Everybody’s walled up against Dalits here (DNA)
"Uthapuram has the most humble of demands. The 3,000 Dalits who live in this sun-burnt village off the Madurai-Theni highway seek the shade of a neem tree that stands in the courtyard of the Mutharamman temple. The administration, however, is reluctant to demolish the long wall that was built by upper caste men to keep Dalits away from the temple and their colony.
"'We had decided not to vote. Then the district collector called us for talks and assured us that everything will be taken care of once the elections are over,' says Sundara Pandi, whose father died in a caste clash in 1989. Six Dalits were killed — either by the upper caste Pillais or the police — when they tried to build a bus shelter at the only opening to their hamlet.
"The 20-year-old 'theendamai chevaru' (untouchability wall) was built by the Pillais to cut off Dalits from the rest of the village. It reduces their access to the road to one muddy opening. The Dalits wanted a bus shelter to protect themselves from the sun. But they were denied that. Just before CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat’s visit here in October 2008, the local administration forced open a small passage through the wall at another spot.
"'We don’t use that path unless we move in a group,' says Mari Muthu, who expects more trouble any time. The community marks time by the many clashes — in 1962, 1989, 1991 and 2008, when the police chased away all men and took into custody all women and children in the Dalit quarters."
See anti-caste: TAMIL NADU VILLAGE DIVIDED ON CASTE LINES (May 4, 2008)
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