In an India that is fractured along caste lines,
a marriage is never the simple establishment of
a relationship between two independent, adult
individuals. Instead, it can involve not only
the two families, but whole communities as well.
An inter-caste marriage without parental approval
is, therefore, a potential trigger for violence
in rural India. The caste group that is relatively
higher in the social hierarchy sees any such marriage
as a social affront, especially if the other caste
group is Dalit. Wednesday’s attack on three
Dalit colonies in Dharmapuri district of Tamil
Nadu, which ended in the burning down of 268 houses,
is another shocking instance of how social stigmas
engendered by caste identities can provoke large-scale
violence. The arson was the immediate fallout
of the suicide of a caste Hindu man whose daughter
had married a Dalit living in one of the colonies.
Apparently unable to accept his daughter’s
decision to marry a Dalit, the man opted to end
his life. For a bride’s family, especially
if it is higher in the caste ladder, the socially
sanctioned stigma associated with an inter-caste
marriage is greater. Women carry a far heavier
responsibility of having to protect the “family
honour”, which is a euphemism for the feudal
notions of social status and acceptance held by
the senior male members of the family. Indeed,
the prevalence of such notions is an indicator
of the secondary status accorded to women in these
communities.
Worryingly,
in rural Tamil Nadu where caste conflicts over
marriages, religious rituals or access to public
resources are common, the police were slow to
sense the potential for trouble. A few days before
the violence, the newly wedded couple had approached
the police for protection fearing attacks by members
of the bride’s community. Other than providing
assurances and holding out promises, the police
seem to have taken no preventive steps. A self-styled
court in the village ordered the Dalit man to
send his wife back to her parents, but the woman
refused to leave her husband. This should have
alerted the police to the possibility of trouble.
Although the suicide, the immediate trigger for
the attack, could not have been predicted or prevented,
the police had adequate reason to apprehend the
tensions and ample time to take precautionary
steps. The only reason that none in the Dalit
colonies suffered any bodily harm is that all
the residents had left their homes and taken shelter
in another village. Social stigmas and caste inequalities
cannot be wiped out overnight, but surely the
law enforcers can show greater anticipation and
quicker reflexes in familiar situations that give
rise to tensions between caste groups.
Posted on www.ambedkartimes.com November 23,
2012 with thanks http://www.thehindu.com
10 NOV 2012
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“ATTACK
ON DALITS, A FAILURE OF DRAVIDIANISM” |
D.
KARTHIKEYAN |
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Dharmapuri
violence not an isolated incident but planned
attack: report
The
November 7 attack on Dalit villages in Dharmapuri
district was not an isolated incident but a
planned attack against Dalits by intermediate
castes in that region, observed a forum of Dalit
activists, writers and intellectuals.
The Intellectual Circle for Dalit Actions (ICDA,
Tamil Nadu - Puducherry) said the latest attack
on Dalits required political attention because
many observers and intellectuals attributed
the attack to an allegedly inflammatory speech
by Kaduvetti J. Guru of Pattali Makkal Katchi,
who had said openly at a meeting in Mamallapuram
in April 2012 that Vanniyars should prevent
inter-caste marriages involving their girls.
This speech gave the accused the stimulus to
carry out such an attack, the ICDA said in a
report.
In the State’s western region, the Kongu
Vellala Gounder Peravai and other backward and
intermediate caste organisations had spoken
out against inter-caste marriages.
Their action was not only illegal but also against
the Constitutional ideal of equality. This was
never condemned either by the State Government
or major political parties.
In a State with a century-old history of anti-caste
movements, the backward and intermediate castes,
often projected as victims of Brahminism, were
the ones that inflicted violence against Dalits
and the Dharmapuri incident is yet another example.
Moreover, these caste-based political movements,
which function under the rubric of social justice,
were the ones that continuously called for the
annulment of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities)
Act, 1989, the intellectuals said. The caste-majoritarian
politics promoted by the Dravidian parties remained
a protective shield for such organisations,
the ICDA said.
The political bonhomie between Dalits and Vanniyars
after a political alliance between PMK and VCK
began in 2003 was seen then as a big change.
For, the castes were pitted against each other
for long. Both the parties claimed that their
coming together would herald a change in social
relationships.
However, it was under the banner of Tamil nationalism
and it was not a platform for annihilation of
caste.
The Dharmapuri violence, according to the ICDA,
showcases the failure of Dravidianism and Tamil
nationalism.
The political discourse had failed to internalise
changes in the caste hierarchy in which the
intermediate castes had gained an upper hand
which, in turn, saw a greater subjugation and
oppression of Dalits, the ICDA said in its report.
The ICDA includes C. Lakshmanan of Madras Institute
of Development Studies; Tamil writer Stalin
Rajangam; J. Balasubramanian and A. Jegannathan
of Madurai Kamaraj University and Anbu Selvam,
writer from Puducherry.
Posted on www.ambedkartimes.com November
23, 2012 with thanks http://www.thehindu.com
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