Two years after the most infamous inter-caste marriage in the country, which led to more than 200 Dalit houses being torched, Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu is still on the edge. Little did the couple know that exercising personal freedom would lead to a spectre of violence, which would continue to haunt their villages for months to come. While historical tensions have existed between the land-owning Vanniyar caste and the Paraiyar (Dalit) caste, things took a turn for the worse in October 2012 after a Vanniyar girl eloped with a Paraiyar boy, named Ilavarasan, following her family’s objection to their marriage. Fearing social humiliation, the girl’s father killed himself. A day later, on 7 November, a mob of caste Hindus rampaged through Dalit settlements in Dharmapuri. More than 200 Dalit houses were torched and over 1,500 people were rendered homeless overnight. At a time when efforts are put to faciliatate Ambedkar’s dream of annihilating caste, such instances of atrocities raise serious questions about the prevailing inequalities in our democracy. Even more so when Michael Raj asks: “Is it a crime to be a Dalit in this country?” Is anybody listening?
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 17:01:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015