Tamil Nadu: Love in the time of caste politics

Rashmun wrote:Caste-based violence is not new to Dharmapuri. Vanniyar attacks on Dalits have been a regular phenomenon there since the ’90s. Scholars like MSS Pandian view this as an expression of the weakening power of Vanniyars over Dalits. In Nayakkankottai village, most Dalits have better living standards than the Vanniyars. Many Dalit youths have managed to get higher education and employment in cities like Bangalore and Coimbatore. The organising of the Vanniyars into a political group began late in Tamil Nadu, as compared to communities like the Thevars. The Vanniyar Sangam was formed in 1980 by Dr S Ramdoss. Since its inception, there has been a series of clashes between Dalits and Vanniyars. The Sangam later metamorphosed into the PMK, a political party driven primarily by caste hate. Ramdoss tried to bring all intermediate castes under a single umbrella against Dalits, but by the late 90s, the PMK started becoming irrelevant in Tamil Nadu politics. The violence following Divya and Ilavarasan’s marriage is thought to be PMK’s attempt to regain its waning base among Vanniyars. Resisting inter-caste marriages is right at the top of PMK’s agenda. Two months before this issue erupted, Kaduvetti Guru, a PMK MLA who heads the Vanniyar Sangam, publicly announced that Dalits marrying Vanniyar girls deserve to be hacked to death.

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/love-in-the-time-of-caste-politics

Rishi wrote:


"Ilavarasan was pursuing a degree in Computer Science.."


“He went missing one day. He had just completed the physical fitness test to join the Tamil Nadu police force and was waiting for his appointment,” he says.

*****Something fishy here. In the beginning, the author of the article says the kid was studying B.Sc Computer Science. Later, we come to know that Ilavarasan was going to become a police constable.  

The truth of the matter is the guy was never in college to begin with. I think the Vanniyars are telling the truth when they claim that young dalit men go after middle class Vanniyar girls to trap them in phoney love marriages and thus extort money from the hapless parents. Dalits may be doing this as a payback for their enslavement by Vanniyars.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:oh the usual boring tactic. pick a group from which there is resistance to the hindi/urdu pushing. dig up some dirt against them and post it in the fond hope that they'll be distracted from the hindi pushing. won't work. your last hindi pushing effort was doozy.

and btw, the relentless follow up posts on how hindi is gaining acceptance in TN shows your insecurity. if it is really all that popular, you wouldn't be posting on that topic here day in and day out. if your objectives have already been achieved, why bother?

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:oh the usual boring tactic. pick a group from which there is resistance to the hindi/urdu pushing. dig up some dirt against them and post it in the fond hope that they'll be distracted from the hindi pushing. won't work. your last hindi pushing effort was doozy.

and btw, the relentless follow up posts on how hindi is gaining acceptance in TN shows your insecurity. if it is really all that popular, you wouldn't be posting on that topic here day in and day out. if your objectives have already been achieved, why bother?

Rishi wrote:

Rashmun wrote:Caste-based violence is not new to Dharmapuri. Vanniyar attacks on Dalits have been a regular phenomenon there since the ’90s. Scholars like MSS Pandian view this as an expression of the weakening power of Vanniyars over Dalits. In Nayakkankottai village, most Dalits have better living standards than the Vanniyars. Many Dalit youths have managed to get higher education and employment in cities like Bangalore and Coimbatore. The organising of the Vanniyars into a political group began late in Tamil Nadu, as compared to communities like the Thevars. The Vanniyar Sangam was formed in 1980 by Dr S Ramdoss. Since its inception, there has been a series of clashes between Dalits and Vanniyars. The Sangam later metamorphosed into the PMK, a political party driven primarily by caste hate. Ramdoss tried to bring all intermediate castes under a single umbrella against Dalits, but by the late 90s, the PMK started becoming irrelevant in Tamil Nadu politics. The violence following Divya and Ilavarasan’s marriage is thought to be PMK’s attempt to regain its waning base among Vanniyars. Resisting inter-caste marriages is right at the top of PMK’s agenda. Two months before this issue erupted, Kaduvetti Guru, a PMK MLA who heads the Vanniyar Sangam, publicly announced that Dalits marrying Vanniyar girls deserve to be hacked to death.

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/love-in-the-time-of-caste-politics

"Ilavarasan was pursuing a degree in Computer Science.."


“He went missing one day. He had just completed the physical fitness test to join the Tamil Nadu police force and was waiting for his appointment,” he says.

*****Something fishy here. In the beginning, the author of the article says the kid was studying B.Sc Computer Science. Later, we come to know that Ilavarasan was going to become a police constable.  

The truth of the matter is the guy was never in college to begin with. I think the Vanniyars are telling the truth when they claim that young dalit men go after middle class Vanniyar girls to trap them in phoney love marriages and thus extort money from the hapless parents. Dalits may be doing this as a payback for their enslavement by Vanniyars.

Maria S wrote:Well this love story ended tragically ended in the suicide of the young man Ilavarasan.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/dalit-boy-ilavarasan-found-dead-on-railway-tracks/article4881007.ece?homepage=true


*No one can justify the reasons for committing suicide..but, can  understand the enormous pressures and pain of this young man which can emotionally destroy a fragile human being.

There is plenty of blame to go around..I blame caste divisions, caste politics and *I blame the families.

I wish the young lady- once she made the decision to marry him..stayed with him to the end and not leave him..but, sadly that could have meant the death of two, instead of one..and she decided to leave him hanging(pardon the pun).  

Too bad and sad indeed.

Rashmun wrote:
my belief is that this is an instance of honor killing.

Maria S wrote:

Rashmun wrote:
my belief is that this is an instance of honor killing.

 You mean it's murder? Or honor suicide?

Rishi wrote: Mr. Ilavarasan had withdrawn Rs. 9,000 using his father’s ATM card in the morning and had told him that he would go to a relative’s residence at Bharathipuram in Dharmapuri town.

May be he was robbed of Rs. 9000 and killed by some thugs.

If this guy had eloped with a Brahmin girl, the Parents of the girl would have come to terms with the reality and made peace with the dalit family. They would have told them  "whatever happened has happened.. All we are asking you is to treat our daughter well."