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Caste Fire in Dharmapuri,

The marauding mob then ransacked


every house in Natham before turning
to other dalit homes in Anna Nagar
Tamil Nadu and Kondampatti.
While it is claimed that the inter-
caste marriage was the immediate prov-
S SENTHALIR ocation for the attack, the victims main-
tain it was an organised crime against
Atrocities
dalits. Indeed, villagers wonder why
mob looted and torched dalit they were attacked nearly a month after
Tamil Nad
On homes mob 7 November
homes looted in threein
and 2012,
threetorched villagesvillages
a Vanniyar dalit of ofthe marriage took place. The pillaging
2012, a
went on for more than four Va
hours - from
Naikkankottai panchayat - Natham, Anna
and torche
Nagar and Kondampatti - in Dharmapuri 5.30 pm to 11 pm - without any interfer-
three villa
ence from
district, north-west Tamil Nadu. "Parayars the police. In fact, the police-
should perish. Destroy their houses for men stationed at Naikkankottai did not
Dharmapu
we can cultivate their land," the members
take any steps to quell the violence. Even
accounts,
of the mob are said to have screamed. In the fire engine despatched to douse the
attack
the nearly five-hour-long orgy of vio- fires was reportedlypla
prevented from reach-
lence and arson, 268 dalit homes were ing the three villages. The Krishnapuram
leaders to
set on fire by the rampaging mob, and police station in district
mobile dal headquarters
the dalits in the village had lost all their Dharmapuri is just 10 km away from
article bas
possessions. Government statistics and Naikkankottai.
recounts
media reports show that at least 144 In Naikkankottai, the dalit women work t
houses in Natham, 34 houses in Anna inatroc
caste the fields of Vanniyar landowners
Nagar, and 90 in Kondampatti were while the men travel to Bangalore or
gutted and 50 two-wheelers and four Coimbatore to work as labourers. From
vans were torched. their earnings, the dalits have construct-
The dalit villages were attacked by ed concrete houses and own vehicles
caste Hindus ostensibly because a dalit and ornaments. Most of them are well-
boy from the village had married a educated, having completed their gradu-
Vanniyar girl. ation. The villagers say the Vanniyars
A month after Ilavarasan (23), a dalit are jealous of the economic status they
from Natham, married 21-year old Divya,have acquired. Since the two communi-
a Vanniyar (a "most backward caste" in ties had not clashed earlier, there could
Tamil Nadu) from Chellamkottai on be no reason other than Vanniyar jeal-
14 October 2012, the Vanniyar community, ousy for this attack on dalit villages.
which was vehemently opposed to the Recalling the incident, Sathya, an
inter-caste marriage, convened a "court" eighth standard student from Anna Nagar
in Naikkankottai on 4 November 2012. who witnessed the horror, said:
It was attended by nearly 1,000 Vanniyars We returned home from school around 4.30
headed by Dharmapuri Pattali Makkal pm. We saw men demolishing a house a few
Katchi (pmk) youth wing leader Madi- yards away. Those people were known to
us; their children study in our school. See-
vazhagan and 25 people from dalit
ing the familiar faces we assumed they
families. The "court" ordered the dalits to
wouldn't hurt us but they marched towards
hand over the girl to her family by 7 Nov- our homes. Our parents urged us to run to
ember 2012 or face the consequences. a safe place. We went into the fields and
hid in the bushes. From there we saw them
When the girl's father allegedly com-
loot our house, steal our cattle and burn
mitted suicide on 7 November, hundreds
our books.
of Vanniyars armed with wooden sticks,
metal rods, sickles, crowbars and petrol Kodaakari of Anna Nagar said:
bombs marched to Natham carrying his
They abused us saying we have outgrown
body. (The dalits claim the man was them and don't serve them anymore... We
murdered and there are questions over the could hear them say that they were cele-
brating Diwali after 20 years. They ran-
cause of his death.) They placed the body
sacked our houses till 11 pm and the police
S Senthalir
in front of Ilavarasan's house and ran- (s
reached the place only after everything was
Bangalore-bas
sacked it before burning it to the ground. completely destroyed.

12 December 29, 2012 vol XLVii no 52 [3353 Economic & Political weekly

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Shockingly, the homes of other cou- The series of hate speeches by leadersSeptember 2011. Even educational institu-
ples who had married outside their caste of caste-based organisations condemning tions in Tamil Nadu are not free of caste
were targeted as well. Around four atrocities. The clash between students of
inter-caste marriages seems to be one of
houses in Kondampatti were destroyed the dalit and Thevar communities four
the major reasons fuelling the violence.
by petrol bombs. Shankar of Kondamp- years ago shook the entire academic
Vanniyar Sangam leader Kaaduvetti Guru,
atti said: who spoke during the Vanniyar Youthworld. Even then, the police stood as
My brother married a girl from the Nayakar
Festival in April and September 2012,mute spectators.
community. Though nearly 20 houses were called on Vanniyar youth to eliminate Evidence, a non-governmental organi-
ransacked, they threw petrol bombs only on those who had gone into inter-cäste
sation in Madurai has recorded 144 brutal
homes of men who had chosen a partner from marriages. The Kongu Vellala Gounder murders, out of which 18 are said to be
another caste.
Peravai started a movement against inter-of women, and 336 cases of atrocities
Indeed, during the attack, the assail- against dalits.
caste marriages on 15 April 2012. The state
ants disparaged their caste by name and president of the Peravai, R Manikantan Job opportunities available in cities
kept chanting they were being punished in his interview to Deccan Chronicle said and the assertion of dalits to take up
for the "offence" of "untouchables" acquir- he did not want his community's caste non-traditional jobs have disrupted es-
ing wealth and cattle, having a tiled roof, tradition to die in inter-caste marriages. tablished caste relations, taking away
educating their children, and acquiring Similar views were also expressed in the the privileges that caste Hindus enjoyed
gold ornaments, indicating that the grow- magazine Brahmin Today by Brahmin over centuries. On the other hand, women
ing prosperity of the dalits has not gone Sangam president Narayanan and Pazha equipped with education and employ-
down well with the Vanniyars. Karuppaiah of the All India Anna Dravida ment resist patriarchal caste values and
Munnetra Kazhagam who openly spoke now independently exercise their choice
'Punishing' Dalits against inter-caste marriages. in selecting their life partners. This has
Till a decade ago, Naikkankottai was a infuriated caste Hindus who are becom-
Naxalite stronghold. Under the leader- Increasing Atrocities ing increasingly intolerant of the upward
ship of Appu and Balan, both of whom Tamil Nadu, home to major anti-caste economic mobility of dalits and empower-
were not dalits, the Maoists fought movements, is once again witnessing a ment of women.
against the two tumbler system (steel rise in atrocities on dalits. In 2011, 890 These signal the failure of the state
glasses for Vanniyars and plastic cups women were murdered, 40% of them machinery which is charged with the
for the dalits) and caste atrocities. Dur- were murdered in caste honour killings responsibility of protecting the rights of its
ing this period, the villagers of Natham ( Nakkiran , Vol 25, No 61, 14-16 November citizens and establishing and enriching
decided to stop working as drumbeaters 2012). And the arson in Dharmapuri has democratic values among different castes.
and removing animal carcasses for the brought back memories of Kilvenmani As B R Ambedkar rightly said, "Democracy
Vanniyars. From the 1980s to 2002, the where 44 dalit women, children and aged is not merely a form of Government. It
Naxalite presence in the area prevented were burnt alive in 1968. is primarily a mode of associated living,
caste atrocities and discrimination It should be noted that caste conflicts of conjoint communicated experience.
against dalits. have been simmering over the years in the It is essentially an attitude of respect
villages of Dharmapuri district. Though and reverence towards fellowmen"
A fact-finding team comprising mem-
Kondampatti is a panchayat, the village (B R Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches ,
bers of People's Union for Civil Rights,
Federation for People's Rights and panchayat
Civil office, municipal office, ration Vol 1, p 57).
Rights Monitoring Committee from
shops and schools are all located in the
Tamil Nadu, Swabhimani Dalit Shakti,
Vanniyar village of Puliyampatti. Dalits
can buy provisions from these shops
People's Democratic Forum, Karnataka Permission for Reproduction of
Tamil Makkal Iyakkam from Karnataka
only after Vanniyar families have made Articles Published in EPW
their purchases. If anyone defies these
and Human Rights Forum from Andhra
rules,
Pradesh visited the village on 14 and 15 they are abused and beaten up. No article published in epw or part thereof

Several instances where dalit women


November. According to their report, should be reproduced in any form without

The decline of the Naxalite movement with were beaten up were reported and even
prior permission of the author(s).
the killing of 28 people over a period of 20police complaints were lodged, but no
years and arrest of 22 people in 2002 wasaction was taken. A soft/hard copy of the author(s)'s approval
ensured with consolidation of caste-based
In southern Tamil Nadu, caste conflict should be sent to epw.
organisations, especially pmk, among Van-
between Pallars and Thevars continues
niyars and Vidudalai Chiruthaigal among
In cases where the email address of
to this day. Just a week before the
dalits. It is to be noted that the attack was
led by the Vanniyar (youth wing) leader
Dharmapuri incident, nine people of the author has not been published along
Madivazhagan and the case of inter-caste
the Thevar community were allegedly with the articles, epw can be contacted
marriage in their village was an opportuni-
ty to retaliate with vengeance and re-estab-killed in retaliation fot the police firing for help.
lish their dominance in this region. that killed six dalits in Paramakudi on

Economic & Political weekly EÜ3E3 December 29, 2012 vol xlvii no 52 13

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