I would have remained silent about the caste clash among the law college students, but for this extremely abusive and derogatory comment from a casteist person who prefers to go by the pseudonym Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar (PMT).
This is the said comment from PMT:
“You inhuman ambedkar people beat up our thevar people. How barbariands you are not at all human. you should register under wildlife act. down with the inhuman ambedkarisms”
I have not written about the caste clash among the students any where on this blog, so I fail to understand why I got this comment. However, I have taken the pains to write this post, because I want the world (and at least the readers of my blog) as to what exactly happened in the Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College premises. This post is based on what my friends told me. If this comment had not appeared on my blog, I would reacted like any other mediaperson. I wouldn’t have taken caste names, I wouldn’t want to complicate an already confounded situation. (Now the names of the warring factions are out in the open, so I needn’t apologize). I would have remained silent and started worrying about solutions, rather than take the pains/risks of exposing the real story. But I think that people might be really getting the wrong news, or not getting the long background to this, hence this post.
For the past couple of years, the Thevar Peravai (based in Egmore, Chennai) has been organizing students of their community under the banner of Mukkulathor Maanavar Peravai. Particularly within the law college campus, where politics and caste rule the roost, the effects of such an organization has been enormous. And scary. They have taken an anti-Dalit line and this has led to minor skirmishes in the recent past. In pamphlets and posters within the campus, the Mukkulathoor Maanavar Peravai specially omitted the usage of “Dr.Ambedkar’s” name while referring to the college. By refusing to use the Dalit leader’s name, they were taking an explicit anti-Dalit line. It is easy to argue that there’s really nothing to a name, but if there was nothing, why did the Mukkulathoor Maanavar Peravai not evoke his name? And according to students there, these caste tensions ran high especially after the Thevar Jayanthi celebrations (30 October 2008). Within a ten-day span, there had been four assaults on Dalit students. One student of the Mukkulathor caste: Mr. Bharati Kannan, had arranged for rowdies from outside to enter the campus and assault Dalit students. A few Dalit students had been hurt in this attack, but that wasn’t publicized. The chief intention of this oppressive caste students’ organization was to prevent Dalit students from writing their exams. However, the Dalit students who came to know about this, had gone ahead and informed the police who went on to seize weapons from within the campus. The Dalit students also reported this instance to the principal. Because of this widespread fear about what these frenzied casteists (with support from violent/nefarious outside elements) could do to them, around 50-60 Dalit students (primarily those who were keen activists and were publicly known/ identified as ‘Dalits’) refrained from attending the exams. It was the sanest choice, because they had to choose between taking an exam, and having their life taken away. Only those Dalit students whose caste identity was not obvious to a lot of people came to take the exams. These students had complained to the police though about what they were facing. Those who did not undertake the examinations were standing as a group, because of their belief in unity, and belief in the fact that if they were together, they couldn’t be harmed. They also felt that their unity would ensure that other Dalit students (who were taking the exam) would not become victims. However, one Dalit student Chitiraiselvan, who walked out of the exam hall after finishing his exam was attacked brutally by these caste-Hindu Mukkulathor/Thevar students. He was stabbed in the head and his ear was cut off. (News update: A plastic surgery has been performed on him to restitch the ear back into place.) Even as mindless brutality was going on, Chitiraiselvan was stabbed in the stomach. It seems the oppressor caste hoodlums had planned to kill at least half a dozen Dalit students to prove their superiority, that is why they were murderously attacking students who did not even flaunt their Dalit identity. Having realized the possible consequence of where this could lead to, and to safeguard the rest of their friends from further harm, the gathered group of Dalit students decided to retaliate. Nobody must forget that what comes out of video as brutality has a story behind it–this is not to justify the series of events, but to say that there is the other side to the story. The subsequent, and extremely delayed, police intervention turned the tide against dalit students. And I am not even sure I have the confidence to say that things have come to an end. Friends from other places in Tamil Nadu say that Dalit students are being attacked in law colleges in other cities: Coimbatore, Salem and so on. This is how caste has a nuclear fission effect. I think the State has at least done some good by shutting down all law colleges in the state.
Of course, the video coverage doesn’t point out to the students’ caste identities. What has taken place there is a tragedy, it shows brutality. I would blame the police more than anyone else. The police can say that they can’t enter the law college campus without its principal’s permission, but a single shot into the air would have made all the difference in the world. The spectators are more heartless than the rampaging students themselves. And I don’t know where to place trollers like Pasumpon Thevar, who decides to pick on an unrelated person like me simply because I happen to be an Ambedkarist.
I really think being a Dalit student is the hardest job in the whole world. Those who struggle hard and enter the upper crust institutions, are mentally harassed and driven to suicide. In places like the law college, they pay with their blood. When will academic casteist terrorism come to an end?
UPDATES: These are updates that I found in yesterday’s newspaper and in today’s. I think it will tell you more. It is a pity that provocative posters continue to appear. . . Bharati Kannan flaunts his caste and power connections… And, the state police have only arrested Dalit students so far.
I am in a mood to actually meet all Dalit lawyers who passed out of the Dr.Ambedkar Govt. Law College and make them share their experience of both violence and casteism within the college campus. Somethings have to be recorded.
14-11-2008
Sir/Madam,
There is a medicine? or painkiller? available in Tamil Nadu which is used during the time of caste fights. The same should be applied now also in Law College, Medical College student fights based on caste. It is the medicine of “the curse of Varnashrama Dharma” or “the curse of “the Paarpana Soozhchi”. This medicine is frequently applied by D.K.Party of Tamil Nadu who are the exclusive Trade Mark holders of this medicine and the franchisee and Licensee Parties are so many who also use the same medicine repeatedly to reap benefits. Though the caste-based benefits such as college seats, employment-reservation, scholarships, house plot, house-flat allotment, etc. etc. are required for ever (even for a Crorepathi), because a handful of uppermost caste has created and maintained the Caste System for more than one-lakh years (without any assistance from other castes/divisions), we have to find some way to win over the PAARPANA SOOZCHI which has created all these caste divisions and caste-fights between our students. But in that process do not become a ‘PAARPANA ADI VARUDI” Be careful not to get that tag; otherwise you will be doomed for ever and you will lose a lot of monetary and social benefits personally and available through the various governments. Keep this mind and find a solution. You have a chance to get a Big Award similar to Nobel Prize. -Nallathambi, Chennai.
This is a heinous crime…Even the movies don’t depict such gross violence. I just happened to watch the video on youtube and am terribly upset..I threw up few minutes ago…..Its totally inhumane… Is this how we grew up? Where did the humanity go?
Doesn’t matter if “X” started the attack on “Y” or “Y” started the attack first on “X”…..the whole idea of going to this extent is pinching me….
I blame the cops/media/other students…they all turned into mere spectators…I cannot believe that India hasn’t progressed much….Barbaric ages we live in…(I grew up eating idli/dosa and sharing my dorm room with people covering both the high and low spectrum of caste system…I never ever knew that caste was such a big issue…this was 10 years ago..)
thanks for the info in the blog. it will be useful to me when i explain the problem to othrs.
//In places like the law college, they pay with their blood. When will academic casteist terrorism come to an end?//
There is no doubt here. It will never ever come to end for sure. as long as there is always ups and downs in the society, this will be there.
I have been trying really hard to understand what was the real cause for such brutal incident. Being a student, i find no reason in beating up my fellow college mate. But this caste fission effect must be curbed before it becomes bigger.
Thanks for the brilliant analysis in this blog
Samatha :
Sunderpandyan:
“The Chennai Ambedkar Law College incident seem to have deep political and caste roots and is revealing many neglected aspects of education system. The exhibited desire of students to experiment valor and take pride at it needs to be addressed as part of the college curriculum. I think students need to be exposed to “Problem Resolution” techniques.”
Sunderapandyan is absolutely right. “Problem resolution” techniques would help. Actually, college staff needs to be trained first. Principal seems to be very inept. It almost feels as if the principal was not interested in student’s welfare. It is possible that the ongoing examinations might have distracted the staff. But the action of police is inexcusable. When u see the CNN-IBN Footage, u really feel outraged. What kind of police force is this ? Even a common citizen would try to intervene, if possible. With all the police training, arms, equipments, trained force and enough prior information, chennai police had a great opportunity to show how to handle caste violence.
At the same time, I feel attempt at peace committee would have failed if it didn’t understand the main issues. This bunch of uppercaste students meant to instigate caste feelings when they pasted pamphlets without ambedkar’s name on it. (I don’t understand why many of the newspapers refer to ambedkar’s name indirectly as “national leader”. It seems like the media is having the same mentality as these uppercaste students. They are uncomfortable to even mention the great constitutional architect. They are ignorant of history. At the time of independence, british expected india to go to dogs. India was torn by hindu-muslim communal violence, partition, violent hindu right, disturbing communist left, poverty, lack of education, unwilling princely states, a nation divided by different languages, caste,religion and culture. There were too many factors against india. A modern, egalitarian constitution designed by ambedkar’s team has managed to keep all these factions in control (if not happy) over the last half of the century. India has become a force to reckon with at global level. We have to acknowledge this great son of india more willingly. It shouldn’t be just the dalits and the minorities who should be grateful to ambedkar. Even the majority have to thank him for keeping the country together with his vision. ) Enough of digressing. Main point I was raising was that ambedkar’s name should have been included later in the in-campus pamphlets to avoid disrespect. This was a simple thing to do. It would have taken an hour or so. This was not handled properly even after the police intervention. (Good job by chennai police). This lack of action by college authorities to resolve the issue definitely emboldened these uppercaste seniors to take the next step of blocking the dalit juniors from entering the college to take the exam. Here again, college authorities and security could have taken steps to enable the dalit students to take the exams. It seems like that didn’t happen. (Few seniors did take some of the juniors secretly to the exams). This collusion between the college authorities and the uppercaste students must have definitely frustrated the dalit students. Their retaliatory action shows lack of guidance and immaturity. At least the principal could have shown some grace at this point by admitting the mistakes and planning action against the bunch of hatred-filled uppercaste students for instigating and intimidating the juniors. Instead, principal is putting ALL the blame on “dalit hostel students”. It seems like the principal is blinded by caste hatred even at this juncture after so much damage to young students. This, coming from a senior staff of a LAW college, who are expected to train the future guardians of the society, points at a serious deficiency in our system in sensitising the teaching faculty and the police force to simmering caste feelings and the noble intentions of our legal system to manage them.
[...] Source : Meena Kandasamy [...]
Thanks for putting down the real story behind the clash. Provocation by the thevars is planned, violence intended to intimidate the dalit students. Disrespect to ambedkar is used to provoke the dalits. Violence is unleashed to prove the superiority of the upper castes. They want to remind the low status of dalits in their eyes.This is the same method used by RSS/VHP/Bajrangdal to cause violence to minorities and dalits. Dalit students have done the right thing by involving the police. If they had registered official complaints, it should be possible to bring the actual thevars who masterminded this violence to book.
Keep us updated. We would like to know what happens to the dalit students involved.
Great documentation of the sequence of events. Keep it up !!!!
Thank you very much for giving real facts of the voilence. After I saw it on NDTV really i was shocked.
Most of the forward people dont like ambedkar and they respect their local leaders muc. This itself shows our bias towards merit.
Meena Kandasamy’s blog “Silence may be costly, hence this post” is very thoughtful and touching. In fact, ever since I read about the unfortunate incident at the Law College I have been mentally disturbed, and pondering over the whole issue myself. I have my views on this and similar incidents which I hope to share with the media soon. Meanwhile, Meena, keep up your efforts. You seem to think logically; and you write well. Develop your blogs of this kind into full length articles and build up your own site. I shall return to your blogs when I find time.
I am an advocate with more than a decade of practice at High Court. At the out set, let me confess that I fell ashamed to say that I am a product of MADRAS LAW COLLEGE ( As it was then ) I would hasten to add that when the name of the college was prefixed with the name of Dr.Ambedkar ( One of the pioneer in the framing of our constitution ) I was one among the few students ( I am not a caste Hindu Ms.Meena kandasamy, as a mater of fact,my mother tongue is not Tamil ) and neutral Harijan students ( Indeed, they are the people most loved by god, Hari ) who had apprehension in our mind that these politicians are unnecessarily fueling the already burning fire. Many of you ( Importantly the Law students who are fighting in the name of caste ) may not know that Dr.Ambedkar Law college is a most celebrated and prestigious institution which had produced eminent jurist and able advocates who rendered their ultruistic service to judiciary. As a law student, I had always considered ( till now ) that I should set as an example to other students, for at least Iam supposed to know the cause and conequences of my acts. . But, Iam sorry to say that the politicians for cheap popularity and to increase their vote bank do something which may fetch to them instant gain to them without considering the damage it may cause to the entire students community in future. The political bosses at that time thought by prefixing the name of Dr.Ambedkar they may get votes from our harijan brother and sisters. Why Iam saying this is that except in Chennai, no Law college is either prefixed or suffixed with another name . Rememer there were only 4 govt., law colleges in the state at that time namely Chennai,Madurai,Coimbaote and Trichy ) and a PVt., college at Salem.
It is unfortunate , but a harsh reality that Dr.Ambedkar, who fought for the rights of the oppressed class is claimed by our harijan brother to be a leader exclusively belonging to them . Iam sure that, had Babasahib been alive, even he would not have recoganized the current trend. Ther fore, the castesim is not brought in to the campus by student on their own, it is thrusted upon them by politicians. As a forumers had pointed out the rift among law college students is going on for a long period. To my knowledge for more than 15 years. Thanks to the contribution of the Law college hostel students who have brought maximum disrepute to the institution. When violence was going on ,manyadvocates ( former law students ) were inside court halls . We were all highly offended. Even our sister advocates of my batch suggested that, if not police, let us enter in to the precints of law college ( irrespective of caste or creed) to save the boys who were mericylessly beaten by “Heroic students” . After all, when law is breahced and justice is butchered within High court campus it is the most cherised duties of advocates to prevent it. But when we as a group of advocates went near the gate of law college, by that time maximum damage to the institution was already done. We could only chase some students ( with wooden logs hidden with them ) from entering High court campus. The only solace for me as an advocate was that almost all of our High court advocates expressed their anguish against the barbaric violence . Had we be aware of this barbaric incident in advance , take it from me, a group of advocates, lead by few Senior Advocate would have definetly intervened to calm down the situation .
See the photograph of Mr. Bharathikannan with a knife in hand here:
http://tinyurl.com/5s6a3n
Even more frightening, read the text of the article about how Tamil Nadu politicians of all stripes have been visiting Mr. Bharathikannan in hospital and promising help.
Meena, what is happening seems to have some history behind it. Some minor search on google threw up a Human Rights Watch report dating back to 1998 about Dalit (Pallar) – Thevar violence. Those interested can locate and read it for themselves. It’s a pity though that 10 years on, the violence – rather I should say Thevar violence on Dalits – continues.
And why are our politicians playing games? This is a gruesome crime in the capital of the state and what do we see? Jayalalitha demanding Karunanidhi’s resignation (yes, that will solve everything) followed by Karunanidhi’s retort that “It appears as if they [AIADMK] had incited the students to indulge in violence so as to seek my resignation.” [But of course, Kalaignar.]
Even more bizarre, Karunanidhi defends the police for not entering the college because – get this – “if the police had entered the campus, media would have projected it in entirely different way.” [from chennaionline.com] So, the police are instructed to think about what the media will say before they take any action? If Karunanidhi had said that the police could not enter the college without the principal’s permission because that is the law then that would be understandable. (But apparently wrong: if a crime is being committed before the police, then the police don’t need permission to enter and intervene according to one lawyer.) But to say that the police could not enter because they were concerned about the media – now that takes the cake.
Okay, I am passing this without comment – it gives the Thevar view of events. I am in no position to make judgments – I neither live in Chennai nor do I belong to either of the two communities involved.
http://tinyurl.com/62uo2b
[...] reports on the violent casteist attacks on Dalits in Dr. Ambedkar Law College (of all places) in Chennai [...]
[...] Meena Kandasamy explains the background of the recent violence in Dr.Ambedkar Government Law College in Chennai: It is easy to argue that there’s really nothing to a name, but if there was nothing, why did the Mukkulathoor Maanavar Peravai not evoke his name? And according to students there, these caste tensions ran high especially after the Thevar Jayanthi celebrations (30 October 2008). Within a ten-day span, there had been four assaults on Dalit students. One student of the Mukkulathor caste: Mr. Bharati Kannan, had arranged for rowdies from outside to enter the campus and assault Dalit students. A few Dalit students had been hurt in this attack, but that wasn’t publicized. The chief intention of this oppressive caste students’ organization was to prevent Dalit students from writing their exams. Linked by kuffir. Join Blogbharti facebook group. [...]
it is a fact that parties allied to vaishnavism have a faster reach to the people with their tactics of propaganda.
the bjp has portrayed the upa as soft on terror and the aiadmk has been portraying that the dmk is soft on crime.
with such parties around,nothing ever will be normal ,as they have no compunctions and go all out in their quest to be in power.
the ruling party will be extra careful as the hounds in the media are waiting in the wings.
Beware, your title can be hijacked!!
“Silence may be costly, hence this gore and bloodbath”
my salaams to the brave dalit students who stood up to the oppressors. violence may not be a smart solution but sometimes it is the only reasonable option left.
Dear Meena,
First of all, I must appreciate for creating Social Awareness.
I would say the present state of affairs (Ranging from Blasts to fights based on region & religion) are probably the evidences of the infertile Indian System.
The System (Including Citizens and everything) failed in creating a complete faith, belief, confidence and better SOCIETIES. So the fatigue & unawareness (ignorance) raised to such a level that the NATION HAS BECOME HANDICAPPED.
One India is Shining and the other India is becoming Inhuman and trust me there are so many undiscovered INDIAS like this. But we are not exposed to them that’s it.
The only feasible solution I’ve planned for my life is “Create & Nurture LEADERSHIP – Every better off citizen has to create a LEADER”.
Vijay
The thevars formed a major party to the dravidian movement. Tamil Nadu long ceased to be a civil soceity by accepting the sectarian teachings of Periyar. My family was a victim of anti Brahmin riots in Kumbakonam. The powerful political class attacked the powerless brahmins in my place to consolidate their vote bank based dravidian movement. We were victims of that hatred with not many supporters in the politically correct media and so called intelligentia.
I am not at all surprised that the wheel has moved full circle now with the same groups and proponent of Dravidian ideology are being attacked by another caste group Dalits. It is quite predictable that identity based politics will always breed violence. It is immaterial what masks these people wear – dalit, thevar, dravidian, brahmin, vanniyar, gounder. As long as people espouse violence these incidents will happen. Then of course there is the analysis, justification and blame game. The bottom line is identity politics based on caste is cause of the problem.
Why the hell are you guys involving VHP/RSS here? and violence against dailts? show me 10 instances of violence by RSS guys against dailits. This kind of nut case thinking is going to hurt you guys the most. Poeple talk of vaishnava thinking etc etc. what the hell is this?
Meenu,
Last commenters are cherishing the moments of the violence out of their own prejudice and hatred, even look to have thoughts that justice done. Irony is that they started just after my last comment.
Are you hosting this as a hate site ?
Hope you record the casteist dynamics in the colleges and bring it out. Meanwhile the media is trying it’s best to misrepresent the issue. This morning, the talk show in FM Radio (Radio One) had taken up the law college incident as the material for their talk. Under the pretext of defending humanism and condemning violence, the larger issue of casteist taunts and violence on the dalits were conveniently buried and the talk was modelled on the lines of the ‘beaten’ as poor souls and innocent victims and the ‘beaters’ were being condemned as the worst of the evils to get injected into this society.
The whole story behind the incident was conveniently forgotten. Such irresponsible and insensitive behaviour…
Whats in a name. In my college days our college name “Sir M Vishweshwariah Government College of Engineering” was often referred to as ‘Governmert Engineering College”. And no one complained.
These people should start thinking and not react like braindead cult worshippers.
தமிழ் நாட்டில் சாதிய அரசியலும்,வன்முறையும் புதிதல்ல.அரசியலில் சாதிக்கு இடமில்லையா, இல்லை கல்வி வேலைவாய்ப்பில் இடமில்லையா.அதை நியாயப்படுத்துவதில்லையா. சாதியை நவீனப்படுத்தி,
சாதிய சங்கங்களை ஊக்குவித்துக் கொண்டே சாதி ஒழிப்பு பற்றி பேசுவதுதானே நடைமுறை. ஒட்டு
என்று வரும் போது கொஞ்சம் நீக்குப்போக்காக நடந்து கொண்டு கிட்டதட்ட எல்லா சாதிகளையும் அனுசரித்துப் போவதால் ஒரே ஒரு பிரிவினரை மட்டும் திட்டி பகுத்தறிவு வேடம் போடுவதும் புதிதல்லவே. என்ன இந்த வன்முறைகள் ஒய்யாரக் கொண்டைக்குள்
இருப்பது பேனல்ல, பாம்புப் புற்று என்று காண்பித்துவிடுகின்றன. அதை மறைக்கத் தெரியாதா
இல்லை முடியாதா?.
When will academic casteist terrorism come to an end?
பதில் இதுதான்: எப்போது அரசியல்வாதிகள் சாதிய
அரசியலை ஊக்குவிப்பதை நிறுத்துக்கிறார்களோ,
எப்போது கல்வி நிலையங்களில் ஒழுங்கு,கட்டுப்பாடு பேணப்பட்டு சமத்துவம் நிலவுகிறதோ அப்போது.
ஆங்கிலப் பதிவில் தமிழில் பின்னூட்டம் இட்டதால் ஆங்கிலம் தெரியாது என்று பொருள் கொள்ள வேண்டாம்.
Meena,
Great post…. This is the first time am leaving a comment on someone’s blog… Its very easy to pass comments and make judgements just sitting home and swapping channels,watching these TV news showing the video of that law college fight…( I did not watch it until an hour ago,when I did on youtube,which made do a google to find out posts related to this issue and I found this post of yours…….)
Others,
I love a line from an Akon song,
“Retaliation is anger mixed with passion” and as I watched the video,this was the line which came up on my mind..
I don’t think any one of us would mind risking our lives fighting ,aware of the fact that we will be shown live on TV channels or risking a college degree…
I am not trying to speak for anyone of them indulging in the attack. But, as Meena says one must try to find out the reason which provoked them to hit back…..and anyone can understand that there must have been a strong reason to the kind of anger displayed….
You just dont hit people for a timepass….you do it when you are terribly hurted by them…
After all,wont you feel cursed if you are not allowed to sit an exam just because you belong to one particular caste?
I just think this might be a blessing in disguise for the future students of this college,where atleast a environment of “No public display of hatred” would prevail,which would help them to look after their careers…
Lastly,
If one of you after reading this thinks if I ve not been fair..
then just think…
“Why did people fight against the Brit for Independence? Just because they were denied rights in their own homeland….( I could have used the word “our” inspite of “their” here)…
But anyways…
Now you are an independent nation..and why do you want to deny rights to someone who has been living along with you here for years?
If you feel you are so special/”a cut above the rest ” – just because you were born in some caste, then try proving it by something substantial which benefits the society in a good way or discover something useful for mankind…. and not by showing hatred against the communities suppressed for so many years now !
Comrade
The violence bottled up in the society springs up at times and leaves a bad taste.
The Dalit violence is equally bad as Brahminical violence.
Police watched it because otherwise they will be accused of getting into the premise of law college and attcking innocent students.
I was a student of the same collge and have seen the way police have been bullied by students. Manily because every one is a potential politician or Minister!
It was insensitive on the part of Media particularly sun tv to have shown the footage.
these guys just love violence(i too am a part of this shameful media)
Some time back a film maker made a film on Forest Fire.
But he wasnt getting any real footage of a forest on fire.
You know what the documentarian did?
he CREATED one, to be realistic!
To hell with Castes and Bhagvad gita, which says Lord Krsna created all the castes. can there be a more violent
book on earth than The GITA?
Dear Madam,
Through this mail we want to solicit your monetary donations for the Dalit cause. We need $1 Million for our operations for the next six months. We have come to know that among the dalits you are rich and moneyed. We are sufficeintly confident that we will receive donations from your organization. Please respond in the affirmative and we will provide you our account number for the money transfer.
We at Dalit Nation are inspired by Kancha Iliaih and V.T. Rajashekar. We have a small blog now but we will be launching a Magazine soon.
We are also in touch with several Dalit, Christian and Muslim organizations. Some of the muslim and Christian organizations have pledged us support.
Our Aim’s are:
Write about the current social issues of Dalits
Dalit, Muslim and Christian unity.
Dismantle Brahminism and Hinduism
Conversion to Islam, Christianity and Navayana Buddhism
Uplifit the Dalits
Fight for Reservations in Private sectors.
We have published several articles on the themes developed by Kancha Iliaih and V.T.Rajashekar. We will be posting many more such things. This is the Beggining. We are based in Mumbai and London. Do let us know if there are any Dalit, Muslim and Christian Organizations we can collaborate with.
http://dalitnation.wordpress.com/
http://dalitnation.wordpress.com/2007/12/16/brahmins-destroyed-the-dravidian-indus-valley-civilization/
http://dalitnation.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/aishwarya-rai-a-victim-of-brahmin-conspiracy/
http://dalitnation.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/kancha-ilaiah-why-i-am-not-a-hindu/
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Jai Bhim
Dalitnation
What the world saw was just one side, thanks for putting the other side through as well , but it is indeed shameful that such incidents are still happening
Hi Meena/u,
First time visit here. Nice to read about you.
//But since people aren’t judged by what they say are, and instead by what they have done//
Well said in y our ‘profile’ page! wanted to comment there but it dint have a space for that.
I presume this would be a good post. Shall read it fully and comment on it!
Keep going.
Cheers,
Raghavan alias Saravanan M.
I had been out of city. Hence this delayed response.
The incident that happened in the law college is shocking. Your post is informative. It depicts the other side of the story- which were not exposed in mainstream media. Thank you for the same.
I came across an excellent analysis about this tragedy by renowned psychiatrist Dr. Rudhran. He has described it as a case of “dalit fury”. It can be visited in the following address: http://rudhran.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/dalit-fury/#comments
The bigger question is What is the end to this caste war? For how long we would be warring against each other? When will this war end? What to do to build a caste-free society? How to change the age old thoughts and customs? What is the remedy? How to break these barriors? How to change this mindset? I request you to ponder over on this angle.
I have a remedy. It is time tested. It is proven as a success. It is called Islam. Periyar too advocated to embrace Islam to eradicate this racial prejudices. ina izhivu neenga islaamey nanmarundhu!!, he said.
What do you say?
“I am in a mood to actually meet all Dalit lawyers who passed out of the Dr.Ambedkar Govt. Law College and make them share their experience of both violence and casteism within the college campus. Somethings have to be recorded.”
I agree with you. It would be very useful and enlightening. Their impressions, anectodes, and experiences could be compiled and published in the form of a book.
In this regard I suggest you to visit the blog : http://theanarchyfix.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/the-laws-of-lawlessness-and-insanity/
And also read : http://endcampuscasteism.wordpress.com/2008/11/22/incidents-of-violence-at-dambedkar-law-collegechennai/
And also read : http://endcampuscasteism.wordpress.com/2008/08/26/senthilkumar-solidarity-committee-report/
Azeez
I think it is preposterous to conclude that Islam has been instrumental in erasing racial prejudices. Racial prejudices run very deeply in many islamic soceities. If you care to read the histories of afghanistan, persia and arabia it will be pretty clear that racial prejudices and tribal warfares have been all the more common among them. Read the histories of islamic tribes and races like pasthruns, Baluchs, Hazaras, Kurds, bedoins etc. Many of these groups subscribing to islam has been at each others throats and there has been a high degree of exploitation on the vanquished tribes. Islam has not been one sweet song.
Not to mention how the wahabbi Sunni’s treat the other outcastes like Shias, Ahamadeyas, Bahais, Bohras etc. Also note how the Indian Muslim Immigrants from states like Kerala, TN are treated in the Gulf countries. The level of peace / social mobility / Harmony that exists in Islamic soceities is not so great.
It is not for nothing that Babasaheb Ambedkar converted to Buddhism which teaches Rational Humanism. The Islamic view on Buddhism is not so great. As an ambedkarite I do not see any solution for Dalits through Islam especially in India.
Surprised to know…of all places its in campus.! student or young generation were united in urban india. atleast that was my understanding and experience. shocking. but hopefully its one-off crazy case and not wide spread reality. (while looking at mistake of slowly..we should loss site of
majority of other good ones).
Also, Iam not in favour of caste system and merit of caste system. any of it.. dalit included. I should say sometime its very annoying to see someone is preferred and treated well just become they are minority or SC / Dalit,et.. and same human response is not give to Iyer.
As a student of law in the same college i’m very much ashamed of the incident which have taken place. the police have been arrested only the dalit students this shows the partiality and caste terrorism.this should come to an end. apart from the student’s who were foughted the students who were innocently stood near the incident have been arrested.see!what a pity that the future law makers itseems has no rights and justice.the court should atleast give a chance to tell their side truth.and should release the innocent students.Tamilains please arise your voice against this partiality…
these students are not eligible to become advocates… will they? they paint black colour on the leader’s pure image. If Dr.ambethkar & Thevar are still alive, definitely they hang themself for the service they did for these people.
Students are the piller of future INDIA.. But these insects are just like dust and mud.. what a shame…
I am from kerala. I was just wondering how things are so different in kerala and tamilnadu. Are there caste based student unions in tamilnadu campuses? Is there no law prohibiting such groupings which are very much anti-national. Why there are no student unions like sfi, nsui in these campuses? There is not even a single caste based student union in kerala.