On caste clashes in south Tamil Nadu
Sekhar Ramakrishnan
[from the September 6 Economic and Political Weekly. sekhar]
Caste Clashes in South Tamil Nadu
K A Manikumar
The recent caste violence in Tirunelveli district, apparently
triggered by trivial incidents, has to be seen against the changing
power relations between the dalit and the dominant agricultural castes
as also among the dalit castes. These emerging tensions cannot be
addressed as law and order issues nor even as agrarian conflicts.
SOUTH Tamil Nadu appears to be in a state of great social turbulence.
The erstwhile Tirunelveli district, now bifurcated into V O
Chidambaranar and Nellai Kattabomman districts and the present
Kamarajar district, has recorded several incidents of violence in the
last few years. Theatmosphere is so charged that even an apparently
trivial incident is enough to trigger off violence. Those involved in
these clashes are maravars, a dominant agricultural caste, and pallars
or Devendrakula vellalars, a chronically oppressed dalit caste. The
continual violence that has rocked this region, on closer study,
betrays a deep social malaise.
A small section of the pallars, who had long remained landless
agricultural labourers, have been recently empowered, to at least a
small extent, as a consequence of access to education and government
jobs. The passing of land to a few pallars as evidenced in the
resurvey of Slater's Gangaigondan village (Chidambaranar district)
conducted by the Madras Institute of Development Studies is explained
by this development. The relative affluence of certain dalit villages,
Kodiyankulam (Chidambaranar district) for instance, is attributed to
monetary repatriation from Gulf countries, where some of the dalits
have managed to find employment. Another aspect to the assertion of
the dalits, mainly those of the pallar caste, is the emergence of
political organizations among them. Krishnaswamy's Devendrakula
Vellalar Federation, John Pandian's Devendrakula Vellalar Sangam and
the Thiyagi Immanuel Peravai (named after the martyr of the 1957
Muthukulathur events) have to a great extent politicised the pallars,
unlike other dalit castes like parayars and chakkiliyars. After
Krishnaswamy's election to the provincial legislature, even those who
had distanced themselves from such organizations have begun to rally
behind him in a big way.
The emergence of assertive pallars has meant that they would not take
discrimination lying down. South Tamil Nadu has its own share of
discrimination against dalits. Many village wells and temples are
still out of bounds to dalits, while separate places of worship and
deities also exist. In effect, municipal schools tend to cater
exclusively to dalit children, while children of other caste Hindus,
notably maravars, generally abstain from such public schools. Though
stainless steel tumblers have replaced coconut shells or aluminium
cups, dalits continue to be served separately in tea stalls. In
Tirunelveli region, the district Arivoli Iyakkam, which is a part of
the National Literary Mission, had to conduct separate classes for
maravars and dalits. In many villages dalits have no access to maravar
streets. They are not permitted to use the cement benches in bus
stops. They have no approach road to their cremation ground. Numerous
stories about uppercaste deception especially regarding government
subsidy loan for milch cows are rife in this region. More abominable
is the case of panchayat unions. Dalit members of these councils are
made to sit on the floor as a matterof routine. A woman dalit
panchayat union president complained to this writer that the members
belonging to non-dalit castes were not attending the regular meetings
she convened because she was a dalit.
The State Minimum Wage Act for agricultural labourers is enforced only
in the breach. Even the labour-oriented political parties despite
their best efforts could not organise the agricultural labourers into
a movement as in Thanjavur. This is because caste appears to be the
dominant identity, which overrules all other identities here. The
maravar agricultural labourers refuse to associate themselves with an
organization that gives membership to dalits. As a result, the
landlords could not be forced to implement the State Minimum Wage Act.
Lowest wages for the most onerous work have, over time, forced the
dalits into systematic degradation. It should be noted that the dalits
who continue to be agricultural labourers and dependent on maravars
for livelihood have tended to remain submissive. Similar is the case
of paraiyars and chakkiliyars, two dalit castes that are a minority in
this region.
As for maravars, they are numerically far more important than the
other agricultural castes of the region. Land reforms, like the
zamindari abolition, Tenancy Acts of 1950s, helped the rich maravar
farmers to promote their interests. They have also been the main
beneficiaries of government agricultural policies providing
institutionalised credit and liberal and subsidised agricultural
inputs such as fertilizers, seeds, water, electricity, etc. A sizeable
number of others making use of their political clout have earned quick
money through illicit brewery, contract works and moneylending.
However, it should be remembered that a vast number of maravars also
work as agricultural labourers and wage earners.
In the last 20 years systematic efforts have been made to unite all
the three clans of thevar community, namely, kallar, agmudiyar and
maravar. Pasumpon U Muthuramalinga Thevar has been deified and used as
a symbol to bring all the groups under one single banner. The
government classification of 'thevar' community as the most backward
class helped bring about this unity. In Tirunelveli villages where
there was not much reverence for Muthuramalinga Thevar, his statues
were erected in 1980s. Even the Virasigamani village statue which was
disfigured - an event responsible for caste riots in July 1995 - had
been installed only in 1986. The thevar peravai leadership had
cultivated strong caste sentiments among the maravar youth by erecting
thevar statues everywhere.
It is against this background that the caste clashes since 1995 are to
be studied. What started off as a wordy duel on July 26, 1995 between
a bus driver of the state-owned Kattabomman Transport Corporation and
a group of school students led to a string of violent incidents. The
driver, Thangavelu, a dalit from Vadanathampatti (Tirunelveli
Kattabomman district) was subsequently beaten up by the maravars. In
retaliation, dalits (Devendrakula Vellalars) attacked the
maravar-dominated Virasigamani village, in the process disfiguring the
statue of Muthuramalinga Thevar. The news of this disfigurement spread
far and wide and extremely provocative posters scurrilously abusing
pallars were put up all over the region. Angry young maravar youths
could be seen stopping buses and plastering them with these abusive
posters. The ubiquitous posters carried the picture of Karthik, a film
actor, along with that of Muthuramalinga Thevar, indicating that it
was the handiwork of Karthik Fans Association, a caste outfit in the
region.
The stage was thus set for the unleashing of violence on the dalits.
Roving mobs chose dalit targets, both life and property, for attack.
In the week-long riots, at least 18 people lost their lives and
property worth a few crores of rupees (apart from the scores of public
transport buses that were torched or damaged) was destroyed.
An important feature of the riots this time around was the dalit
attempt to defend themselves and even counter-attack. But the entire
course of events showed the complete inability of the state machinery
and polity to respond to the situation. The state government
maintained a deafening silence and the law and order collapsed for
days together. If we compare this with the government handling of such
a situation in Ramanathapuram district in 1957, the inept handling
will be too obvious. On September 14, 1957, a police party sent to nab
the accused in the murder of dalit leader Immanuel was confronted by a
mob of about 500 armed thevars at Kilathooval (Muthukulathur taluk).
In order to disperse the surging violent mob intent on attacking the
police, six rounds were fired, in consequence of which five persons
were killed. Subsequently the police had to open fire on a maravar mob
on September 19 at Keeranthai in which three persons were killed and
at Narikudi on September 20 in which four persons were killed. By
September 21 the situation was brought under control. In all these
incidents shooting was resorted to to prevent the maravar mobs from
setting fire to the dalit settlements. An enquiry was ordered and S
Venkateshwaran, a civil servant who conducted the enquiry, justified
the police action and held that the firing was necessary to give
protection to the weaker sections of society. In contrast, in
Tirunelveli and in Rajapalayam, it was the role of the police which
was the most distressing. At many places while the rampaging mobs
attacked dalits, policemen were silent onlookers. Little was done to
prevent or take action against people involved in disseminating
provocative posters, which was an important cause for the spread of
violence. Absence of prompt police action made the dalits of
Mangapuram in Rajapalayam (Kamarajar district) flee their habitat and
take shelter in Sundrarajapuram in June 1997. The district collector
himself is reported to have advised the dalits to evacuate. The acts
of police and bureaucracy should concern everyone who values human
rights.
Another aspect which needs to be thrashed out is the prejudiced
behaviour of the police against the dalits. This has been reprimanded
even by the Supreme Court in its recent judgment on the police
high-handedness in Nalumoolai Kinaru (Chidambaranardistrict) in 1992.
While the people were asleep, police went to the village at about 4.30
am and attacked the dalit men and women brutally causing severe
injuries to many persons. The police also damaged and looted their
properties. The police, under the pretext of an all out search for
suspects and weapons,conduct such midnight raids in dalit villages.
Kodiyankulam represents the high watermark of such police
highhandedness. The police ostensibly on a search mission went
berserk. The Kodiyankulam incident evoked great public indignation and
the villagers demonstrated their anger by openly campaigning against
the then ruling patry in the general elections of 1996. They also
succeeded in electing a dalit leader, Krishnaswamy, to the state
assembly exclusively on a dalit political platform.
When caste violence of unprecedented nature erupted in Tirunelveli in
1995, one of the dalit leaders suggested that the government set up an
office of the inspector general of police in Tirunelveli to tackle the
tricky situation. It sounded an odd suggestion then. Now the present
chief minister has translated this idea into reality and so it looks
as though the state has decided to treat the clash between maravars
and dalits as a law and order issue. The fact that K Vijay Kumar IPS,
known to be a man of stem stuff, has been appointed the inspector
general of police (law and order, southern region) reinforces this
perception.
But the present clashes cannot be dismissed as law and order problems.
A visit to the riot-hit villages reveals that existing social
relationships have broken down. In the 1930s, when the dalits first
defied their maravar landlords and in the 1950s when the dalits
launched an agitation against their oppressors (maravars), it was an
agrarian conflict. Regrettably, on both the occasions the political
parties failed to politicise the dalits and organise them on class
lines as happened in Kerala. Vested interests made use of the failure
of political parties to perpetuate casteist tendencies. Curiously the
places where conflicts took place then remain calm now. The present
clashes cannot be solely considered an agrarian conflict. Take for an
instance the case of Mangapuram in Rajapalayam. The dalits are
agricultural labourers and the maravars are construction and mill
workers. Yet they have clashed. The estrangement between the two caste
groups is total today. In villages where the dalits have clung to the
land for their subsistence, they feel that they are culturally treated
as second class citizens. Often these dalits have to bear the brunt of
maravar fury in times of clashes. These dalits who constitute the
majority of the downtrodden today are to be pulled out of the moorings
of misery, ignorance and idleness. This will alone engender social
transformation necessary for the total emancipation of dalits.
When we analyse the caste clashes that have taken place since 1995, it
is known that youths prominently take part in the riots.
Vadanathampatti is a 3000-strong dalit village. There are about 300
graduates without employment. They constitute combustible material. In
fact they played a leading role in attacking the maravars of
Virasigamani village in July 1995. The same is the case with the
maravar youths. When there was violence in Thuraiyur of Tirunelveli
Kattabomman district, calm prevailed in Thuraiyur of Chidambaranar
district (near Kovilpatti). The panchayat union chairman who happens
to be a maravar explained that there was no disturbance in his village
because all the youths had been gainfully employed. The frustration
and despair caused on account of unemployment have driven the youth to
take part in gang violence without regard for the foreseeable
consequences: punishment, physical injury and material damage.
Thus, there exist many objective conditions for the generation of
caste violence in south Tamil Nadu. Instead of eliminating such
conditions, the govemment, both the previous and the present one, by
its tactless moves has aggravated them in the last couple of years.
Unless basic structural transformation is attempted, through drastic
land reforms thereby changing the production relations, violence will
continue to escalate and even spread. As sociologists point out,
wherever people are living under unjust social conditions and are
therefore deprived of the chance to realise their human
potentialities, structural violence is inevitable. On our part we have
to distinguish the violence of the dominant class from the violence of
the oppressed class, because the former impedes the advance of
historical forces, whereas the latter's violence is used only in the
interest of the emancipation of the entire humanity.