By Sangeetha Kandavel & Sriram Srinivasan, ET Bureau | 10 Jul, 2013, 04.00AM IST
Dalits stay mired in history despite Tamil Nadu social reforms
Dalits, accounting for a fifth of the over 7 crore state population, still find assimilation into mainstream society a struggle.CHENNAI The recent death of a Dalit boy in Tamil Nadu, whose marriage to a girl from the Vanniyar caste triggered violence against his community late last year, has brought to focus the marginalisation of Dalitsin a state that has always played up its social reforms legacy.
On Monday, the State Government set up a single-member judicial commission to probe the death of the youth, E Elavarasan, 19. A few politicians had earlier asked for a probe.
But politicians and parties have been mum about the underlying vulnerability of Dalits in the state, which this episode has exposed.
It all started with Elavarasan and Vanniyar girl Divya eloping to marry in November 2012. Her father committed suicide, reportedly after being taunted about his girl marrying a Dalit. His suicide provoked a mob to torch hundreds of Dalit houses (as well as loot cash and valuables) in Dharmapuri district.
Significant damage had already been inflicted by the time police intervened and brought violence to a halt. PMK, the party backed by Vanniyars, has been blamed for the attack, but it has denied the accusation. Elavarasan died a day after his wife, who had rejoined her mother some weeks ago, indicated she won't be returning to him. Caste hostilities were at a peak even two years earlier, when police fired at Dalits who had got together in Paramakudi, south Tamil Nadu, to remember their hero Immanuel Sekaran.
Tamil Nadu, one of India's most industrialised and literate states and where the reservation policy has found overwhelming support, has managed to keep its caste tensions hidden beneath a largely peaceful veneer. Dalits, accounting for a fifth of the over 7 crore population, still find assimilation into mainstream society a struggle, let alone achieve political mobilisation a la Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh.
CLakshmanan, assistant professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, points out that not a single person has been punished for atrocities against Dalits in the last 70 years, though a dozen or so enquiry commissions have been set up. Worse, he says, not even one member of these commissions has been a Dalit. It isn't always about physical violence.
Studies by Madurai-based NGO Evidence clearly show discrimination in day-to-day life. Over 460 tea shops in Madurai district still follow the discriminatory two-tumbler system (one for non-Dalits and another for Dalits). Dalits are being refused entry in temples in 12 districts, and Dalit panchayat leaders not being allowed to even sit on a chair, it says.
Hostilities have amplified with Dalits moving away from being agricultural labourers to take up jobs in manufacturing and the services sector, says Lakshmanan. Discriminatory practices still abound in agriculture. In non-agricultural sectors, Dalits not only face less discrimination but also earn more.
Tamil book publisher Badri Seshadri says even in a predominantly Dalit village, such as Jamin Korattur on Chennai's outskirts, which he has researched, Dalits are extremely dependent on caste Hindus. That's because most Dalits don't own land, he says.
That's at odds with Tamil Nadu's tryst with social reforms, which began in 1925 under the leadership of social reformer 'Periyar' EV Ramasamy. He founded the 'Self-Respect Movement,' seeking an equal society and, more immediately, an end to the Brahminical domination of those days.
Arch-rivals AIADMK and DMK, the two major Dravidian parties who between them have ruled Tamil Nadu uninterrupted since 1967, owe their ideology to this movement. Periyar's image is unfailingly present in party banners.
"Basically, it was a coming together of other upper castes against the Brahmins," says Jegath Gaspar Raj, MD of Goodwill Communications, on Tamil Nadu's experience with social reforms. This paved way for the so-called middle castes to come in to the picture.
"The Thevar, Kallar, and Maravar castes came into play largely within the AIADMK while Vanniyars and some Telugu-speaking castes came to play a larger role in the DMK," he says. But Dalits have really not found space inside these systems. Also, the national parties are weak here.
Till AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran was around, he used to get the Dalit votes. Now, two major Dalit leaders have emerged-VCK party's Thol Thirumavalavan and Puthiya Tamilagam's Krishnaswamy. But since they are backed by different sections of the Dalit population, the votes are split. "They couldn't even create a unified Dalit front," says Gaspar Raj.
Thirumavalavan reckons a unified Dalit vote isn't an answer and will only be counter-productive. "I mean the PMK would say that all Dalits have become one and committing atrocities."
He says, "Politicians are shying away from the Dalit issue, as they know it is sensitive and their vote banks might get tampered. We also shouldn't forget that most politicians are also caste-oriented." His partyman and former MLA D Ravikumar says, "It's not only a failure of the law, it's also a failure of civil society."
(With inputs from Sanjay Vijayakumar)
On Monday, the State Government set up a single-member judicial commission to probe the death of the youth, E Elavarasan, 19. A few politicians had earlier asked for a probe.
But politicians and parties have been mum about the underlying vulnerability of Dalits in the state, which this episode has exposed.
It all started with Elavarasan and Vanniyar girl Divya eloping to marry in November 2012. Her father committed suicide, reportedly after being taunted about his girl marrying a Dalit. His suicide provoked a mob to torch hundreds of Dalit houses (as well as loot cash and valuables) in Dharmapuri district.
Significant damage had already been inflicted by the time police intervened and brought violence to a halt. PMK, the party backed by Vanniyars, has been blamed for the attack, but it has denied the accusation. Elavarasan died a day after his wife, who had rejoined her mother some weeks ago, indicated she won't be returning to him. Caste hostilities were at a peak even two years earlier, when police fired at Dalits who had got together in Paramakudi, south Tamil Nadu, to remember their hero Immanuel Sekaran.
Tamil Nadu, one of India's most industrialised and literate states and where the reservation policy has found overwhelming support, has managed to keep its caste tensions hidden beneath a largely peaceful veneer. Dalits, accounting for a fifth of the over 7 crore population, still find assimilation into mainstream society a struggle, let alone achieve political mobilisation a la Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh.
CLakshmanan, assistant professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, points out that not a single person has been punished for atrocities against Dalits in the last 70 years, though a dozen or so enquiry commissions have been set up. Worse, he says, not even one member of these commissions has been a Dalit. It isn't always about physical violence.
Studies by Madurai-based NGO Evidence clearly show discrimination in day-to-day life. Over 460 tea shops in Madurai district still follow the discriminatory two-tumbler system (one for non-Dalits and another for Dalits). Dalits are being refused entry in temples in 12 districts, and Dalit panchayat leaders not being allowed to even sit on a chair, it says.
Hostilities have amplified with Dalits moving away from being agricultural labourers to take up jobs in manufacturing and the services sector, says Lakshmanan. Discriminatory practices still abound in agriculture. In non-agricultural sectors, Dalits not only face less discrimination but also earn more.
Tamil book publisher Badri Seshadri says even in a predominantly Dalit village, such as Jamin Korattur on Chennai's outskirts, which he has researched, Dalits are extremely dependent on caste Hindus. That's because most Dalits don't own land, he says.
That's at odds with Tamil Nadu's tryst with social reforms, which began in 1925 under the leadership of social reformer 'Periyar' EV Ramasamy. He founded the 'Self-Respect Movement,' seeking an equal society and, more immediately, an end to the Brahminical domination of those days.
Arch-rivals AIADMK and DMK, the two major Dravidian parties who between them have ruled Tamil Nadu uninterrupted since 1967, owe their ideology to this movement. Periyar's image is unfailingly present in party banners.
"Basically, it was a coming together of other upper castes against the Brahmins," says Jegath Gaspar Raj, MD of Goodwill Communications, on Tamil Nadu's experience with social reforms. This paved way for the so-called middle castes to come in to the picture.
"The Thevar, Kallar, and Maravar castes came into play largely within the AIADMK while Vanniyars and some Telugu-speaking castes came to play a larger role in the DMK," he says. But Dalits have really not found space inside these systems. Also, the national parties are weak here.
Till AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran was around, he used to get the Dalit votes. Now, two major Dalit leaders have emerged-VCK party's Thol Thirumavalavan and Puthiya Tamilagam's Krishnaswamy. But since they are backed by different sections of the Dalit population, the votes are split. "They couldn't even create a unified Dalit front," says Gaspar Raj.
Thirumavalavan reckons a unified Dalit vote isn't an answer and will only be counter-productive. "I mean the PMK would say that all Dalits have become one and committing atrocities."
He says, "Politicians are shying away from the Dalit issue, as they know it is sensitive and their vote banks might get tampered. We also shouldn't forget that most politicians are also caste-oriented." His partyman and former MLA D Ravikumar says, "It's not only a failure of the law, it's also a failure of civil society."
(With inputs from Sanjay Vijayakumar)
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