Active Stocks
Thu Mar 28 2024 15:59:33
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 155.90 2.00%
  1. ICICI Bank share price
  2. 1,095.75 1.08%
  1. HDFC Bank share price
  2. 1,448.20 0.52%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 428.55 0.13%
  1. Power Grid Corporation Of India share price
  2. 277.05 2.21%
Business News/ Politics / Policy/  How the Dalit discourse is playing out in Tamil Nadu, 48 years after Keezhvenmani
BackBack

How the Dalit discourse is playing out in Tamil Nadu, 48 years after Keezhvenmani

The Dravidain parties, which claim their leanings to Periyar, have constantly failed to address the burning caste issue in their discourse, according to analysts

In September, VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan said Dalits don’t feel safe under the current regime in Tamil Nadu. Photo: PTIPremium
In September, VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan said Dalits don’t feel safe under the current regime in Tamil Nadu. Photo: PTI

Chennai: On the Christmas night of 1968, an inconspicuous hamlet Keezhvenmani (also known as Kilvenmani), now in the Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu, had to bear the brunt of the ugly side of caste and class exploitation, as 44 Dalits—mostly women and children belonging to the agricultural families—were charred to death by landlords.

The agitations that followed became a key episode in the Dalit discourse and was the rallying point for the CPI(M) — which had split from the CPI in 1964— in the state that had just elected the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in 1967.

Led by the CPI(M), the landless peasants in the then unified Tanjore district held agitations for increased wages in Keezhvenmani to demand better wages, which led the landlords to bring labourers from other villages. This aggravated the clashes and a landlord’s agent was killed.

To retaliate, the carnage followed.

The condition hasn’t changed much over the years. According to a recent ministry of social justice and empowerment report, a total of 5,131 cases have been registered under Prevention of Atrocities Act (1989) against SCs and STs between 2013 and 2015 in Tamil Nadu as compared to the BJP-ruled Rajasthan which tops the list with 23,861 cases.

But, many remain unreported.

G. Ramakrishnan, CPI(M) state secretary, told Mint that “After Periyar (E. V. Ramasamy), both the DMK and the AIADMK completely ignored the issue of untouchability. When the DMK came to power defeating the Congress in 1967, most of the landlords joined the DMK."

Mythily Sivaraman of the All India Democratic Women’s Association— the women’s wing of the CPI (M), who later recorded the Keezhvenmani incident through her articles—wrote that the DMK broke no new ground and made no major radical departure from the policy of the previous government Congress.

“From the ‘scientific socialism’ of 1962, the DMK had come a long way in 1971 to ‘socialism without tears’ to socialism with private property intact," wrote Sivaraman in Haunted by Fire: Essays on Caste, Class, Exploitation and Emancipation.

Though the Marxists memorialize Keezhvenmani massacre as martyrdom against class inequalities, observers say the fact that all the dead were Dalits couldn’t be overlooked.

“The contestations between the Communist parties and Puthiya Tamilagam and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) over the claim to memorialise exemplify the caste-class entanglement," said Karthikeyan Damodaran, a scholar in South Asian studies at the University of Edinburgh.

The Dravidain parties, which claim their leanings to Periyar, have constantly failed to address the caste issue in their discourse, according to analysts.

This was evident when the over 200 huts were torched in a Dalit colony near Dharmapuri in 2012, after a Dalit boy married a Vanniyar girl. This was during the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) regime. In less than few months, violence erupted between the Dalit villagers and the cadres of the Vanniyar backed political party, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) at Marakkanam.

The appointment of a Dalit as the president of panchayat in the reserved constituency of Melavalavu in 1997 irked the Ambalakarar— a sub caste of the Kallar belonging to the Thevar community, led to the loss of six lives and remains as a tarnish to the grassroot democracy.

Earlier this year, when the state was busy with election campaigns, an incident of honour killing near Coimbatore became the latest addition to the list of caste based oppressions.

Despite all such incidents, “both Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa have abstained from even terming it ‘caste-based honour killings’", said Ramakrishnan.

In September VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan alleged that Dalits don’t feel safe under the current regime in Tamil Nadu.

“Except for a few Dalit parties, annihilation of caste as a core ideological tool is conspicuously absent and instead appeasing castes with a majoritarian approach has become the dominant political practice of the major parties in the state," said Damodaran.

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Politics News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
More Less
Published: 27 Dec 2016, 11:59 AM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App