Dalit Panchayat Presidents Victims of Caste Oppression in India

Thursday November 23 2006 TIRUNELVELI (Tamil Nadu): The Panchayat Presidentship is not a bed of roses to the newly elected Dalit presidents in the district as a majority of them remain sheer puppets in the hands of the vice-presidents belonging to the upper castes.

The gruesome murder of the newly elected president of the reserved panchayat, Nakkalaimuthanpatti near Sankarankoil in Tirunelveli district on Wednesday morning, has once again proved that no political reservation in the local body elections would bring out any change in the plight of the entire Dalit community that remains thrown to the wolves under the oppression of the caste Hindus.

�The killing is just the tip of a bigger bitter truth that the deep-rooted casteism in the State remains a strong obstacle in the path of achieving an egalitarian society�, said Bharathan of Manitha Urimai Kalam.

He pointed out to some more panhcyats in the district where the democratically elected Dalit panchayat presidents could not act on their own. In Melathalayuthu Panchayat, Panchayat president Balasundari had assumed office just for the name sake and the vice-president is acting as its president, he alleged. The same is the case in the panchayat of Thevarkulam near Sankarankoil and Keelapillaiyarkulam in Manur panchayat union. Words spread from the district of Thoothukudi district reflect the same view.

The Dalit woman chairman of the Kayathar Panchayat union here, Perumalammal was forced to go on a medical leave by the union�s vice-chairman, Manickaraja who belongs to an upper caste. Even after the issue was made public by the Dailies, the district administration seems to be deaf to the problem.

The same problem has been reported from the Padmanabamangalam Panchayat at Srivaikundam union in Thoothukudi district.

�The social division among the Dalits too has been said to be one of the reasons that encourages the caste Hindus to indulge in this,� opined Bharathan and added that in several of the 69 reserved panchayats in Tirunelveli district, candidates from Parayar and Arunthathiyar communities were fielded by the upper castes to defeat the candidates belonging to the Pallar community that is the dominating Dalit community in the southern districts.

Condemning the murder of Nakkalaimuthapatti Panchayat president, Tirunelveli district unit of the Marxist Communist party has demanded action against the culprits under the Prevention of SC/ST Atrocities Act.

Tirunelveli District Collector G Prakash said that the family of the deceased would be given a compensation of Rs 2 lakh, and added that if any office bearer in any other panchayats or the elected bodies in the district has been proved to have indulged in any such activity, action would be initiated against them under the Criminal Procedure.

He asked the public to place any such complaints in their panchayats.

Source: Newindpress.com

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