Pride and Prejudice: How resurgent caste identities breed clashes and polarisation amongst youth of southern Tamil Nadu

by Guest Wed Nov 18, 2015 11:04 am

http://www.firstpost.com/india/pride-and-prejudice-how-resurgent-caste-identities-breed-clashes-and-polarisation-amongst-youth-of-southern-tamil-nadu-2511916.html

by Guest Wed Nov 18, 2015 11:10 am

As Tamil Nadu heads into state elections in 2016, severe polarisation is evident on the basis of caste. Parties for Thevars, for Nadars and for Dalits are vying with each other to find issues to publicise. ‘Gouravam’ or honour, is the key word amongst all of these players. “How can a Thevar bear it if someone working in his house wants to marry his daughter?” asked 32-year-old Bhavani Velmurugan, founder of a small Thevar outfit called the Akila India Mukkalathor Marumalarchi Kazhagam (All India Mukkalathor Revival Party) in Tirunelveli. “It is a question of Gouravam. If a Thevar man cannot protect his women, what kind of a man is he?” he said. Velmurugan laughingly admits the volatile nature of the natives of the southern districts. “Most fights begin with a mere glance or a single utterance. It quickly degenerates into a caste clash or murder. It is in our blood, what can we say? For the ‘upper castes’ “maanam” (honour) is more important than anything else,” he said.
Gouravam is a running concept amongst the Pallar community as well. “We are fighting for the dignity and honour of the Dalits of Tamil Nadu,” said John Pandian of the TMMK. Rousing cries of ‘veeram’ (bravery) and ‘maanam’ (honour) are heard from Dalit parties across the state.

Dravidian parties in the state have traditionally had candidates from the dominant caste in the region as important party functionaries or candidates. The AIADMK is often referred to as a Thevar party due to a large number of leaders of that caste. In the south, most leaders of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) are either Nadars or Thevars.
As political voices ring more stridently in the run up to elections 2016, polarisation of people on the basis of caste has hit strident levels. The youth, especially, appear to be lured to the deep rooted biases against caste in villages of the south. “They (Pallars) started it and we simply hit back,” shrugs 28-year-old Deepan Chakravarthy, an autorickshaw driver in tense Elumalai. His friend, 18-year-old Raja Deepan, a daily wage labourer who dropped out of school a few years ago, agrees. “They (Pallars) should stay in their area. What are they doing coming to our part of the village?” he asked aggressively as he whiled away time near the Muthuramalinga Thevar statue at the centre of Elumalai.

by Guest Wed Nov 18, 2015 11:15 am

it is a miracle how the dalits are continuing to hold on to Hinduism and not converting to another religion despite the obvious discrimination.

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The Muthalamman temple stands grand and tall in the main square of Uthapuram village, around 55 kilometres from Madurai in southern Tamil Nadu. The deity’s gates have been shut for the past two weeks and a posse of police personnel guards the ornate wooden doors. A recurring battle for equal rights between the Scheduled Caste Pallars, known as Devendrakula Vellalars, and the Backward Class Pillais, called Vellalars, in Uthapuram since the late 1980s continues to be fought in Goddess Muthalamman’s name.
Tensions began in 1987, when Scheduled Caste Pallars began to demand equal rights to worship in the temple, which was until then closed to them. In 1989, riots broke out with the ‘upper caste’ Pillais turning on the Dalits. 40 villages surrounding Uthapuram joined hands and approved the construction of a wall cutting off entry to the Pillai side of Uthapuram from Devendra Nagar, the Pallar part of the village. “The trigger was eve-teasing of our Pillai girls,” said SP Murugesan, a chartered accountant in Uthapuram belonging to the Pillai community. “There were terrible clashes and many of our homes got looted too. That is why we decided to construct the wall. It is on patta land. Don’t I have the right to build a wall on my own land and protect my home from unwelcome visitors? Is this not allowed in a democracy?” he asked.
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court turned battleground in the early 2000s, as political parties jumped headlong into the issue of the ‘Untouchability Wall’ in Uthapuram. Protests by Left parties forced Pillais to bring a portion of the wall down in 2008. By 2010, a peace agreement was negotiated between the Pallars and Pillais, which was endorsed by the court. The ownership, administration and maintenance of the Muthalamman would be by the Pillais, as it has traditionally been. Pillais agreed that they would not refuse any Pallar from worshipping in the temple. Peace reined briefly. Until the third week of October this year when the temple became a talking point once again, ahead of the Muthalamman festival. Negotiations and a court case later, the festival took place in the midst of inordinately heavy police protection.

“Our main demand has always been that we be allowed to worship the Arasa maram (Peepul tree) which is inside the temple compound,” said K Ponnaiah, a resident of the Dalit colony of Devendra Nagar in Uthapuram. “When we went to the tree and began to pray, Pillais came up and started abusing us using our caste names. We retaliated and told them that we will not allow the ‘saami’ (deity) to be taken out as per the ritual. This led to anger again,” he said.
Police arrested 35 people under the Protection of Civil Rights Act for degrading the Dalit community. The Pillais say these were all false, foisted cases.

Caste affiliated tensions spread to neighbouring Elumalai, a few kilometers from Uthapuram. Another Muthalamman temple here was the battleground for clashes between Scheduled Caste Pallars and the Thevars, a Backward Class. Dalits from another neighbouring village, Athankaraipatti joined in the melee. Vehicles were burnt by both castes and stones were pelted. ‘Upper caste’ Naickers and Chettiars too joined hands with the Thevars against the Dalits, pitting both sides equally in terms of numbers in this village of 30,000 residents.
“Some Thevars and Pillais in the village created this issue for their own interests,” said Muthaiah Karuppaiah Thevar, better known as ‘Onriya’ Muthaiah, a local functionary of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and a former Panchayat Union president of Elumalai. “They got the SCs drunk and instigated them to cause trouble. We have never stopped SCs from worshipping in the temple,” he said.
The Pallars of Elumalai though say that they are insulted and abused often by the ‘upper castes’. Pallars here are not allowed to pay their share towards the maintenance of the Muthalamman temple, a prerogative of the ‘upper castes’. A common cremation ground has become solely for the ‘upper castes’ – Pallars have no place to cremate their dead and they say they use a vacant plot of land for this. “During Kamaraj’s (former Chief Minister) time we stopped tying our towels around our waists in from of the ‘upper castes’,” said Gurusamy Perumal, a resident of the Pallar area of Elumalai. “Now it looks like we will have to go back to that or worse. When we demand rights to the Goddess, these people ask us – what God does a Pallar have?” he fumed.
An uneasy calm prevails now over these villages, as police vans stand guard against further clashes.

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Pride and Prejudice: How resurgent caste identities breed clashes and polarisation amongst youth of southern Tamil Nadu

Pride and Prejudice: How resurgent caste identities breed clashes and polarisation amongst youth of southern Tamil Nadu

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