day ET met him, he had spent all morning trying to meet the deputy chief of police of the district in vain.

    Caste-clashes are on the rise in many districts of Tamil Nadu. In March, a Dalit youth Sankar was chopped to death in broad daylight near the textile hub of Tirupur.

    Sankar had secretly married a Thevar girl. It was said to be an honour killing ordered by the girl’s family. There were reportedly over 80 deaths that were attributed to honour killing in the past three years.

    Last year, Yuvaraj, leader of Gounder group Dheeran Chinnamalai Gounder Peravai allegedly killed Dalit engineer Gokulraj for talking to a girl from his caste.

    Yuvaraj, surrounded by scores of his supporters, surrendered three months later in Namakkal. A senior police official was reported as saying, "he surrendered in style. Our officers had to receive him like a hero. We would forget this shame only if we can get him convicted.’’

    Better economic opportunities and decades of socialist politics of the state have ensured that the Dalits of Tamil Nadu are better off than their counterparts in socially and economically backward states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Dalit pockets in villages are visibly better kept and many live in brick houses compared to the ubiquitous thatched Dalit huts in backward states.

    Years of affirmative action has ensured economic mobility for Dalit youth, many of whom are employed by the government. Yet, social mobility is painfully slow as they continue to face hostility from other backward castes who see them as cornering economic opportunities and luring away their women. The response has been to dig in their heels to preserve anachronistic social mores.

    Arivazhagan, the Dalit panchayat president of Kadamalaigundu in Theni district, told ET that the two-tumbler system, where Dalits and other castes are served tea in separate cups in tea shops, still exists in many villages in his district.

    "Structural segregations are difficult to be dismantled. Even in Christian churches such segregations continued," says Justice K Chandru, former judge of the Madras High Court who wrote a landmark judgment abolishing separate crematoriums based on caste. "Even after my judgment, when representations were made with Karunanidhi government in 2009, they were reluctant to issue any government order implementing my judgment. Now the distinctions are not only during birth but even on death they continue irrespective of religion.’’

    Politicians opportunistically side with the backward castes because the demographic balance is in their favour. DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan admitted to ET that they are often pressured by electoral compulsions.

    Kathir, executive director of NGO Evidence, which works to help get justice for victims of anti-Dalit violence, says in the past 25 years, 38 commissions were constituted to look into anti-Dalit violence in which a total of 300 people died and over 5,000 were injured but only two of them found in favour of the victims.

    "The enquiry commissions are eyewash," says Justice Chandru. He says commissions are successful only when the government appointing them is interested in the outcome of the proceedings.

    Several people ET spoke to concur that one of the main reasons in the recent spate of violence, especially honour killings, is young love. Upper caste girls marrying Dalit boys often attracts retribution from the girl’s family. The reaction is muted if the boy is economically well off or holds a good job. The reaction is also different if the girl is Dalit and the boy is from a higher caste. But women are always the worse sufferers.

    Ameer Sultan, director of the acclaimed Tamil movie Paruthiveeran which is a love story in the background of caste divisions and crime in the southern parts of the state, says after a preview of the movie, one producer who watched it congratulated him for making it. Then he promptly called up a theatre owner in Madurai and told him to stop its release at any cost.

    "The movie does not make the mention of caste even once. But many were upset. I used to get threatening calls at midnight,’’ says Sultan who has closely studied the social dynamics in his home town Madurai.

    A moderate backward caste leader says that their communities are under pressure. Dr N Sethuraman, who founded Akhila India Muvendhar Munnani Kazhagam not for political mileage as a Thevar party but to act as a bridge of harmony between Dalits and Thevars, says it is a fact that caste pride is hurt when a Dalit boy marries a Thevar girl. "But the violence is fanned by politics,’’ Sethuraman insists. He believes the only way out is tripartite talks between Dalits, backward castes and the government.

    Sethuraman alleges that often Dalit administrative officers look out for their own. Dalits are more organized now and there is a lot of chest-thumping by them as well. It is not as if they are only at the receiving end. They give it back too, he says.


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