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Caste & the Tamil
Nation
So called 'Other Backward Classes' (OBCs)
- The Real Perpetrators of Crime Against Dalits
Youth for
Equality
�Emphasising
reservation and neglecting atrocities will not do. This
will help us evade the fact that often the worst caste
atrocities are not the infliction of the Brahmins but
of the new OBC classes.�
T.S. Eliot observed
�Humankind cannot bear too much
reality�. Our political establishments
along with the elite intellectuals seem to be strong
believers of this statement. They have behaved as if
their constituents and audiences cannot bear the reality
of atrocities and perpetrators of these atrocities on
dalit. Many in the political establishment and in
mainstream journalism actively twist the narrative so
that the identity of the aggressors remained in
obscurity.
With the emergence of so called other
backward classes (OBCs), or backward classes (BCs), or
most backward classes (MBCs) as the power institutions,
the atrocities against Dalits need reconsideration.
The politicians and intellectuals have
described the perpetrators as simply
�Caste Hindu� or
�upper caste�, thus
mischievously, shielding the true identity of aggressors.
To everyone�s surprise, if this
�Caste Hindu� aggressor
is analyzed, it turns out to be an OBC or BC or MBC, most
often. Let�s have a look at the
Government�s data:
The Home Ministry�s
Annual report for the 1995 reported that caste-related
incidents in Tamil Nadu, Bihar, and Maharashtra
increased by 25 to 30 percent from previous years. A
majority of these incidents were taking place between
scheduled castes and OBCs (1)
Similarly,
�According to Indian
government�s 1996-1997 annual report
for ministry of Human Affairs, caste related incidents
in 1996 in the southern state of Tamil Nadu increased
by 34 percent over previous years. Out of 282 reported
incidents, 238 took place between scheduled castes and
other backward communities. The main caste groups
involved were Thevar, Nadars, and Vanniyars (all
backward castes) (2).
In the second part of twentieth century,
India has witnessed a spurt in violence against dalits.
This physical violence is perpetrated largely by the
�backward� castes, who
claim victimhood under Brahmins but also turn oppressors
of Dalits. This phenomenon can be best understood by
study of Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu, home to the non-brahmin
movement, has been projected by the political class,
social scientists and policy-makers as fertile soil for
social justice.
However, the Dravidian
movement�s empowerment agenda left the
dalits � nineteen percent of the
population � almost untouched. In fact,
dalits have been subjected to the worst forms of
violence, from being forced to consume human excreta to
being murdered for contesting local body elections. More
than being a consequence of the accumulation of power in
the hands of the intermediary castes, such violence would
be better understood as an attempt by the
�backward� caste Hindus
to test their new found authority on those below
them.
Two recent publications (3,4) bring out
the contemporary position of Dalits in Tamil Nadu. S.
Viswanathan�s work chronicles the acts
of atrocities on Dalits, published in Frontline from 1995
to 2004. These pieces also include the chilling accounts
of the Melavalavu murders of 1997 and the Tirunelveli
massacre of 1999.Hugo Gorringe is a sociologist at the
University of Scotland and his work is based on the field
studies he did in the 1980s and 1990s in Tamil Nadu
concentrating on Madurai and neighboring areas.
Although done independently and with
different objectives, the two studies have much in
common. Their focus is on Tamil Nadu because of the
Dravidian movement�s long history of
fight against caste discrimination, championing the cause
of those once considered to be underdogs.
What the two studies bring out is that
the oppression that Dalits experience today is caused not
by the �upper castes�,
but by those who were once at lower levels in caste
hierarchy. The equality of justice that the Dravidian
movement fought for, and to a measure achieved, were to
to be limited to the Backward Castes, it would appear.
These caste groups, now in power, would like to see the
former outcastes remain where they have always been.
Oppressor �Caste
Hindu� or �Upper
Caste� is not synonym with
�Brahmin�.
Contrary to general perception, the
oppressor �Caste Hindu�
or �Upper Caste� is a
member of OBC/BC. Hugo Gorringe (5) clarifies it:
�Given the broad
generalizations employed about Dalits as opposed to
upper-caste Hindus, a brief word on terminology is
required especially in light of
Pandian�s(6) probing question:
�how far can we employ the categories
of backward castes and Dalits as large collectivities
explaining caste conflicts?�. It is
misleading to group the �upper
castes� or �Caste
Hindus� together as a coherent and
unified social category. There is some justification in
doing so because it reflects the perception and diction
of the Dalits whom I interviewed but, at the local
level, most Dalits were exceptionally nuanced in their
social analysis and usually differentiated between
specific castes and sub-castes. The
�higher caste� tag
was, in fact, predominantly employed with reference to
repressive groups. As such, it most frequently referred
to a Backward or Most Backward Caste, rather than the
upper castes per se. The dominant castes in Tamil Nadu
tend to emanate from these social groupings partly as
result of the non-Brahmin movement, but also due to the
absence of a Kshastriya representative caste in the
state.
The immediate opponents of the Dalits
in Tamil Nadu were the Backward Caste (BC) Thevars
(especially the Marava clan) and Kounders, and the Most
Backward Caste (MBC) Vanniyars. The Thevars and
Vanniyars have formed political associations to protect
and advance the interests of their communities and they
are the ones who feel most threatened by the social,
political and economic advance of the Dalits. They have
responded to this
�threat�, as Pandian
(6) notes, by uniting behind a heightened sense of
caste pride and superiority. .
He further quotes Pandian (7)
�The polar opposition
between the pure Brahmins and the impure untouchables
has lost much of its salience�.
Brahmins remain influential but they are
seldom in direct competition with the Dalits and so there
is little enmity between the two communities. Other
landed castes resent calls for land reform and higher
wages, but Brahmins are often absentee landlords and so
any contact is mediated through the intermediate castes.
The (M)BC/SC divide, therefore, has become the prime
fault-line of caste conflict in Tamil Nadu.
�In crisis in the
DMK�, Pandian (7) suggest that Brahmin
groups retain significant dominance when he states that
the Dalit focus on BCs, lets �the
gleeful Brahmin off the hook�. A
recurrent feature of Dalit movement conversations and
speeches, however, was that the Brahmins were
�not bad� in comparison
to the BCs. The Brahmins are �let off
the hook�, therefore, but in an
intentional and conscious manner rather than by
default
Are Dalits and OBCs in Harmony ? No
Way !
Ravi Kumar says
�Intellectuals living
outside Tamil Nadu imagine that the dalits and the BCs
here are living in harmony. This is the image that has
been created by Dravidian intellectuals conversant with
English. However the ground reality is quite the
opposite" (8).
Viswanathan adds further
�although the
incidence of oppression by upper classes such as
Maravars, naidus, yadavas, vellalars, Brahmins and
nadirs is common in the southern districts, the
increase in violence against dalits can generally be
attributed to the emergence of the BCs as the dominant
upper caste in most regions. By all accounts, they tend
to react with violence rather than take recourse to
mediation or the law "(9).
Similar are the findings of Human Rights
Watch :
In the recent years we have also seen a
new factor emerging in the social struggle in rural
areas in which the �backward
classes� have been surging forward to
take up positions of power and control in society,
knocking down the upper castes who had held away in
such positions all along in the past. In this process
of marching forward, the backward classes tend to push
back the Scheduled Castes and others who occupy the
lower rung in the social hierarchical ladder. There is
greater tension between structural neighbors in this
hierarchy than between the top level and the bottom
level."
The pattern has since solidified such
that caste clashes are far more prevalent between
scheduled castes and backward castes than they are
between these groups and upper castes. The Home
Ministry�s Annual Report for 1995
reported that caste-related incidents in Tamil Nadu,
Bihar, and Maharashtra increased by 25 to 30 percent from
previous years. A majority of these incidents were taking
place between scheduled castes and OBCs. The trend has
continued, particularly in the state of Tamil Nadu
(10)
They further observed that caste clashes
in the southern state of Tamil Nadu had predominantly
involved two communities: the Thevars (OBC) and the
Pallars (or Dalit). Government statistics from 1995
revealed that Thevars were the perpetrators in 91% of
cases involving the coercive enforcement of
�untouchability�(11).
Tales of Woe: Who are
Perpetrators?
The print media is full of such incidents
of atrocities against Dalits. A closer look will bring
out the real face of the perpetrator.
Terror in Uniform ( Frontline, October
20,1995 )(12).
The clashes, sparked by the disfiguring
on 26 July of a statue of u. Muthuramalinga Thevar, a
marava (BC ) leader of the 1940s and the 1950s, were
mainly between maravars and Dalits.----------where the
maravars are larger in number and financially more
sound, the Dalits were the worst hit.
The New Resistance ( Frontline,
December1, 1995) (13).
Across Tamil Nadu, caste tension
surface a Dalits assert their self-respect braving the
violence of caste Hindus, especially the BCs.
In Eechankottai village, near Orathand
in Thanjavur district , the dominant BC
community,kallars,systematically sabotaged a state
government sponsored sericulture scheme for Dalits. In
recent rimes, the two most crucial issues around which
violence has erupted are the installation of an
Ambedkar statue and the celebration of temple
festivals. Every time this happens, you can be sure
there will be trouble. Tension still simmers in
Alakkudi village, halfway between Thanjavur and
Tiruchi, where riots broke out in May 1995, in which
three people died, eighty-three dalit huts were set on
fire and three tiled houses belonging to the BCs were
destroyed.------------ --- The Local Fund Road divides
the dalit locality from the rest of the village
comprising caste Hindus such as konars, kallars,
udaiyars, vellalars, chettiars and pillais, though some
of them also live in the dalit area----- -----
-----Dalits are not allowed into the temple and in a
riot which broke over the temple festival in 1980,
thirty-six dalit home were set on fire.
Roots of Tension (Frontline, December15,
1995) ( 14)
Struggle for land
The dalit colony in Meyyundarkudikadu
(thirty dalit families, 300 Kallars) is different from
others in Thanjavur and other districts: it looks
prosperous with big houses, neatly tiled and freshly
whitewashed. The broad pathways are clean, the cattle
in the sheds look healthy and everybody is well turned
out. The reason is that many from here work in
Singapore and send money home.
The Kallars, the dominant Backward
Class in the village, could not countenance the
dalits� prosperity. They seized the
chance to sabotage it in November 1994. M. Asaithampi,
36, who worked as a construction hand in Singapore,
explained how the violence broke out. After the floods,
the kallars drained surplus water from their field into
the dalits� fields ripe with paddy. A
dalit youth then tried to drain their fields.
�The kallars turned on
us�, Asaithampi said.
An angry Kanmani recalled what happened
soon after. They stormed into our locality and
destroyed all our houses. They looted all our
belongings. They carted away our vessels, cycles, video
decks, tapes, and cycle pumps, she said. The real
reason was that our men had gone to Singapore and made
money. The kallars shouted �Do pallans
need so much adamparam(ostentation)?�
We live like slum-dwellers but you live like rich
peasants. They could not tolerate our prosperity.
Furore over Funerals
In January 1995, a child died in
Thanikkalampatti. The path to the burial ground runs
through sugarcane fields. Annamalai, an active member
of the Ambedkar Peravai, explained how they were forced
to bend the stalks to reach the ground. The vanniyars
objected and there was clash. The next morning I went
to the police station with my complaint. I was going to
hand over the paper when there was a telephone call to
the effect the sugarcane field had been cut by the
dalits and that the vanniyars were slapping a complaint
against them. Imagine my shock!
Police Inaction
. Sambandam�s case
also highlights another important aspect of the dalit
issue: the refusal by the police to register cases
filed by dalits. Although the SC/ST Association in
kalpakkam made out a case on behalf of Sambandam, it
came to nothing. Again, in Thennamandadu a few years
ago, a kallar youth stole 2 kg of rice from a dalit.
The later then took up the issue but he, his brother
and his nephew Rajendran, were beaten up by the
kallars. One day, when Rajendran was about to board a
bus, he was knifed (he still carries the scars on his
had). That night, the kallars destroyed all the 240
dalit houses. �We had to compromise
because of social compulsions and police
inaction,� said Rajendran.
�This was decided by the panchayat
comprising upper caste
representatives�.
Gnanaprakasam of Legal Resource for
Social Action (LRSA) points out that even in places
where dalits are in a majority, as for instance in
Vayalur in Chengai-MGR, where a dalit won the last
elections, they have no say because real power rests
with the backward classes; they have money, resources,
and the right connections. K. Paulraj of Vadanathampati
said that when he was elected president of the
Veerasigamani panchayat a few years back, he was not
allowed by the caste-Hindu members to occupy the
president�s chair at the panchayat
board meeting.
Killing Spree (Fronline, December 29,
1995 ) (15)
Attacks and counterattacks between
Dalits and maravars (BC) result in 13 murders in seven
days in two districts.
The continued caste-related violence in
two southern districts of Tamil Nadu �
Tirunelveli � Kattabomman and
Chidambaranar � has left in its trail
heavy loss of life and property, causing fear and
anxiety among the people. The Jayalalitha government is
facing flak for its failure to contain the violence
even four months after it erupted. After a few weeks of
quiet, clashes erupted again between the two castes
� maravars and pillars (a section of
dalits) � in the first week of
November 1995. Nineteen persons were killed by 4
December 1995, taking the total death count sine 26
July 1995 to thirty-eight.
Another Bloody Spell (Frontline, April 5,
1996 ) (16)
Fresh violence claims 11 lives as more
castes and districts are drawn into the riots.
The clashes, hitherto confined to dalit
and maravars (BCs), particularly when they started
------, now see the involvement of some more castes----
nadirs, devangar chettiars and saliyars-----
Far from peaceful (Frontline June 13,
1997) (17)
Nadars join the orgy of violence with
Thevars, dalit continue to suffer.
The MELAVALAU Murders ( Frontline, July
25, 1997 ) (18 )
A dalit panchayat president and his
associates are hacked to death.
The brutal murder of a dalit panchayat
president and five of his associates, all dalits, in a
Madurai village on June 29 was a stark and shocking
symbol of caste-Hindu violence against dalits in Tamil
Nadu. The murders have added another dimension to the
ongoing caste violence in the southern districts of the
state. The murders led to dalit protest in the distant
Neyveli Township in Cuddalore district and in
Tirunelveli district.
K. Murugesan, president of the
Melavalavu panchayat in Madurai district, and some of
his associates, who were traveling in a bus bound for
Dindigul, were confronted by a gang of about twenty
persons, also traveling in the same bus. When all the
passengers fled the bus and ran away, the gang chased
nine persons and attacked them with sickles at a place
close to Melavalavu, 30 km from Madurai. Murugesan (35)
and five others died on the spot.
Murugesan�s head was cut and thrown
into a well.
The cause for the multiple murders can
be traced to the 1996 elections to local bodies, when
the panchayat was designated as a constituency reserved
for the Scheduled Castes. The dalits who had filed
nominations had to withdraw following caste-Hindu (
Thevars, BCs) terror; the election was thus rendered
infructuous. When elections were held sometime later
with fresh nominations, booth-capturing necessitated a
repoll. Murugesan was elected in the repoll, but he was
prevented from functioning as panchayat president by
some caste Hindus (Thevars, BCs ). He made a
representation to the Chief Minister; subsequently,
armed security was provided to him at his office
Caste �based
mobilization and violence (Frontline, November 6, 1998 )
(19)
October 4, 1998 was a black Sunday for
the people of the coastal Ramanathapuram district in
southern Tamil Nadu. Just two days after the nation
celebrated the 129th birth anniversary of Mahatma
Gandhi, caste-related violence rocked the villages and
towns on either side of the national highway that links
this economically backward district with the city of
Madurai. Eleven persons were killed and several were
injured in the violence and the police action that
followed. Six of the dead were dalits; the five others
belonged to the Thevar community, a Most Backward Class
group. All the victims were from among the economically
weaker sections. Scores of houses were torched and
hundreds of people rendered homeless.
The immediate cause of the violence was
provided by a district-level rally at Ramanathapuram,
organized by the Thevarkula Kottamaippu (Thevar
Federation). According to a senior politician fro a
neighboring district, the Koottamaippu is
�a conglomeration of unorganized
groups of young Thevar extremists who have joined the
power struggle in the Tamil Nadu Thevar
Peravai�. The Thevar Peravai is said
to have been behind the many instances of violence
involving Thevars and dalits that have racked the
southern districts in the past five years. Its
leadership, perceived to be close to All India Anna
Dravidic Monetary Kazhagam general secretary and former
Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha, is now caught up in
litigation and has been rendered inactive
Challenging casteism (Frontline, July 25,
1997) (20)
Certain acts of governments aggravated
caste tensions. Maravars, many of whom have been active
against Dalits in the southern districts, were embolden
during the Jayalalitha regime.(Some sections of
Maravars claimed that Jayalalitha�s
rule was �Thevar
rule�. Their claims were based on
Jayalalitha�s close association with
Sasikala, who belongs to that caste, and the
significant presence of ministers belonging to the
community in her cabinet.) The large number of officers
belonging to this community in the administration and
in the police force in the southern region also made
the situation unfavorable to Dalits.
--------another point highlighted was
that members of nondalit, nonbrahmin caste groups
turned increasingly hostile to Dalits as socioeconomic
status of the latter improved.
K.R. Narayanan handbill triggers attack
(Frontline, August 28, 1998) (21)
In broad daylight, caste Hindus
(Vanniyars) torched twenty huts and damaged a hundred
houses belonging to Dalits. Men, women, and children
were assaulted; cooking utensils, clothes and household
articles were destroyed; and cycles and bullock carts
were broken.
The Tirunelveli Massacre (Frontline,
August 13, 1999) (22)
In a reign of terror that lasted half
an hour, the Tamil Nadu police enacted a
mini-Jallianwalabagh on the banks of the Thamiraparani
in Thirunelveli.---- Seventeen persons lost their lives
following a brutal police attack on a procession taken
out in support of a labor (dalit) struggle.
In his reaction, Karunanidhi (CM) said
that he were to take action against the police
officials, �people belonging to
backward classes� would object to
it.--- Sampath saw Karunanidhi�s
effort------as an attempt to win the support of
dominant Thevar community.
Curbing Franchise (Frontline, October 8,
1999).(23)
Even in a reserved constituency, Dalits
are denied the right to vote. ----on 5 September, a
large number of Dalits were prevented from exercising
their franchise and who dared to vote were beaten up
and their houses set afire. Strangely, this happened in
the Chidambaram parliamentary constituency, one of the
seven constituencies reserved for the Scheduled Castes
in Tamil Nadu.----- In this constituency, the Vanniyar
caste (MBC) forms a substantial chunk of the
population.
No respite for Cuddalore Dalits
(Frontline, January 21, 2000) (24)
Dalits in several villages in Cuddalore
face violent attacks and an economic boycott by caste
Hindus ( Vanniyars); the administration fails to
provide security to the oppressed.
The Puliangudi triple murder (Frontline,
June 23, 2000) (25)
A campaign by dalit women against
illicit liquor and a probable �love
affair� b between a Vanniyar boy and a
dalit girl lead to murder of three Dalits.
A mockery of grassroots democracy
(Frotline,May 24, 2002) (26)
Caste-Hindu resistance to dalit
empowerment has manifested itself in various forms
since elections to local bodies were first held in 1996
under the revised Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act, 1994. When
civic elections were held in 1996 and 2001, in several
places caste-Hindu groups attempted to get their
village panchayats removed from the reserved category.
When such attempt failed, they tried to derail the
electoral process itself by preventing dalits from
filing nominations. If dalits managed to file their
papers, they were not allowed to campaign in non dalit
areas. Nondalits also resorted to poll boycott and even
used force to scare away dalits from polling booths
(198-202). Caste-Hindu resistance continued after the
elections. In several places, nondalits refused to
cooperate with the elected dalit presidents and ward
members and humiliated them with the tacit approval of
caste-Hindu government officials.
Besides Paappapatti and Keerippatti,
elections to two more panchayats reserved for dalits,
Nattamanglalam in Madurai district and Kottakachiyendal
in Virudunagar district, could not be held in 1996 and
October 2001 because of opposition from the predominant
caste-Hindu group in the villages �
piranmalaikkallars (a subcaste among Thevars).
Preying on Dalits (Frontline, October 25,
2002) (27)
---At Thinniyam village in Tiruchi
district on 22 May. Two Dalits, Murugesan and Ramasami
were forced �to feed each
other� human excreta. Their crime was
that they stood by another dalit, Karuppiah, who was
engaged in a prolonged struggle against a former
panchayat president ( Kallar).
Killing for �caste
honor� (Frontline, September 12,2003)
(28)
Caste prejudices are deep-rooted in
Tamil Nadu, and people will even kill to preserve
�family (or caste)�
honor, as they did at Puthukkooraippettai village in
Cuddalore district recently by poisoning to death and
burning a newly married couple who belonged to
different castes. This incident, as also the reactions
to a simple flat-hoisting episode at nearby
Siruthondamedevi village, reinforced the fact that the
worst sufferers in such situations are women and
dalits. S. Murugurasen (25), a graduate in chemical
engineering, and D. Kannagi (22), a commerce graduate
with a diploma in cooperation, both residents of
Puthukkooraippettai, near Vriddhachalam town, about 200
km from Chennai, fell in love when they were students
at Annamalai university in Chidambaram. Their marriage
was solemnized and registered on 5 May 2003 under the
Hindu Marriage registration Rules, 1967, by the
Registrar of Hindu Marriages, Cuddalore. The couple
concealed the fact from their parents, fearing their
disapproval because the former belonged to different
castes. While Kannagi was a Vanniyar, Murugesan was a
dalit. Vanniyars are placed above dalits in the caste
hierarchy.
On 3 July 2003, Murugesan came to the
village and took Kannagi with him without the knowledge
of their parents. Her
�disappearance�
caused tension in the village and
Kannagi�s father, C. Doraisami, the
local panchayat president, and her brother
Marudupandian, apparently took it as an affront to
their �family and caste
honor�. They organized a search for
the couple, and their men are said to have cornered
Murugesan at his house on 7 July. He had apparently
come to take some documents. Even at his point
Murugesan�s parents claimed that they
were not aware of the marriage. Murugesan was
apparently taken to a secluded place on the outskirts
of the village and tortured all night for information
about Kannagi�s whereabouts. His
captors allegedly suspended him upside sown into a deep
well and threatened to drop him in if he did not
disclose where Kannagi was.
Murugesan�s resistance finally broke,
and he told them that she was with some of his
relatives. Marudupandian, accompanied by an uncle of
Murugesan�s, brought her back to the
village. Both were allegedly forced to drink some
poisonous liquid in the presence of scores of people,
who were mute witnesses to the agony of the dying
couple. The bodies were brunt, leaving no evidence of
the gruesome incident
Brutal murder of 3 Dalits (29).
M.Puliangudi is a Village situated in
Cuddalore District in Tamil Nadu. This village has a
population of around 3000 in which about 300 people are
be Dalits and the remaining population belongs to
Vanniyar community. Vanniyars are the landed population
and regarded as OBC in Tamil Nadu. The Dalits have to
come for everything to the Vanniyar area. The shops are
all owned by the Vanniyars. The double tumbler practice
is still there and other forms of untouchability are
still in practice. All the Dalits depend on the
Vanniyars for livelihood. There have been several
incidents of conflicts within the village on account of
breaking the liquor brewing pots set up by Vanniyars.
The village panchayat is held in the Vanniyars' living
area. Even if there is any dispute between the Dalits,
it will be tried in the Vanniyars' area. There were
also incidents of Vanniyars raping Dalit women and
adolescent girls. Since Dalits were very few in
numbers, they were submissive to all these violent
incidents.
The pillar in memory of the people who
gave their lives during the clashes between Dalits and
Vanniyars is a symbolic witness of the oppression by
the Vanniyars for the past several years. The pillar
says it symbolically represents the peace between both
the communities. The Dalit leaders claim that within
the past two years in the district of Cuddalore itself
there were 20 Dalits killed and in none of the cases
proper justice was done to the victims. Although there
is clear evidence in all the cases that, there is an
involvement of arrack brewers from the Vanniyars side,
rarely they are arrested.
The killing of three Dalits in the
village of M.Puliangudi should be seen in this
background. On 23rd May 2000,Vanniyars claimed that
four Dalit youths had broken the arrack brewing pots
set up by them. This was brought to the notice of the
village panchayat. The youths refused to attend the
Panchayat saying that they had not committed the
offence. Traditionally the Dalits used to be tied up
and beaten in the village. Out of fear for this, the
youths avoided attending the panchayat meeting. The
youth�s parents attended the
panchayat. It was decided that the youths pay Rs 2000
as fine for committing the offence. The youths refused
to pay the fine, as they had not committed the offence.
Then the youths reported the matter to the Kumaratchi
Police station. In the police station the Vanniyars
were given warning and were asked not to brew arrack.
Moreover, a compromise was reached. Hardly two days
(i.e. 25th May 2000) later Karthik a Vanniyar boy went
into the house where a Dalit girl was alone and raped
her. The Women Sangha leader Vasantha and others caught
him red handed and asked him why he had done like this.
Then they took him to the Vanniyar area, met the
leaders and asked them to marry him to the Dalit girl.
The Vanniyar leaders asked for three days time so that
they can decide and tell them about the issue. Mean
while at midnight on 26th May 2000 three Dalit youths
were killed in a very mysterious way
Where caste oppression mocks the
constitution (30).
CPI general secretary, D Raja,
reports:
The letter and spirit of the
constitutional mandate for Dalit reservation in
panchayats is being openly flouted in several villages
of Tamil Nadu without the authorities, in either
Chennai or New Delhi, doing anything about it. In
Pappapatti, a village in Madurai district where the
post of sarpanch is reserved for Dalits, vested
interest groups have repeatedly subverted the election
process. Out of the 19 attempts made between 1996 and
2004 to elect a sarpanch, only thrice was the process
allowed to be completed. Even on these three occasions,
however, a candidate supported by the local dominant
caste won, only to resign a few minutes later. The
Thevar and Paramalaikallar (designated as OBC by Tamil
Nadu government) communities are the dominant castes in
the relevant area. They argue that the out of the 1,142
voters in the panchayat, the Dalits constitute only
364, that is, they are only 31.87 per cent of voters.
Thus, Dalits are a minority and hence "have no right to
be president of the panchayat."
The dominant castes not only decided to
continue with the age-old system of caste
discrimination by not adhering to constitutional
provisions. They also continuously derailed the process
so as not to allow a Dalit to become president. They
came up with this idea that if no nominations were
filed repeatedly or if the person elected as president
was forced to resign repeatedly, then five years would
pass and the post could be de-reserved. It is also
learnt that the Dalits of Pappapatti repeatedly made
representation that there should be a polling booth in
their locality. They were intimidated by the dominant
castes if they dared to go and vote in the polling
booths located in dominant caste area. However, on the
19 occasions elections were held, the appeal of the
Dalits was not heard. Nor was a polling booth ever put
up in the Dalit locality.
Thirdly, all those engaged in this
discriminatory exercise may think that technically they
are on sound ground. What they fail to see is that they
are going against the very spirit of the Constitution.
Considering this fact, the Government should rectify
the situation and penalize those who continue to engage
in atrocities against Dalits.
The list of such tales of horror is
endless. The newly acquired power and prosperity have
made OBCs an insensitive ruling block, more so towards
Dalits. Let�s have some more
insight:
Dalits : A ground to test the powers
for OBCs
Ravi Kumar (31) observes:
The
�Backward� castes
(erstwhile shudras) that inflict violence against
dalits � especially physical violence
� do not possess full-fledged
authority in Indian society. They continue to be
largely controlled by the authority wielded by
Brahmins. Since the parliamentary form of democracy
introduced in post-independence India favored the
wielding of power by those who are in a majority in
society, these shudra castes have, over the years, come
to control political power. The constitution of 1950
and the introduction of the concept of secularism
curtailed the religious authority of the Brahmins and
the BCs were no longer bound to be subservient to the
Brahmins. It was only subsequently that economic,
administrative and political power devolved to the
BCs.
If we examine the violence against
dalits in this context, we will have to come to a
different conclusion altogether. Rather than seeing it
a consequence of such accumulation of power among the
BCs, the violence against dalits would be better
understood as an attempt by BC Hindus to test their
newfound authority on those below them.
Since Brahmins have been a numerical
minority in Hindu society, their violence has mostly
been symbolic; whereas the violence unleashed by the
castes which are in a numerical majority is physical in
nature. Earlier, the authority to decide whether a king
could be bestowed with recognition and legitimacy was
vested with the Brahmins. The dilemma faced by Shivaji,
the maratha ruler, in the face of such brahminic
authority is recent in our collective memory. Today,
the brahmins wield no such authority. In fact, the
power to curb and neuter the symbolic authority of the
Brahmins is today wielded by nonbrahmin castes. The
authority that has been concentrated in the hands of
the numerically strong castes has led to their power
becoming unlimited in scope
Political Rise of the
�Backward Castes� (not
Dalits)
A study of backward class (caste)
movement is essential to understand the BC-Dalit equation
in Tamil Nadu. The so called �backward
class movements� in Tamil Nadu had a
narrow social base, and was led by an elite organization
of Rajas, zamindars, and industrialists. As proclaimed in
Non-Brahmin manifesto (32), the members of Non-Brahmin
movement (a precursor of Justice Party) were
------�bulk of taxpayers ,including a
large majority of zamindars, landholders, and
agriculturalists Similarly members of Justice party were
claimed to be ��lords
of soil and inheritors of noble traditions (T.M. Nair, a
founder member of Justice Party) (33).
When the British administration
introduced diarchy in pursuance of the Government of
India Act of 1919, the Brahmin-dominated Indian National
Congress boycotted the elections in protest. The justice
party, accepting the scheme of diarchy, contested the
elections, won without facing any resistance, and formed
the ministry of the former composite Madras presidency in
December 1920. The Justice Ministry issued the Communal
GO reserving jobs for various nonbrahmin communities in
1921. However, the Justice Party
ministry�s idea of nonbrahmin welfare
did not include all nonbrahmin castes. This category
practically excluded dalits and other religious
minorities. Even among nondalit nobbrahmins, only the
minority high nonbrahmin castes �
reddiars, naickers, mudaliears, vellalars, chettiars
�were benefited.
Because of dominance of non-Brahmin upper
caste, depressed classes (D C, Dalits) were disillusioned
with the justice party very soon. As early as in 1923, M
C Rajah, a DC leader ,accused the Justice Party for not
doing justice to depressed classes (34).
In post-independence era, also, Dalits
were either neglected or were victims of Backward caste
movements:
�The Vanniyar Sangam
was constituted in 1980 and evolved into the Paattali
Makkal Katchi (PMK) under the leadership of S.
Ramadoss, a medical doctor. Today, the PMK wields
tremendous influence in the Vanniyar belt
� the northern districts of the state.
In 1987, they staged a weeklong roadblock to demand 20
percent reservation for Vanniyars. During this struggle
they torched more than a thousand dalit homes. The
agitation and its success led to the subsequent
political consolidation of the
Vanniyars�(35)
�This policy of
reservation as structured by the D.M.K. regime came in
for attack as the MBCs felt that nothing was done for
them. In 1982 under the AIADMK, the MGR government
appointed the Second Backward Classes Welfare Commission
under the chairmanship of A.J. Amba Shankar, a retired
I.A.S. officer. The commission published its report by
1985. This commission widened the BC category and several
castes were included.
Under these circumstances the Vanniars
decided to play identity politics of caste as the
categorization by the government proved unsatisfactory
despite the paternalism of the MGR regime. Dr. S.
Ramadoss and A.K. Natarajan established the Vanniar
Sangam on 20 July, 1980. It aimed at the unity and
welfare of the Vanniars and fight for their political and
social rights. The economic rights centered on procuring
20 percent reservation at the state level and 2 percent
at the national level. The first agitation was organized
b the student wing called the Pattai Namam agitation on
13 March 1986 and the course of agitational politics
started to pressurize the governments.
In September 1987 there were violent
clashes between the Vanniars and the Dalits in the
Cuddalore and Villupuram districts. The Vanniyar
agitation for exclusive reservations turned very violent
in September 1987, which claimed at least 20 lives in
both police firing and clashes between Vanniyars and SCs,
and led to the arrest of over 20,000 persons. Through
directed against the government, the main victims of the
Vanniyars� fury were (and have always
been) the hapless SCs with whom they have much in common,
especially poverty and backwardness. The Vanniyars are
proud of being (just) above the traditional pollution
line (in fact for a long time they were harping on their
Kshatriya status), and hence of being the immediate caste
superiors of the SCs, but the frustration of not being
singled our for the kind of special treatment extended to
the latter led them to unleash their fury on the
SCs�(36).
The position of Dalits have worsened
under Backward class rule:
� ---with regard to
caste as the basis of social dominance, the position of
most Adi-Dravidas (read Dalit) has tended to worsen
under their rule ( read OBC rule). On the one hand ,
they have done nothing to ameliorate the condition of
Adi-Dravidas landless rural laborers and, whenever
those laborers have mobilized themselves ( as in
Thanjavur), they have been inclined to unleash savage
forces of repression against them. On the other , as
Dravidian ideology has come to develop since the
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) achieved state power in
1967, Adi-Dravidas have tended to suffer from
increasing social exclusion.� (36,
A)
Even in present times, the condition is
no better:
�Even as the 1990s saw
the emergence of the Dravidian parties------DMK,AIDMK,
PMK, and MDMK---------as national players, there was a
shocking upsurge of violence against Dalits in Tamil
Nadu. The tendency within the political spectrum----was
to dodge the central issue of caste oppression of an
extreme and murderous kind and spirited resistance to
it, and to pass it off the resultant violence as
�caste
clashes�.(37).
OBCs as Blockade to Land Reforms for
Dalits
The inclusion of so many heterogeneous
groups within the OBC category has both made for its
enormous size and has enabled its leaders to advocate
their claim for special status and land in
post-independence India. The first wave of land reform in
the 1950s aimed at conferring ownership rights on
existing tenants of land. Land reform legislation was
responsible for displacing the large class of zamindars
(large landowners) and creating a substantial class of
medium-sized owner-cultivators, many of whom were OBCs.
After cornering the benefits of this first wave of
legislation, these groups attempted to block all
subsequent land reform measures designed to benefit
marginal farmers and the landless, who usually belonged
to castes and groups lower on the social hierarchy , most
notably Dalits (38).
Dalits as substitutes for OBCs
�Human Rights
Watch� observes (2)
�Contrary to the
general presumption that the OBCs belong to the
deprived sections of Hindu society, few groups in
independent India have made progress on a scale
comparable to the OBCs�.
Untouchability and isolation have never
been their problem. Thus to put their claim on government
privileges, they project themselves as the victims. But
to conceal the true picture, Dalits are very often
portrayed as OBCs. In words of Chandrabhan Prasad (39)
:
� This has led to a more
fundamental question: why are Upper OBCs not adequately
represented in institutions of higher learning? Are they
socially stigmatized? Do they lack resources? Have they
been prevented from entering better schools? Even a frail
mind would answer in the negative.
Consider the consequences. In the recent
Mandal II agitation, India's two leading news channels -
NDTV and CNN-IBN, decided to do pro-reservation stories.
One way to showcase the value of reservation was to
profile achievers who had once used this privilege at the
entry point in education and jobs. Without any exception,
all the stories featured Dalit achievers, though Mandal
II deals with Upper OBCs alone There is a history behind
this. During upper OBCs anti-Brahmin movement in Tamil
Nadu, sufferings of Dalits were highlighted to morally
legitimize their voices. When the Upper OBC movement in
northern India begun replicating the Tamil experience,
here too Dalits' suffering were highlighted. How the
Upper OBCs have been treating Dalits in return?
�
From the Mouth of Messiah
(Mandal)!
Mandal�s own report
talks of the power and growing prosperity of OBCs. The
report itself alludes to how they sit over and exploits
the poor Harijans.
Mandal lists 168 castes as backward in
Bihar. Among these are Kurmi, Koeri and Yadava. That is
on pages 178 and 179 of Volume VI of his report (42). But
on page 34 of Volume I of that very report he says of
those very castes:
The abolition of all intermediaries has
definitely helped the hard working peasant castes like
Kurmis, Koeris and Yadavas. These small peasant
proprietors work very hard on their lands and also derive
their labourers hard and any resistance by the
agricultural laborers gives rise to mutual conflicts and
atrocities on Harijans�(43).
�The Kurmi, Keori and
Yadava peasant proprietors have been in a better position
to take advantage of these factors (like new agricultural
inputs, rising agricultural prices
etc.).� says the study commissioned by
Mandal and included by him in Volume IV of his report.
And, it adds, �If the agricultural
labourers show restiveness or political resistance, they
do not hesitate to commit atrocities on them. This factor
is at the root of the reprisals on the Harijans at
Belchi, Pathada, Gopalpur, Hishrampur, Parasbigha,
etc.�. as a consequence, it says,
�.. there is no love lost between the
peasant backward castes on the one hand and the Scheduled
Castes and Tribes on the other.�(44)
On pages 211-212 of Volume VI of his
report Mandal anoints 116 castes as
�backward� in Uttar
Pradesh.(46) Among these are Gujar, Koeri, Kurmi, Lodh
and Yadava. But on page 35 of Volume I of the same report
Mandal Himself has this to say about these very
castes:
Land reforms reproduced similar changes
in the political economy of Uttar Pradesh as in Bihar.
�The tenant and share-cropping castes of
Yadavas, Kurmi, Lodhs, Gujars, Koeris became owner
cultivators, and industrious as they are, they are better
qualified to take advantage of the modern agricultural
inputs�.
The study he reproduces in Volume IV of
his report adds, �Unlike the
�umbrella farmers� of
the forward castes, they are autonomous in their
agricultural operations. Like their counterparts in
Bihar, they drive their agricultural laborers very hard.
While striving to socially catch up with the forwards,
they resent the rising political consciousness among the
agricultural laborers.(47)� But after
being anointed
�backward� by Mandal,
their atrocities towards Harijans fail to move the hearts
of politicians and intelligent classes, and furthermore,
they are rewarded with reservations, separate financial
institutions, exclusive and centrally funded development
programs.
Some more from Messiah:
The Mandal report (Volume IV, Chapter
1,page 276) says �For some reasons, the
scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes and other minor
artisan castes like the potters, the weavers, the
carpenters, etc. feel threatened by the intermediate
castes also having a stake in land like the upper castes,
the backward class movement will be considerably
weakened. There are many states in India where the weaker
landless minority artisan castes and the scheduled castes
look to the upper castes and not to the intermediate
castes for protection.�
The Scenario in UP
There is long history of Conflicts
between OBCs and Dalits in UP. The class interests of
both the groups are clearly antagonistic in some regions
of Uttar Pradesh (42) .OBCs , in an effort to consolidate
their social position, react violently to Dalit efforts
for social mobility. With political empowerment, OBCs
became more self-confident and were quick to harass
Dalits.(43,44).This partly explains the sharp rise in
incidence of atrocities against Dalits in UP. The
Commission of Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes
enumerated 1067 cases of atrocities in UP in its 1989-90
report; five years later, it listed 14,996 such cases in
its report of1995.In March 1994, The Times of India cited
an intelligence report according to which 27 out of 54
cases of atrocities perpetrated against Untouchables were
carried out by OBC- half a dozen of them involved
Yadavas(Times of India, 2 March 1994) (45).
Zoya Hasan writes (45a):
The politicization of middle and backward
castes, which coincided with the Janata Party split,
underscored the importance of caste in UP politics.
Political articulation on caste lines, which was clearly
divisive, more frequently took on a confrontational and
communal character. The highly politicized groups like
jats and yadavs were faced by a challenge from lower
classes , particularly lower caste agricultural
labourers, often adopted an extremely aggressive posture
against the Dalits, that is, the oppressed Harijan
castes.
In fact, the rise of middle and Backward
castes, such as the jats, ahirs, kurmis and gujars in a
number of districts intensified conflicts between the new
yadav and kurmi landowners and the landless agricultural
labourers. The new rural rich treated the Harijan
labourers worse than they did other poor
peasants---------
The extent to which modern rural
capitalists were prepared to go to maintain their
socio-political dominance was revealed in the increasing
incidents of violence ending in Harijan burnings. UP
recorded the highest number of violent incidents against
Harijans in recent years, much higher compared even to
Bihar where the level of social violence is generally
high. According to official estimates, in 1979 there were
at least 191 murders besides the burning of hundreds of
houses. It should be noted that in 1981, 1429 cases of
crimes against Harijans were registered in UP as against
eight in West Bengal and 94 in Kerala.----
The Reports of Commission for Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes revealed that the atrocities
against Harijans were invariably instigated by the
affluent section of middle caste peasantry who were
themselves victims of social discrimination at the hands
of upper caste big landowners. The new elite , capable of
guarding production operation with more direct and active
participation than the upper castes was
�equally sensitive to any change in
semi-feudal relations in the agrarian
sector.�
In the land of Messiah
Bihar has been the house of worse
atrocities towards dalits:
�-----These sections
(read OBCs ) have already become known for the ferocity
with which they have been trying to suppress the demands
of the poor peasants and landless agricultural laborers
for land and statutory minimum wages. A part of their
effort s has taken the form of the raising of armed
private armies, the most notorious of which has been the
Bhoomi Sena the Koormi landlords of Gaya, Patna,
Nalanda,and Jehanabad districts of south-central Bihar.
It has been responsible for 125 incidents and 230 murders
in the region and has its headquarters in Patna. In 68
instances of violence recorded between 1982 and 1986, the
Sena has razed 216 houses of the weaker sections and
forced the population of 13 villages to flee.(46)
The carnage and brutal violence
characterizing some of the attacks on Schedule Castes by
OBCs have sent shock waves throughout the country. The
names of the villages where some of these have occurred
have become almost synonymous with atrocities. The
incidents make gruesome readings:
----On May27,1977, an armed mob of Kurmis
attack Belchi, a village in Bihar�s
Patna district and slaughtered 11 persons, including
eight Harijans. The bodies of victims were thrown into a
pyre and burnt (47).
-----On February 25, 1980, 14 members of
the Schedule Caste of Chamars, including four women and
six children, were killed and 27 huts set ablaze by a mob
of about 400 Kurmi muscleman who attacked Pipra , a
village in Bihar�s Patna district
(48).
------On March 25, 1991, more than 400
Harijan huts were looted and burnt by Yadavs in Madhepura
village of Saharsa district in Bihar (49).
Is It a new phenomenon?
Victimization of Dalits by OBCs is not a
new phenomenon. In their charter of demands to the
Statutory Commission in as early as 1928, Swami
Achutanand and other members of Adi-Hindu (Depressed
Classes) Sabha, UP, write (50):
�---------The attitude
of the Shudras towards the untouchables is even worse
than that of the other three Varnas and if they are
classed along with the untouchables as a separate
community and granted separate representation jointly,
they being numerically stronger and economically and
politically infinitely superior, will usurp , all the
seats, and our condition instead of being improved will
become worse.�
Lies And Conspiracy
Read the following passage from Mandal
Report:
Chapter IV,Social Backwardness and
Caste,Mandal Commission Report, Pg. 15.
4.19 In Mysore State, the women of
certain lower castes were not permitted to cover their
bosoms. There arose a sharp controversy over this issue
resulting in civil disturbances and ultimately the
Maharaja of Mysore had to issue a Royal Proclamation
permitting the aggrieved castes to wear jackets or cover
their bosoms, �in any manner they
desire, but that they were not permitted to imitate the
dress and hair styles of higher
castes.�
This passage has been presented in a way
to conceal the identity of the
�oppressor� and the
�oppressed�. It gives
the impression that the oppressed were OBCs and
oppressors were so called upper caste Hindu (Brahmins,
Kshatriya---etc)
But read the following statement of 1931
Census:
Appendix I,
Exterior Castes,
Census of India, pg. 485.
There are other points in which the
exterior castes ( read SCs ) suffer socially. Thus
exception is taken to their wearing the ornaments
usually worn by higher castes, and in some cases they
are not allowed to wear gold ornaments at all. In
December 1930 the Kallars ( read OBC ) in Ramnad
propounded eight prohibitions, the disregard of which
led to the use of violence by the Kallars against the
exterior castes whose huts were fired, whose granaries
and property were destroyed and whose livestock was
looted. These eight prohibitions were as follows:
i. that the Adi-Dravidas (read Dalits)
shall not wear ornament of gold and silver;
ii. that the males should not be
allowed to wear their clothes below their knees or
above the hips;
iii. that their males should not wear
coats or shirts or baniyans;
iv. no Adi-Dravida shall be allowed to
have his hair cropped;
v. that the Adi-Dravidas should not use
other than earthenware vessels in their homes;
vi. their women shall not be allowed to
cover the upper portion of their bodies by clothes or
ravukais or thavanies;
vii. their women shall not be allowed
to use flowers or saffron paste; and
viii. the men shall not use umbrellas
for protection against sun and rain nor should they
wear sandals.
In June 1931, the eight prohibitions
not having been satisfactorily observed by the exterior
castes in question, the Kallars met together and framed
eleven prohibitions, which went still further than the
original eight, and an attempt to enforce these led to
more violence. These eleven prohibitions were:-
�1. The Adi-Dravidas
and Devendrakula Vellalars should not wear clothes
below their knees.
2. The men and women of the above said
depressed classes should not wear gold jewel.
3. Their women should carry water only
in mud pots and not in cooper or brass vessels. They
should use straw only to carry the water pots and not
cloths should be used for that purpose.
4. Their children should not read and
get themselves literate or educated.
5. The children should be asked only to
tend the cattle of the Mirasdars.
6. Their men and women should work as
slaves of the Miradars in their respective Pannais.
7. They should not cultivate the land
either on waram or lease from the Mirasdar.
8. They must sell away their own lands
to Mirasdars of the village at very cheap rates, and if
they don�t do so, no water will be
allowed to them to irrigate their lands. Even if
something is grown by the help of rain-water, the crops
should be robbed away, when they are ripe for
harvest.
9. They must work as coolies from 7
a.m. to 6 p.m. under the Mirasdars and their wages
shall be for men Re.0-4-0 per day and for women
Re.0-2-0 per day.
10. The above said communities should
not use Indian Music (Melan, etc.), in their marriages
and other celebrations.
11. They must stop their habit of going
on a horse in procession before tying the Thali thread
in Marriage, and they must use their house doors as a
palanquin for the marriage processions and no vehicle
should be used by them, for any
purpose�.
Emphasizing reservation and neglecting
atrocities will not do.
.. While the Harijans at times suffer
from social disabilities, especially in the villages,
even after achieving higher education and better
employment, the middle caste people, most of whom come
under the OBCs, enjoy better social status even
otherwise like the high castes. The OBCs on the one
hand blames Brahmins for the existing caste system and
on the other suppresses the SC/STs to prove their caste
superiority. If reservation is meant for those who
suffer from social disabilities, the clams of the OBCs
becomes invalid. In fact it is the middle caste people
who perpetuate caste discrimination the most these
days, especially in South India. For example, a ten
year old boy belonging to the OBC category calling a
grown up SC man by this stigmatized identity in public
places and ordering him to hold his footwear in hand
while walking through the residential areas of high
caste people is still a common phenomenon in many
villages like Akiramesi, situated about 34 KM away from
the Paramakudi (taluk), in Ramanathapuram district of
Tamil Nadu which is one of the educationally advances
States.(40).
Our political establishments on one hand
criticize the atrocities on Dalits, on the other hand
they talk of rewarding the perpetrators. For example, in
one of the above mentioned examples of Dalit repression
(Where caste oppression mocks the constitution), D Raja,
General Secretary CPI, criticizes Dalit oppression, but
in parliament he demands reservations for the same
oppressors . It may be a compulsion of electoral
politics, but it is not going to help the nation. In the
words of Shiv Visvanathan (41) :
�Emphasising
reservation and neglecting atrocities will not do. This
will help us evade the fact that often the worst caste
atrocities are not the infliction of the Brahmins but
of the new OBC classes.�
References:
1. Caste tensions on the rise in Tamil
Nadu, Maharashtra, Bihar: Govt.
report,� Times of India, August 2,
1996.(Quoted in �
BrokenPeople� see Ref 2)
2 . Broken People: Caste violence
against India�s
�Untouchables�.Human
Right Watch, New York, 1999
3. S. Viswanathan, Dalit in
Dravidland(2005), Navayana Publication, Pondicherry
4 Hugo Gorringe, Untouchable Citizens
(2005), Sage Publications, New Delhi,.
5 In Ref 4, page 122-123.
6.Pandian MSS. Dalit assertion in Tamil
Nadu: An Explanatory Note. Journal of Indian School of
Political Economy 2000,12(3&4):501-517.
7 Pandian MSS. Crisis in DMK. EPW
1994,29(5):221-23.
8 In Ref 3, Page xxxi.
9 In Ref 3, Page 14.
10. Chapter IV, Ref 2.
11 Chapter V, Ref 2.
12-28 Appeared in Ref 3.
29.
www.ambedkar.org/News/hl/Brutal%20murder.htm
30. The Hindu, Friday June 2005
31. Ravi Kumar. In Ref 3, pages
xi-xxxi.
32. Hindu,Dec 20, 1916.
33. E F Irschick. Tamil Revivalism in
the 1930s, page 260.
34.Saraswthi S. Minorities in Madras
state: group interest in modern politics. New Delhi,
Impex India, 1974, page171.
35 In Ref 3, page xxxvii.
36. P Radhakrishnan. Backward class
movement in Tamil Nadu. In �Caste: Its
twentieth century avatar� Edit. M N
Srinivas.Penguin, New Delhi,1996, pages110-134.
36A. Caste , class and dominance in
modern Tamil Nadu, by D A Washbrook, in Dominance and
state power in modern India. Decline of a social order.
Editors, Francine R. Frankel , M S Rao, Oxford
University Press, Delhi, 1989.
37. N Ram in Ref 3, page vi.
38. Meenakshi Jain,
�Backward Castes and Social Change in
U.P. and Bihar,� in Caste: Its
twentieth Century Avatar (New Delhi, Penguin , 1996 ),
p. 136.
39.What of OBC elite? By Chandrabhan
Prasad, in The Pioneer, JULY19, 2006.
40. Ramaih A. � Mandal
commission�s recommendations: A
critical review�, in A. A.
Engineer,ed, �Mandal Commission
Controversy�, Delhi: Ajanta
Publications,1991. p.242-248.
41 Shiv Visvanathan . Dark side of
learning. In The Times of India, July 10, 2006.
42 Christophe Jafferlot.
India�s silent revolution :The rise of
low castes in North India politics.Permanent Black,
Delhi, 2003, pg411.
43.A. Mishra, Challenge to SP-BSP
Govrnment, EPW, 19 Feb,1994 ,p.409 (quoted in Ref 42,
pg412).
44 S Chandra, �Dalit
versus the OBCs�, Sunday, 27 Feb,1994,
p 10-13 (quoted in Ref 42,pg 412)
45 Quoted in Ref 42, pg 412.
45a. Zoya Hasan. Patterns of Resilience
and change in Uttar Pradesh. In
�Dominance and state power in modern
India� Editors F R Frankel, MSA Rao,
Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1993, Vol I, p
189-91.
46. Mathew, Mammen, Criminalisation in
Bihar: Private armies are ready for a
showdown�, The Hindustan Times, Delhi,
April 7,1991.
47. �Sentences in
Belchi carnage case upheld�, report,
The Times of India, Bombay edition, February 2,
1982.
48. Krupakaran,P K. �
No help from Pipera Police�, report,
Indian Express, Delhi edition ,February 28,1980. Also
see, �Life term for 50 in Pipera
outrage�, report, Indian Express,
Delhi, August 6, 1981.
49�Inflammed
passions�, editorial, The Times of
India, Dehi,March30, 1991. also see
�400 Harijan huts set afire in
Bihar�, report, The Times of India,
Delhi, March 26, 1991,
50 Charter of Demands of Adi-Hindu
Sabha,UP, 1928. Reproduced from Seminar 558, Feb 2006,
Document, p22-23.
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