Opinions and Editorials

Struggle To Eradicate Caste: Hidden Agenda of Samajik Samrasta – By Ram Puniyani (Nov 8, 2012, Countercurrents)

Caste is a phenomenon deeply entrenched in Indian society and the struggle against it began in the late 19th century. Despite the social movements, initiated around the ideas of Phule, Ambedkar, Periyar and many such legendary figures, it continues to pervade in the Indian society like a malignant cancer, refusing to die easily. There are two set of streams which are addressing the caste, though from opposing angels. One is through the social movements and struggles which revolve around the concept of social justice, which was also an integral part of India’s freedom struggle and has been enshrined in Indian Constitution as a major goal of Indian society and state. The other stream which addressed caste was to retain it in a newer form, in a more subtle form. According to this stream caste, Varna is what has given Hindu society its stability over centuries. The later ideology keeping in tune with times has modified its language and the term ‘social harmony’, has been coined as a new and attractive label to maintain graded hierarchy in Hindu society. The latter efforts began with the streams which were opposing Indian nationalism; the one’s which espoused the cause of Hindu nationalism. From this stream of Hindu Nationalism emerged Hindu Mahasbah in 1915 and later RSS in 1925. These streams aimed to work towards the goal of Hindu Nation. RSS to achieve its goal floated an organization called Samajik Samrasta manch.

Recently Narendra Modi, currently projecting himself as the one devoted to the issue of development, has come out with a book on Samajik Samrasta. In this book he poses himself to be working for the cause of dalits and says, “The shilanyas – on November 9, 1989 – for a grand Ram temple was performed not by some religious head or mahant, but by a Dalit from Bihar. It was not just for the cause of laying the foundation for the Ram temple, but social harmony itself. It was a signal for cultural revolution,” Many dalit scholars had pointed that Babri demolition was planned on 6th December as it happens to be the death anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar. They opined that the politics for Hindu nationalism, wants to co-opt and subjugate dalits at the same time, so such a planning. The concept of Samajik Samrasta stands for a harmony between the castes, and not for its abolition. Ambedkar was for annihilation of caste, the Samrasta program, while sounding for harmony is a subtle program to bring about Hindu unity, retaining its inner caste-varna differences, and to launch its onslaught against the minorities, Muslims and Christians, as a ‘unified’ Hindu community.

It was in the direction of caste annihilation that Ambedkar initiated his agitation of Chavdar Mandir, where he agitated for access to public drinking water for the dalits. It was for this goal that he also asked for the right to temple entry through Kalaram Mandir agitation. Parallel to this when he realized the obstacles to his path that he burnt Mnusmirti and declared that since this holy book has provisions of slavery of dalits and women, and he stands to oppose this. Same Ambedkar as the chief architect of Indian Constitution went on to ensure incorporation of provisions for the dalits and abolition of caste. At social level the movements for land rights, the movement for economic justice was also core to Ambekar’s thought and he went to form Independent Labor Party, to look after their economic rights. Here the caste-class dynamics got proper synthetic expression as Ambedkar was clear that caste is a division of labourers. The RSS politics on the other hand, stood totally opposed to the struggle for rights, for the issues of dalits and workers and so brought up identity issues, Cow protection, Ram Temple, Ram Setu and the like. RSS-Modi agenda is aimed at bringing in dalits to Hindu fold through these identity issues. For these goals, apart from Samajik Samrasta, they also started Vanvasi Kalyan Ashrams which again harped around the identity of Adivasis, projecting them to be Hindus and trying to bring them into Hindu fold. While the agenda of Ambedkar and Phule, the struggle around material-social issues of dalits, struggle for dignity and rights, remains incomplete, the opposing agenda of identity has come up in the society in a serious way.

The very rise of this identity politics has been a throw back to the process of social transformation of caste and gender. This identity politics asserted itself mainly from 1980s, to begin with in opposing the reservations for dalits and than of OBCs. Simultaneously the efforts to co-opt dalits, went up leading to strengthening of this Samajik Samrasta manch and Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram. Through these forums the process of social engineering has gone on and it has operated at multiple levels. Along with this there is also a process of Sanskritzation, where a section of dalit-Adivais, try to emulate the upper caste. The most ghastly part of the process has been the Gujarat violence, where a section of dalits and adivasis was cleverly manipulated to attack the Muslim minority. To think that by giving the privilege of ‘Shilanyas’ to a dalit, the caste problems will be solved is an illusion. Rather it is precisely a move contrary to their interests. Dalit-Adivasi issues are related to hunger, survival, education and employment. All this requires a powerful affirmative action from the state and a mass movement of these sections to ensure that state does it.

The delusions of Samrasta are a mechanism to bypass the core issues of these deprived sections of society, a way to further the agenda of status quo at social and economic level. Dalit Adivasi struggles for land, dignity and rights has to associate it with other deprived sections, whatever be their religion, to achieve their goals. To get trapped in one or other identity is a regressive thing being engineered by the likes of Modi to perpetuate the graded inequality of the society and is supplementary to the anti-minority agenda on which the likes of Modi thrive. The difference between the Ambedkar approach to dalit issues and the one of RSS-Modi are polar opposites. Ambedkar called for annihilation of caste, RSS-Modi talk of caste harmony. Ambedkar went on to burn Hindu holy book: Manu Smriti and became the architect of Indian Constitution. RSS ideologue K.Sudarshan in year 2000 said that Indian constitution is based on western values, meaning the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity are western, so it should be replaced by the one based on Hindu holy book. Modi’s attempt is to further what Sudarshan said, reflecting their agenda at social level.

http://www.countercurrents.org/puniyani081112.htm

SEE ALSO:

• Saffron Succotash! – By Prarthna Gahilote (Nov 19, 2012, Outlook)
  http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?282926

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The Narendra Modi praise and personality cult – By Aakar Patel (Nov 1, 2012, Hindustan Times)

I wrote a few days ago about how his fans viewed Narendra Modi. Today, let’s look at how he sees himself. The question was raised quite recently but went unanswered. A reporter asked him: “Why do you have only your pictures on all the Gujarat government websites? Why do your photographs appear so frequently?” These questions were valid because Modi appropriates all the credit, even for things like Narmada which happened before his time. Modi did not answer the reporter and stayed silent. And what could have he said? Nothing.

Modi has an image of himself that is messianic, and that is coupled with the fact that he has a large ego. I say that with understatement. Actually Modi loves himself. His most devoted fan can only be his number 2 fan, because Narendra Modi’s number 1 fan will always be Narendra Modi. Here’s how he describes himself on his own website: “great dreamer”; “remarkable ability”; “hard taskmaster”; “strict disciplinarian”; “amazing”; “realist”; “idealist”; “clarity of vision, sense of purpose, diligent perseverance”; “excellent organizational ability: “rich insight into human psychology”; “sheer strength of character and courage”.

Should you not let other people say these things about yourself? Not if you are the Lord of Gujarat. The fact is that if there is a man Narendra Modi respects, admires and defers to, it is Narendra Modi. Proof of this adorns the Gujarat government’s official portals, which are embarrassingly obsequious. Think of them as digital versions of Mayawati’s monuments to herself. Of government formation after the last election, the main government site said: “skilfully wading his way through the onslaught of a massive slander campaign… Mr Modi dealt a convincing and crushing defeat… the magnitude of which stunned friends and foes alike.”

Why inflict this on those visiting the portal for work, like foreign investors? The fact is: Modi cannot help himself. When one is so supremely talented, so dazzlingly faceted, what is one to do? As a man, he is “popular and progressive, a poet and author of three books, tech-savvy and a true democrat”, according to the same site. This is untrue. In reality, he trusts few of his colleagues and is easily threatened. He has no enthusiasm for internal democracy, leave alone for sharing power. He still skips functions because the RSS has rehabilitated one of his enemies, Sanjay Joshi. In his mind, he is the Sun in India’s solar system.

His photographs have been taken off from the government’s sites for now, but that is only because of the Election Commission’s code of conduct. They will be back after he wins and those who have visited these websites or visited Gujarat will know why Modi was asked the question by the reporter. There is no escaping hoardings of Modi posing heroically all across the state. And now the latest is his naming the BJP television channel after himself. It is called NaMo TV. The words NaMo are from his initials in Gujarati, but they also mean “to bow before”. That is the sort of thing Modi loves, and so do his fans.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/954956.aspx

SEE ALSO:

• Facts Expose “Vibrant Gujarat” Claims – By Arun Mehta (Nov 11, 2012, Peoples Democracy)
  http://pd.cpim.org/2012/1111_pd/11112012_21.html

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UP under Akhilesh was on a short communal fuse this Dussehra – By Parvez Iqbal Siddiqui (Nov 5, 2012, Times of India)

What the demolition of the disputed structure at Ram Janmabhoomi could not do in 1992, stray rumours did in Faizabad 20 years later on October 24 this year. It was Dussehra day and the processions carrying Durga idols for immersion were passing through the city at their usual pace. Then suddenly rumours of a stone being thrown at idols spread like wildfire. Within hours, it singed the temple town, and Faizabad, known for religious tolerance and amity, was in the grip of a full-blown riot. One person was killed and property worth crores was gutted. A week down, the temple town is limping back to normal with curfew being relaxed, but people are stunned that the place, which remained peaceful even when the whole country burned after the Babri demolition, should break into riots now. And Faizabad is only the latest episode. Communal riots, unheard of during Mayawati’s five-year rule, have occurred in quick succession at Mathura, Pratapgarh, Bareilly and Ghaziabad too. Lucknow and Kanpur saw minor skirmishes as well. Since May, eight major cases were reported in UP in which at least 15 persons were killed. Clearly these are not stray incidents; instead they point to the ugly politics of polarisation. In Mathura, violence broke out on June 2 following a dispute over using drinking water kept outside a place of worship in the Kosi Kalan area. On June 24, there was large-scale arson in Pratapgarh after a Muslim boy allegedly raped and murdered a minor dalit girl. This was followed by another communal clash in the same district when a person was killed in a dispute over paying richshaw fare.

On July 23, three persons were killed in Bareilly following dispute over removal of loudspeakers from places of worship. On August 12 curfew was imposed in parts of Bareilly following fresh violence over a dispute during a religious procession. Later, Ghaziabad erupted suddenly. On September 16, at least 6 persons were killed in clashes following reports of a sacred book found desecrated. One thing stands out in all the cases. While there was always a trigger – be it a rumour or an act by someone – such large-scale violence along communal lines cannot be attributed to that immediate provocation alone. There is a host of factors combining to make a deadly communal cocktail leading to a tinder-box situation. Take the case of Faizabad.

“It started on July 24 in fact when the two communities came face to face over a place of worship in Mirzapur village of the district. The saffron brigade staged a series of protests accusing the district administration of favouring Muslims,” says Dr Abdullah. A private medical practitioner in Faizabad, Dr Abdullah believes unrest in the two communities had been palpable since the assembly elections. The general perception among Muslims is the saffron brigade has been restless since it lost Faizabad assembly seat to the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the 2012 assembly polls for the first time since 1991. The theft of three ancient idols at Devkaali temple in Faizabad added to the communal polarisation that had begun after the Mirzapur mosque incident. Miscreants fled with ashtadhatu idols from the temple said to be the first place Lord Rama was brought to by his mother Kaushalya after his birth. “There was growing resentment among the Hindus as they felt that administration was not doing enough to recover the stolen idols,” says a local businessman. Tension between the two communities grew after reports that Yogi Adityanath — the firebrand Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Gorakhpur — reportedly held a series of meetings in Faizabad warning the authorities of serious repercussions if the police failed to recover the idols and arrest the accused soon. During Navratra, the idols were recovered, but this did little to ward off the Dussehra clashes. “What bothers me most is that communal riots have become so frequent in UP ever since Samajwadi Party came to power,” says Jameel Ahmed, a lawyer in Faizabad.

Also, in most cases the trigger for riots was hardly ever an issue to galvanise communal passion on this scale. In Mathura, for example, riots broke out after a Hindu passerby used drinking water kept outside a mosque. “Such reasons are far too frivolous to trigger a communal riot,” said retired IPS officer and former UP director general of police (DGP) K L Gupta. “It appears some people were waiting for an opportunity to destroy peace.” “Every time a communal clash takes place, the government says it will take strict action. Riots continue in places they were never heard of, explains how strict government is in checking them,” says Vipin, a general merchant in Faizabad’s Chowk area. “The chief minister claimed riots were result of a conspiracy to malign the image of his party. Is the government incapable of checking such elements,” he asks.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-11-05/india/34926797_1_communal-clash-devkaali-faizabad

SEE ALSO:

• Rethinking DNA Profiling in India – By Elonnai Hickok (Oct 17, 2012, Economic & Political Weekly)
  http://www.epw.in/web-exclusives/rethinking-dna-profiling-india.html
• A Secular Front for 2014 – By Harish Khare (Nov 9, 2012, The Hindu)
  http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/a-secular-front-for-2014/article4078262.ece

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Irom Sharmila’s Struggle For Democracy – By Vidya Bhushan Rawat (Nov 7, 2012, Countercurrents)

India saw a number of protests in last two years. Fast unto death became a household name when Anna Hazare sat on fast against corruption. There was mass upsurge and crowd throng Ramlila ground. Everywhere the Indian tricolor became the symbol of ‘popular’ protests. Anyone who picked up tricolor became ‘purer’ than others. The state of India was helpless seeing so many ‘satyagrahis’ and media had 24 hours dharma to ‘change’ India. All the issues were forgotten to glamorize this ‘nationalism’ of India. The struggles of tribal, Dalits, fishermen and various other states got sidelined because they do not protest with ‘tiranga’ in their hands. There are no 24 hours channel broadcasting everything what they say and there is no ‘Jantar Mantar’ or ‘Ramleela grounds’ where people can sit and protest. The only things these protests is that they challenge ‘Indian nationalism’ whether they are against the ‘mighty’ Indian army or nuclear nationalism, India remain highly intolerant and contemptuous to these struggles. It is not a hidden fact that during the transfer of power to Congress Party in 1947, Manipur was not part of India hence there was a continuous rebellion and protest when it became part of India. It is also a fact that by and large people of the state and other north Eastern States have accepted their merger with India yet the government response to North East was as if they were dealing with a ‘law and order’ problem without taking people into confidence. Though there are political governments in north-east, states like Manipur still are governed under Army protection and Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFPSA) has been widely misused against the people. There have been allegation of wide spread disappearance of people in the custody. In fact, Supreme Court today took the Manipur government to task for its laxity in responding to a case of custodial disappearance about 1500 people.

In this backdrop, a young human rights activist Irom Sharmila chose a very democratic way to highlight the issue to the authorities. Sharmila’s fast has entered into 12th year yesterday. In these times of unrest, she could have easily become a rabble rouser yet she chose the constitutional methods to protest the draconian Arms Forces Special Power Act 1958. There had been allegation of wide ranging misuse of AFSPA in the state of Manipur. It was important for the government to under the psyche of the people and provides a soothing balm to it but instead it treated any one who questions the authority and misuse of power, as anti-national rebel. The government of the day actually functions in the regions according to the advice of our intelligence agencies who are experts in manipulating things. There is another dark reality of this game of power. Assam and Manipur have been two neighbors and many in these two states suffer from deep rooted prejudices against each other. Placing Assam Rifles in Manipur was a sinister game plan by the Centre or the army as it brings the same old prejudices of Assemese against Manipuris. It is similar like the Naga Kuki issues. You cannot use one against other to serve your own purpose. The Assam Rifles was known to be notorious in Brutal and people of the states have protested against its presence. There have been very little attempt by the government to assuage the hurt feelings of Manipuris. In the past few years, the government and its might could do very little to lift the blockade from Manipur. People suffered because of this as prices of essential commodities rose high and there was scarcity of gas and petroleum products and people had to stand on cues for hours.

It is important to understand the pain of people in Manipur and for that you need to be there for a few weeks and see how the army is the major political player there. In the street of Imphal you will find the army vehicles passing through with the soldiers on alert and attention position to fire at you. The very say of army vehicle passing through is frightening because the gun and trigger happy soldier sitting on the top of it. It is not a healthy sign that even after 60 years of our independence we have army deciding many things there. Political situation is worsening as politicians are corrupted by power politics and misuse of power. That is why there is a greater disenchantment towards the political parties. Assam Rifles is often blamed for inflicting brutalities and using the old practices like raping women. It forced women in Imphal to carry out a naked protest once with banner ‘Indian Army Rape us’. This was one of the most painful protest one could have ever witnessed but then realities often bytes. On November 2nd, 2000 the army killed 10 people in firing near Imphal airport which is known as ‘Malom Massacre’. The news of the killing shocked the entire state as in the name of ‘rebel’, it was found that innocent were killed in it. Sharmila’s fast was actually against this massacre.

The irony of the situation in Manipur is that it is the human rights activists who have to bear the brunt of everything. The rebels feel that they are Indian agents while the army and the government look upon them in suspicion and often harass them for their ‘links’ with the undergrounds. The general message of pro-government people is that since the ‘army’ is fighting for the country hence their ‘actions’ must be supported. Now, nobody deny that armed forces are fighting for the country but at the same point of time, we must find out whether any country is bigger than its people. Now, what political purpose an armed action would serve if for saving the country, our army or its action alienates the entire Manipur population. It has happened. Irom Sharmila is that link which can bring even the rebels into talk with the Indian administration. She reminds each one of us to respect International laws and Indian constitution. The Armed Forces Special power Act is a clear onslaught on democracy as it gives immense power to the army to arrest anyone without any warrant and without producing anyone in the court. Such arbitrary powers will always damage the democratic fabric and will never be able to bring people to national mainstream. It is also important to know that a majority of Manipur people have also rejected the violent methods of the rebels and want to enjoy peace and freedom in their state. Manipur has a glorious past and it has a great future with India and therefore it is essential that a just peace is brought in the state where each state holder feels ownership and not defeated and betrayed. And therefore a good will gesture is long overdue which would definitely serve the purpose of bringing peace in the region. Sharmila’s fast has entered in the 12th year. She has served the purpose of compelling us to introspect though the power elite still does not want to respond to it. Today, the nation talks about Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFPSA). It needs to be repealed or reworked in Manipur. Sharmila chose the path of democracy to warn a government which was serving its own interest at the cost of the people. There were other parts available to her and other youths in Manipur. They could be easily lured by the underground as the disappointment level against the Indian system is high because its neglect to the state.

It is distressful and unconstitutional that the authorities field cases against Sharmila under IPC section 309 for ‘attempt to commit suicide’. They must ask this question as why is the person trying to commit suicide. Sharmila is not committing suicide for her own self. It is a big cause which everyone in Manipur wants complete repulsion of AFSPA. We understand the army’s concern and it is that why should a soldier fight in an unknown terrain for the country when he does not have protection. There is nothing wrong in protecting the armed forces but why should there be AFPSA. Why should we have an administration guided by the army top brass? How long shall we allow Manipur and other north East State under such laws? An environment of mutual trust is important. She has laid down her life for the cause of human rights and she need to be respected. A true tribute to her indomitable spirit would be to compel government to see the cries of people in Manipur and withdraw AFSPA at the earliest so that people live happily in the state without any fear or favor. Sharmila’s democratic voice needs a democratic response from the government of India so that the state of Manipur returns to normalcy. The government of India needs serious thought on Manipur and North East and the solution for such issues is pushing more democracy and people friendly development. It is also time for the government to acknowledge Sharmila’s democratic struggle as it will only strengthen democracy and make people believe in democratic struggle.

http://www.countercurrents.org/rawat071112.htm

SEE ALSO:

• ‘Irom Sharmila feels fasting is what she is meant to do in life’ – By Deepti Priya Mehrotra (Nov 5, 2012, Rediff)
  http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-fasting-is-what-irom-sharmila-is-meant-to-do-in-life/20121105.htm
• The Oblivious Truth of Irom Sharmila And Her Hunger Strike of 12 years – By Abhijit Bhomia (Oct 29, 2012, Countercurrents)
  http://www.countercurrents.org/bhomia291012.htm

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State ploy to silence a dissenting voice? – By Soumik Mukherjee (Oct 27, 2012, Tehelka)

The land rights movement by the tribals in Jharkhand suffered a setback on 16 October when eminent tribal activist Dayamani Barla surrendered before a lower court in Ranchi and susequently, was arrested in connection with a case that was filed against her in 2006 for blocking a road and agitating in front of a BDO’s office in Ranchi demanding fair distribution of MGNREGS job cards. Barla was granted bail two days later and the next hearing in the case is slated for 30 November. The arrest should be seen in the backdrop of the Greater Ranchi Development Plan that has invited the ire of people, as it would cause large-scale eviction of tribal population. Barla, the convener of the Adivasi-Moolvasi Astitva Raksha Manch, is believed to have been mobilising support against this project.

As an activist, and a selfmade journalist, who runs a tea stall to make ends meet, Barla is the most popular, non-political mass leader in Jharkhand. She was at the forefront of the agitation against ArcelorMittal’s proposed steel plant in the state. The $8.9 million project spread over 12,000 acres would have displaced almost 70,000 people from 45 villages. The steel plant was proposed in the same block that had seen three decades of agitation against the Koel Karo hydel project since 1973. Barla claims that she is being intimidated by the State for her role in the land rights movement across Jharkhand. “They will not miss a single opportunity to arrest me,” she had said standing in front of the wall that was built around the land earmarked for an IIM and a national law university in Nagri, a tribal village on the outskirts of Ranchi, the state capital. When TEHELKA reported the Nagri movement in June (Nagri’s Last Harvest), Barla was camping with the villagers at the construction site.

“Had it not been for her, the land at Nagri would have been transferred and no one would have said a single word,” says Arun Pradhan, a local journalist. TEHELKA had reported on the fiasco in Nagri where farms with standing crops were bulldozed to make way for the said institutions. Barla, who was leading the villagers of Nagri to save their farmlands, was critical of the State’s actions and had raised questions on its impropriety in the matter. “The government is scared of her, more than any other social activist, because people listen to her. Her ability to mobilise the masses and lead a movement is unmatchable,” says one of Barla’s colleagues.

Locals believe that using an old case is a ploy to damage the Nagri movement. The villagers of Nagri continue to sit on a hunger strike after all their efforts to stop the construction on their farming land went in vain. “The police couldn’t arrest her in a case related to the land movement. It would have resulted in a bigger tribal movement. And they cannot afford to cause a flare up,” says Bandhu Tirkey, a tribal leader. After she was booked in the 2006 case, she was never notified or summoned,” claims Faisal Anurag, a human rights worker and friend of Barla. “She received a notice from the court only 10-15 days ago,” he adds.

Barla’s conscious efforts at maintaining a safe distance from the political class has often irked the politicians who would be only too willing to encash the sense of tribal victimhood. “We wanted a separate state where the tribals will have their equal rights, but the new governments failed to give the tribal population their rights,” says Salkhan Murmu, leader of Jharkhand Disham Party. Activists believe that Barla’s arrest will adversely impact the land rights movements across Jharkhand. “As long as she does not work with a political outfit, her struggle wouldn’t be easy,” says a political leader from Jharkhand. But probably it’s her “lack of political sense” that has turned her into a crusader who the State fears.

http://tehelka.com/story_main54.asp?filename=Ne271012State.asp

SEE ALSO:

• I Am Losing Trust On Trust Itself – By Dayamani Barla (Nov 8, 2012, Countercurrents)
  http://www.countercurrents.org/barla081112.htm
• ‘In the amended Land Acquisition Act, democratic space is being shrunk’ – Ulka Mahajan with Revati Laul (Oct 27, 2012, Tehelka)
  http://tehelka.com/story_main54.asp?filename=Ne271012amended.asp

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Dharmapuri 2012: Worse Than Kilvenmani – By Dr Anand Teltumbde (Nov 11, 2012, Countercurrents)

My friend Prof C Lakshmanan called me today from the ground zero in Dharmapuri narrating in his choked voice the horrific state of things in three villages – Natham, Anna Nagar and Kondampatti, where nearly 500 houses of Dalits were looted and burnt by the Vanniyar (an OBC caste) mob on 7 November. Lakshmanan was part of a fact finding team that had just reached the site of devastation. I had known of it from a sms I received from an activist on 8 November and subsequently from the scanty reports from newspapers. And still I felt shaken to the bones. The immediate cause for the caste violence was the love marriage between a Parayar boy, Ilavarasan, 23 and a Vanniyar girl, Divya, 20 that took place a month ago. The girl’s family approached the police, and the police counseled both parties that the marriage was valid. Meanwhile the Vanniyars from 30 villages had a meeting and discussed the matter. They held a ‘kangaroo’ court at Nayakkankottai village the previous week and directed the Dalit family to return the woman on Wednesday but Divya refused to obey and made it clear that she would live with Ilavarasan. Dharmapuri SP Asra Garg knew about this all and said that the police were searching for those who took part in it. On 6 November 2012, the girl’s father G Nagarajan (48) suddenly died at his residence in Sellankottai, not far from the Natham Dalit colony. The Vanniyars claimed that he died because he could not digest that his daughter married a Parayar guy. But Dalits felt that he was murdered by Vanniyars to have an alibi for action against them. The memory of the recent shock at the statement of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) MLA J Guru, who heads the Vanniyar Sangam, the first avatar of the PMK, at a community meeting forbidding the inter-caste marriages, had not yet faded. This public meeting inspired the OBCs across Tamil Nadu to decide against the OBC girls marring Dalit boys, whatever the consequences. Also, the Kongu Vellala Goundergal Peravai, which claims to represent the community, issued advertisements in newspapers calling a meeting of community members to oppose inter-caste marriages and launched a campaign against it. All this is well known to the state. Therefore the incident should be seen in the context of such a casteist build up in the recent past.

The autopsy on the body of Nagarajan was delayed reportedly because of frequent power cuts, and the body was handed over to his relatives only on Thursday evening. Around the same time, a mob of over 2,500 people attacked Dalit houses in Natham, Anna Nagar and Kondampatti. The Administration, anticipating trouble, had stationed a 300 strong police posse in the villages but it is simply said they were outnumbered by the mob. This weird logic for police inaction has gone unquestioned so far even though there is no evidence that the police ever resisted the attackers. It could have been plausible if there were some injuries on the police side but there was none. The police proffering this absurd logic perhaps want to say that there should be as many policemen as the population of the country to maintain law and order. The truth was, as the Dalits reported, that the police remained mute spectators as they normally did, when the mob looted valuables and then set the houses on fire. There were only old people, women and children in houses, all young people having gone to work in Begaluru and Thirupur. They fled to fields and forests or nearby villages. It was all well planned, despite the police knowing it. The miscreants had blocked the roads with huge trees felled across, so that the fire tenders did not reach the villages. The orgy went over nearly for five hours and ended by 9.30 pm by which time everything was reduced to ashes. The Police claimed that the situation was brought under control after an additional 1,000 personnel were deployed and more than 90 people arrested. Cases had been registered against 210 others. If there were only 300 culprits to be charged, the question remains how the police were outnumbered. The chief minister announced compensation of Rs 50,000 to each family that lost houses and belongings and issued usual sterile statements that a severe action would be taken against those responsible for the violence. It is notable that this violence has occurred in hamlets which used to have a strong presence of the left movement. Dharmapuri district was once the headquarters of the naxalite movement in Tamil Nadu. It is revealing that as the naxalite movement is on decline, casteism has raised its ugly head in the district. Vanniyars and Dalits economically are not very different but it is the prowess of the poisonous castes that they violently clashed many times notwithstanding the enlightened statements and actions of their leader S. Ramadoss. It may be said to his credit and also of Thol Tirumavalavan, the leader of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, a Dalit party in North Tamil Nadu that there is a bit of communal amity between Dalits and OBCs in North compared to South tamil Nadu. But the upsurge of obscurantist and rank casteist forces from among the Vanniyars amply show that such patch up across castes do not mean the demise of the caste consciousness. It just means its temporary suppression. The best insurance against this poison is to annihilate it altogether with alternate idiom of class. Difficult though it may sound to very many well meaning people too, there does not seem to be any other solution to the problem.

The Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front floated by the CPM has been doing a good work in Tamil Nadu. It sent its team to Dharmapuri and raised very sensible demands as not even the established Dalit Party has done. Indeed, the issue in Dharmapuri is to rehabilitate Dalits properly. It is shame that the ruling parties who are the trend setter in shamelessly distributing television sets and laptops and household appliances, announce pittance of Rs. 50,000 as compensation taking alibi of the SC/ST Act, which otherwise is observed more in its violation. The said compensation is meant for the sufferance of atrocity and not for the loss of property. It is the obligation of the government which has failed to protect Dalits to compensate for their losses in addition to compensation for the agony that they have undergone. The Front’s demands that the Government should build decent houses for the victims, it should provide compensation for actual losses suffered; provide for due police protection; restore their documents; and take care of their children’s education are therefore most endorsable. It may be tempting to advise the Front as an outfit of the communist party that they should now scale up their efforts and think in terms of uniting people on class lines while creatively taking up anti-caste fights. The incident is reminiscent of the massacre in Kilvenmeni more than four decades ago although there has not been any loss of life in Dharmapuri. On 25 December 1968 the goons of the landlords had similarly torched a Dalit hamlet there and killed 44 hapless Dalits, mostly women and children, inaugurating what I call a new genre of atrocities in the post-independent India. One could sensibly analyze and attribute it to the changes in political economy that befell the countryside because of the capitalist strategy of development followed by the so called Nehruvian socialist regime with half-baked land reforms and green revolution. This strategy created a class of rich farmers out of the erstwhile shudra caste (read today’s BC/OBC) peasants as an important ally of and political buffer for the ruling classes at the centre and transformed Dalits to be pure proletariat dependent on the wage labour, sans security of the jajmani system. This class of rich farmers assumed the baton of Brahmanism, the upper caste landlords having left villages to nearby towns smelling greening pastures there. This class, enriched and empowered in a flash lacked in cultural sophistication of the traditional upper castes, had numbers at its command using its caste ties. The contradictions of new agrarian economy between them and Dalits as wage labourers, often manifesting through faultlines of castes, resulted in caste atrocities in a carnival mode. Kilvenmani was the inaugural piece which would be followed by many of its kind later.

Kilvenmani took a toll of 44 lives of poor Dalits. Those days Dalits did not have much to lose than their lives. In 2012, two generations after Kilvenmani, the state of society is not the same. The villages in 1960s may have had a few pucca houses belonging to a landlord and his kin but today they have many, even belonging to Dalits, not necessarily signifying increasing equality but surely elevated cultural levels, thanks to the spread of education and more so, the television reach. The relative gap between Dalits and others may have gone up but surely Dalits do not look their dilapidated selves as their parents. They have striven hard to better their and their children’s lives. Most Dalits in Dharmapuri slogged in the construction industry in Bangalore and sweat shops of Thirupur and had invested their earnings to have better houses for their families left behind. Their houses and their contents objectified their lives. Not only theirs but also of their families. Destruction of this investment is equivalent to the destruction of all Dalits in those burnt houses. The Dalit property and not Dalit lives therefore came handy for inflicting maximum damage in order to ‘teach lesson’ to the defiant Dalits, which is the basic objective behind caste atrocities. In this sense, Dharmapuri should be taken as worse than Kilvenmani. In 1960s, the Dalit movement could be said to be in making. Today it is in unmaking. The representational logic has come full circle. Despite having had always a houseful Dalit representation in parliament and legislature assemblies and having produced a sizable middle class that has reached every nook and corner of the governance structure, it has been of little use to Dalit masses who have been left behind. Neoliberalism has already sung a requiem to its representational logic. The intellectuals who should fearlessly put forth truth before people are engaged in befuddling reality with ‘cartoon controversies’. Dharmapuri cries out for answers to these and many such questions.

http://www.countercurrents.org/teltumbde111112.htm

SEE ALSO:

• Dharmapuri violence: Why are Dalits unsafe in Dravidian Tamil Nadu? – By G Pramod Kumar (Nov 11, 2012, First Post)
  http://www.firstpost.com/politics/dharmapuri-violence-why-dalits-are-unsafe-in-dravidian-tamil-nadu-522135.html
• Caste And Honor – By Vidya Bhushan Rawat (Nov 12, 2012, Countercurrents)
  http://www.countercurrents.org/rawat121112.htm

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