Tag Archives: Tamil Nadu

The death of 26-year-old Dalit youth Akash Denison in police custody in Sivaganga district has once again forced Tamil Nadu to confront a recurring contradiction. A state that prides itself on a legacy of social justice continues to witness a pattern of custodial deaths that disproportionately claim the lives of the poor and the marginalized, including Dalits.

Akash Denison’s death on March 8 at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai has triggered protests, political demands for an inquiry, and renewed scrutiny of police conduct in the state. Yet for activists and anti-caste organisations, the case is not an aberration. It is another entry in a long list of custodial deaths that expose systemic violence embedded within the criminal justice system.

The death of Akash Denison

Akash Denison, an engineering graduate from Krishnapuram Colony in Manamadurai, was arrested on March 6 along with another youth in connection with a sickle attack on two individuals in Zion Nagar the previous day. According to the Tamil Nadu police, the assault followed a petty quarrel and was captured on CCTV footage.

Police sources stated that Denison was a “history-sheeter” with several pending cases, including one for attempted murder. The official version claims that he sustained serious injuries while trying to escape arrest, allegedly falling from a bridge. He was initially treated at Sivaganga Government Medical College Hospital before being remanded to judicial custody until March 18 by a magistrate. He was then transferred to the convict ward at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai.

On the morning of March 8, Denison reportedly developed breathing difficulties around 5:45 am. Despite attempts by doctors to revive him, he died shortly thereafter. Police have suggested that complications from his injuries, possibly fat embolism caused by fractures, could have led to the death, though post-mortem confirmation is awaited.

The family disputes this account entirely. Denison’s father, Rajesh Kannan, alleges that his son was brutally assaulted in custody. According to the family, police officers took him to a secluded area near Sivaganga, placed stones on his legs, and beat him until his bones were shattered. The father also claims that officers hurled caste slurs during the assault. His mother, Anandhi, has alleged that police had earlier threatened to kill her son if he was ever caught.

Before his death, Denison reportedly told his parents that he had been assaulted by the police. The family has demanded that the case be registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and that those responsible be prosecuted. The body remains in the hospital mortuary pending further proceedings and a magisterial inquiry.

Political and civil society response

The death has drawn strong reactions from Dalit organisations and political leaders. Thol. Thirumavalavan, leader of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, demanded a thorough investigation into the custodial death. He stated that Denison had informed his family about police assault and caste abuse before he died. Thirumavalavan questioned the circumstances of the death and asked why a detainee under state custody died while being treated in hospital. If police officers were responsible, he said, strict action must be taken and justice ensured for the victim’s family.

Human rights activist Henri Tiphagne of People’s Watch called the incident the 26th custodial death in Tamil Nadu in recent years and urged the Madras High Court to take suo motu cognisance of the case. He also stressed that the post-mortem must follow Supreme Court guidelines for custodial death investigations. Meanwhile, local protests erupted in Manamadurai, with residents blocking roads and demanding accountability.

A pattern that refuses to disappear

Denison’s death cannot be understood in isolation. Tamil Nadu has seen a troubling number of custodial deaths in recent years, many of them involving individuals from marginalised backgrounds and arising from arrests for relatively minor offences.

Data compiled by People’s Watch shows that 32 custodial deaths occurred during the tenure of the current state government between May 2021 and August 2025. In an analysis of 27 of these deaths over the past four years, nearly 40 percent of the victims belonged to Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes.

The pattern cuts across the state but is particularly pronounced in the southern police zone, which includes Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Tirunelveli, and Sivaganga districts. In most cases, the police have attributed the deaths to illness or sudden medical conditions such as seizures or chest pain. Yet post-mortem reports, family testimonies, and FIRs often reveal extensive injuries suggesting custodial torture.

One of the most widely known custodial deaths in Tamil Nadu was the 2020 killing of P. Jayaraj and his son J. Bennix in Sathankulam, which sparked nationwide outrage. The two were arrested for allegedly violating pandemic lockdown regulations and were later found to have suffered severe torture while in police custody. The case remains under judicial process.

More recently, in June 2025, temple security guard Ajith Kumar died in police custody in Sivaganga district after being detained for questioning in a theft case. His death, too, triggered allegations of brutal assault by police.

Other cases reflect similar patterns. Baskar, a Dalit man arrested in Cuddalore in 2024 for allegedly selling tobacco, died after being remanded to jail; his family said his body showed signs of torture. Seventeen-year-old Gokul Sree died in a juvenile correction facility in Chengalpattu in 2022, with 96 injuries found during the post-mortem. In another case, tribal man P. Marimuthu died in 2025 while in custody of the forest department after being accused of possessing leopard teeth.

Across these cases, the victims were overwhelmingly from poor families and were frequently arrested for petty crimes such as theft, minor altercations, or illicit liquor brewing.

Marginalisation and vulnerability

The demographic pattern is difficult to ignore. Among the 27 custodial deaths examined by researchers, nine victims were from Scheduled Castes and two were from Scheduled Tribes. Many of the others were from economically vulnerable communities or were daily wage labourers.

For activists, this concentration reflects deeper structural inequalities. The Lokniti-CSDS report State of Policing 2025 adds another disturbing dimension. According to the study, 56 percent of police personnel in Tamil Nadu expressed strong support for the idea that violence is sometimes necessary to obtain information from suspects.

Institutional accountability has also remained weak. Data from the National Crime Records Bureau indicates that only one police officer has been convicted for custodial violence in Tamil Nadu between 2011 and 2022.

The contradiction of social justice politics

Tamil Nadu’s political culture is deeply shaped by the anti-caste and rationalist movements associated with figures like Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. The state’s dominant political parties frequently invoke this legacy to emphasise commitments to equality and social justice. Yet activists argue that the persistence of custodial deaths exposes a gap between rhetoric and institutional practice.

Several Dalit organisations have pointed out that the criminal justice system, particularly the police, continues to reproduce caste hierarchies even within a political environment that publicly rejects them. Allegations of caste-based abuse, such as those made by Denison’s family, are therefore not isolated claims but part of a broader critique of structural discrimination. Without meaningful accountability, the promise of social justice risks becoming symbolic rather than substantive.

The struggle for accountability

In many custodial death cases, legal proceedings stretch for years, and evidence often disappears. Activists say police stations frequently claim that CCTV footage was automatically deleted within weeks, making independent verification difficult. Even in high-profile cases such as the Sathankulam deaths, final judgments have taken years to materialise.

For families like that of Akash Denison, the struggle is immediate and intensely personal. His parents have refused to accept the official explanation for his death and have demanded a transparent investigation. Their demand echoes a larger question confronting the state: whether the cycle of custodial violence can finally be broken.

For now, Denison’s death stands as another reminder that the distance between the ideals of social justice and the realities of policing in Tamil Nadu remains painfully wide.

What makes Akash Denison’s death particularly troubling is not only the allegation of brutality but the familiarity of the pattern it fits into. Custodial deaths in Tamil Nadu have repeatedly revealed how the weight of policing falls most heavily on those already pushed to the margins, where poverty, caste, and criminalisation intersect. Each case prompts outrage, promises of inquiry, and temporary administrative action, yet the underlying culture of impunity rarely changes. If the state’s commitment to social justice is to mean anything beyond political vocabulary, it must confront the violence embedded within its own institutions. That requires more than compensation or isolated suspensions. It requires transparent investigations, swift prosecutions, and structural reform of policing practices. Until then, the death of Akash Denison will remain not an exception but a grim reminder of how fragile constitutional protections become when they collide with caste prejudice and unchecked state power.

Paresh Hate is a Bahujan queer researcher, writer, documenter and activist and the Lead Content Manager at Dalit Voice.

Madras: V. M. Velu, Secretary of the Atomic Energy Department (Government of India) SC & ST Employees Union, Kalpakkam, writes that in his office there are only 700 Dalits of the 3,700 employees. And these Dalits are the worst victims of Hindu imperialism. Hindu employees stabbed him on March 19 in broad day light and night before the police station. A. Ramakrishna, vice-president of the Association, was seriously assaulted by Hindus on the night of Nov. 30 1978. In both the cases, no action was taken by the police despite written complaints. M. Periyaswamy, leading fireman of the factory, was stabbed by Hindus on Dec. 4-80. The Hindus removed the portrait of Dr. Ambedkar unveiled by the Dalit employees inside the factory recreation club. P. Manoharan was assaulted by Hindus on Jan. 1.

In the light of these “continued naked aggression on poor Dalit employees by the Hindus,” the Dalit employees at a general body meeting on July 10 decided to quit Hinduism and embrace Islam on Aug. 15, Independence day, he says.

Meenakshipuram has rocked the Mindu sanatanists. From North come hordes of Hindu religious leaders and religio- political leaders, to the South to exhort Hindus against conversion. In three districts, Tirunelveli, Madurai and Ramanathapuram, “Harijans” embraced Islam. Still the process is going on. In Ramnad, the Government had filed criminal cases only against untouchables. They are on conditional bail in far off places-a cruel punishment. They find no food or support there. In Salem District also untouchables have threatened to join the stream of conversion. Around Madras some thousands of untouchables have decided to join Budhism.

Jagjivan Ram said in Agra that, “the Harijans who embraced Islam … had been left with no other option. He criticised the Hindu religion for denying rights to Harijans. If the Hindus do not accept the Harijans as Hindus, what is the point in their staying within the fold of that religion? (The Hindu, 30-6-8)

Pejawara Swami of Udupi said in Kurnool, (AP) that “caste Hindus were responsible for driving Harijans to the arm of other religions. The Swamiji spoke regretfully of the torment and humiliation that caste Hindus heap on Harijans. He agreed that caste Hindus treat Muslims and Christians with greater respect and tolerance than Harijans” (the Hindu, 30-6-81) 

Makwana, Union Minister of State for Home said in Madras that “conversion could not be done by lure of money or coercion … What was very clear was that the Harijans had been treated badly, humiliated and attacked and their property was looted and burnt. From newspaper reports, it was obvious that out of humiliation and anger they had converted to Islam … the Hindu religious leaders must, therefore, learn from history. (Hindu-24-6 81) 

“Makwana said the Harijans who embraced Christianity and Buddhism had found that casteism was being practiced in these religions also. Probably the intelligent Harijans of Tamil Nadu had chosen Islam which welcomed them with open arms”. (UNI reports in Deccan Herald, 26-6-81)

V.G. Prasad Rao, Times of India, Staff Correspondent at Madras, in a report says: – “It was not mere economic gain that drew the Harijans into the Mohammadan fold but rather a yearning for social equality. Another interesting fact is that some Christians have also become Musalmans. This is obviously to protest against the caste system imported into Christianity in the South”. (Times of India, 1-7-81)

Threat to Embrace Islam:

UNI reports from Salem that 70 untouchable families of Devarayapuram village in Namakkal taluk of Salem district have threatened to embrace Islam on Aug. 1,  if untouchability practiced against them by the Hindus is not ended by then. (Deccan Herald, 3-7-81)  

Untouchables Externed

P.R. Kuppuswamy, Advocate, Karur (T.N.) writes: About 600 untouchables are on bail with the condition to stay 200 to 250 miles away from Ramnad. They are starving.  

Makwana Visit to Meenakshipuram:

Union Minister of State for Home, Makwana, who had earlier made an appeal to the Shankaracharya of Kanchi, Kamakoti Peeta urging him to help stop conversion of untouchables to Islam, visited Meenakshipuram and other Tamil Nadu villages where mass conversions had taken place. Talking to newsmen on July 4 at Madurai after the visit, he said untouchables in Tamil Nadu were feeling insecure because of the rising criminal atrocities of Hindus. He said, “Utter neglect of the Harijans and insult and humiliation at the hands of caste Hindus were stated to be the reasons for the religious conversions which were reported only in Tamil Nadu”. He said the Harijans, who had embraced Islam, had told him that they had lost faith in Hindu leaders and Hindu society, as a whole. Those who had been converted felt they were treated with equality and respect by their co-religionists. Conversion is happening because of social injustice. Asked if he suspected involvent of foreign money, he said he was not in a position to say anything on it. The government “was investigating”. (Deccan Herald 5-7-81, quoting UNI report)

“Organizer” Editorial

The RSS official journal in an editorial under the headline: “From Meenakshipuram to Rehamat Nagar,” (5-7-81) says: “if the Harijans of Meenakshipuram had any grievances, they could have ventilated the same and sought redress. After all, ours is an open and democratic society and not an Islamic country where dissenters can be flogged or have their hands or feet cut. Why did anybody have to use their grievances to destroy them socially, culturally, emotionally? We are very sorry to say that what has happened in Meenakshipuram is not an outburst of local grievances but a small expression of an old conspiracy to destroy Hindus, Hinduism, and Hindustan”. The editorial further says: “the whole things is immoral … And in so far as it has excited Hindu-Muslim feelings, it has threatened public order”. It calls upon the government to protest to the Sri Lanka government for the misconduct of its Speaker. It also calls upon the Election Commission not to recognise the conversions, and demands a probe into the flow of foreign money into India.

The “earthquake” in Meenakshipuram has drawn the attention of the whole country, its Government, Parliament, press, public, political parties, religious leaders and other busybodies. There is an endless discussion on the mass conversion of untouchables to Islam. Hindu society is shaking in its shoes. The tiny village has suddenly become a centre of pilgrimage to all sorts of trouble-makers.

Union Minister of State for Home Yogendra Makwana’s visit to the village renamed Rehamat Nagar became a front-page news in the national press. Eve’s Weekly called it a “national crisis”. Home Minister Zail Singh was grilled by MPs Including a CPM leader and they all extracted an assurance from him that the Government of India was seized of the matter. The Shankaracharya of Kanchi Karnakoti Peetha sent a three-man team of Brahmin (religious) leaders headed by the Pejawara Swamy, president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Scores of “fact-finding teams beelined” to the village. They met the Prime Minister, who according to AlCC general secretary Moopanar expressed grave concern over this. The Hindus suddenly overcome by compassion and love towards the “Harijans” decided to dig wells in Rehamat Nagar. Makwana, after a stormy visit to the areas gripped by bloody Hindu violence on untouchables, got locked in a verbal battle with Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran over his remark that the “Harijans are not safe under the Tamil Nadu police. The well-planned visit of Makwana had raised high hopes in the Hindu communal circles that they would discover “Arab money” and the “threat” to convert the ‘poor Harijans’. But he discovered nothing. His wait turned out to be a big disappointment to the communal Hindus. On the other hand, his off-the- record talks with the press man at Madurai and Madras and Dalit leaders revealed the truth. 

Our representative present at such informal talks writes: Makwana mission was a total failure. He could do nothing with the untouchable converts to Islam. He admitted that some of them even shouted “Makwana go back” slogans. Besides the untouchables of Rehamat Nagar, Dalit representatives of neighbouring villages, particularly Dalit lawyers, teachers and other educated Dalits, told him that they ware ill-treated only because they were Hindus. Therefore, they had decided to quit Hinduism to gain social status. Makwana admitted that he had written letters to the Shankaracharyas but this was wrong on his part. The methods adopted by the Hindus would provoke even those one or two still remaining as Hindus in each family. If Hindus behaved this way, he said, nobody could stop the exodus. He feared that even if a single convert was assaulted, it might result Hindu-Muslim clash causing serious repercussions all over India. He condemned reports about Arab money. According to him ill-treated by Hindus police atrocities and the frustration of the youth were the three causes for the conversion He said very clearly that he was not against “conversion to Islam” writes our representative in Madras. 

As regards the allegations made by the RSS and other Hindu communalists that Arab money was paid and that force was used for conversion, they must be specific. Which country paid the money, who brought it and who received it and how much? All these details with their names, must be published. So, also the names of those who used force for the conversion. 

Untouchables and tribals all over India are desperate. Hinduism has made mincemeat out of them. They are suffocated in the air-tight, stinking dungeon of Hinduism. It is this desperation that is driving them out of the Hindu fold. Ambedkar had opened the gates and showed the way. Even to this day, untouchables are a set of people who are negatively defined by their exclusion from the Hindu community. This takes both religious and social forms. Their movement under Ambedkar to seek a more positive identity at the time of independence was thwarted by Gandhi and other communal politicians for political reasons. Now the Hindu community has failed to integrate them in the last 30 years of our “national” existence, they should refuse to be fooled again by the myth created by the high castes that they are Hindus. The truth is that the untouchables were never Hindus, nor will they ever become Hindus except in negative forms. So the question before them is how they should get rid of their negative identity socially and religiously. It is time that they should now decide for themselves and not allow anybody to exploit them. The only way and the best way is to quit Hinduism and announce it publicly. They may lose the crumbs of reservations which have reduced them to the level of permanent beggars before the closed doors of the Hindus. The untouchables of Rehmat Nagar have at an example by renouncing Hindus and thus gaining manhood. 

But the way this conversion episode is tackled is something unprecedented. The whole thing looks mysterious. Why did Meenakshipuram receive so much attention; Why did the Hindu press, which always used to suppress any news about conversion, suddenly go berserk over Meenakshipuram? There appears to be a method in this madness, this breast-beating by the Brahmins, the SOS of the Shankaracharyas. It looks as if the sky is collapsing over Tamil Nadu. And this cry of “wolf, wolf” is not stopping even after impartial observers declared that there is no wolf, not even a mouse. Why this scare-mongering? 

This is what makes us suspicious about the whole thing. We feel there is a deep-rooted conspiracy behind these exercises. Something big is in the offing-chief Minister M. G. R.. said that conversions to Islam are not new to Tamil Nadu. A report in the Hindu (July 7) says M.G. R. gave statistics to prove that “almost every year from 1969 to 1978 there had been cases of such conversion in two villages in Bodinaickanur taluk, Madurai District In Tirunelveli district too there had been such mass conversions, in 1944, in 3 villages involving  170, 40 and 27 Harijans families“. In six other villages also “Harijans as families or individuals has taken to Islam in the past. So it was incorrect to say that the conversion was a new phenomenon“, he said. Different Dalit organisations have arrived at the same conclusion. 

Then why all this un-ending deafening noise? A sort of a war-preparation? Our information is that the RSS and other communalists are planning to repeat Moradabad’s events in the South, may be between Muslims and untouchables themselves. Tamil Nadu has been so far free from communal clashes, because, thanks to Periyar, it had always voted for his followers. To wrest Tamil Nadu from the Periyar’s followers and restore the Brahmin supremacy, the twin interest-free “vote banks”-scheduled castes and Muslims – are needed. And the communal bigots cannot get a better opportunity than the current conversion controversy in which these two persecuted minorities are locked. This appears to be the game. We call both the Dalits, Muslims and Christians to beware of this fascist game and nip it in the bud. Muslims and Christian organisations all over India and Tamil Nadu in particular must immediately jump and take positions. Dravida Khazagam, DMK, Marxists and other Left elements should realise that any chance given to the Hindu communalists to poke their nose will be a setback to their respective movement. 

Bangalore:

We are flooded with letters, reports, articles, statements and speeches on the Meenakshipuram mass conversion of untouchables to Islam. It is no longer a flood but a deluge. The epidemic is spreading to Karnataka, Andhra and U.P. Earthquake, as we declared in our previous issue. The Hindu communalists have raised it to the level of Armageddon. The untouchables have tasted the benefits of conversion and more and more of them appear to be rushing to embrace Islam which did produce miraculous results.

B.J. P. president Vajpayee visited Rahmat Nagar and later told the press at Madras on July 17 the RSS version of the conversion. The Deccan Herald report (18-7) says the conversions were “master-minded by certain notorious smugglers who would like to cover up their involvement with counterfeit currency cases. These unscrupulous elements have succeeded in roping in innocent Harijans who have been made to carry fake currency on the assurance that they will not be harassed by the police once they became Muslims”. Vajpayee raised questions of involvement of a foreign agency in printing fake notes, establishment of a technical training school which received Rs. 1.5 crore foreign aid and involvement of an Indian who became a Muslim in a gulf country but is now busy converting untouchables by using foreign money. But Vajpayee was careful not to mention names of the persons doing this conversion or the company that gave the machine to make currency notes or the Arab country from where the petrodollars are pouring. Why did he not give the names? Is he afraid or does he not have the information? The RSS has supplied him the information. But he did not like to repeat the RSS charge because he wants to become the Prime Minister. And he knows that nobody can become PM without the support of Dalits and Muslims. And in these conversions, unfortunately, the very two communities are involved. RSS wants to groom him for the Prime Minister but at the same time it cannot get out of its “caste character” which makes it hate these two persecuted minorities. This was Vajpayee’s dilemma when he visited Rahamat Nagar.

What is the RSS? In the July 18 issue of the ‘Organiser‘, under the headline “inside story of Meenakshipuram”, it says “Muslim priests and leaders are working to convert 1 lakh Harians living in 500 villages spread over 3 districts of Tamil Nadu”, The whole thing is described as a “Global conspiracy to subvert India”. It recollects the Times of India (21/3/81) front-page headlines in this connection. The annual report of the “South India Islam Society had said that 8,000 Harijans had been converted to Islam”. The facts, Organiser says, are: The first conversions took place in Korayur, Ramnad district, in Feb. 1980. The person responsible for these conversions is a Ramnad District Health Officer, Dr. Manoharan who became Dr Munnawar Khan and Dr. Jayaseelan, another local Harijan doctor At Meenakshipuram, the police unearthed a big counterfeiting activity in an estate. The counterfeiting was being done according to the police, by some Christian padris with the aim of a printing machine donated by Douglas Charity of America. This has been established by the confessions of the accused persons to the police. A Christian family residing in Tenkasi Taluk, is also running an orphanage aided by the Douglas Charity. The primary purpose of this orphanage is conversion of Harijans to Christianity. This orphanage abets several Harijans to create caste tensions between Harijans and nonpartisans in several villages, so as to create an atmosphere of alienation from the Hindu society, which is necessary for conversions. The family running the orphanage is also said to have made available the machinery for counterfeiting. According to the police, printing and distribution of counterfeit currency has been going on for several years. The modus operandi is that the printing is done by the Christians and the distribution outlets are the trade channels of Muslims. The Harijans are employed to carry the counterfeit currency. The Organiser says “one Thangaraj, a notorious local goonda, changed from Christianity to Islam and became Yusuf to save himself after eloping with a Thevar girl. This Thangaraj had link with the fake note racket. The two Thevar youths who discovered this connection were murdered. Police investigation revealed the fake note racket The police were harsh on SCs and the Muslims assured them that police would not dare touch them if they embraced Islam”.  

This is the RSS version of the whole story which Vajpayee repeated at Madras. The Organiser refers to the Tanjore district conversion led by Ambikapathi father-in-law of Thasi M. Karunanidhi, a DMK MP from Nagapattanam. He converted 20 other Dalits. A famous street is renamed Madina street. The Organiser gives the following details of conversion in Tamil Nadu: total is 1,369. The conversions have nothing to do with social reasons. “They have much to do with the feeling that there is money and power in being a Muslim”. The Organiser later propounds 12 bogus schemes to avert conversions and save “Harijans”. However, some Dalit friends have thrown a challenge: If the Arabs can pay Rs. 500 per convert, the RSS, the Shankaracharyas and the Birlas, who together can command crores of rupees, can offer Rs. 1,000 per head and reconvert them, but as Brahmins. They said they are ready.  

RSS leaders who became so nervous by these conversions have virtually started pissing in their pants. The national executive of the RSS met in Delhi for two days from July 11, Babasaheb Deoras presiding. The full text of the resolution passed at the meeting was published on the front page of the Organiser. We have carefully gone through the resolution and would like to tell our Dalit friends not to be deceived by these crocodile tears of this high caste fascist organisation. Except saying that caste distinction must be buried and the “pernicious practice of untouchability must be ended”, there is nothing concrete. We have had enough of these humbugs from the days of Gandhi. 

I wish to refer to the phenomenon of adoption of Islam by the Panchamas in Tamil Nadu which has been going on for more than 10 years, but made a government issue now by the anti-democratic and anti-secular elements of the Hindu Rashtra school. 

Varnashrama Dharma is a well-known tenet of Hinduism. Under this tenet, the panchamas are untouchables. To term the panchamas as Hindus is not correct. They are only unbonded, untouchable slaves of the Hindu.  

As such it is not surprising, with the slow penetration of modern education among the panchama castes and with the consciousness of their human dignity by the youths, some of them become rationalists or materialists. But the vast majority who are religious minded have been adopting Buddhism, Christianity or Islam. The process has been going on for hundreds of years.  

The Hindu clergy and the R.S.S. element are blowing up this phenomenon as part of a Muslim proselytization programme. The animosity existing between Hindus and Muslims in Tamil Nadu is exemplary. The Jamat-e-Islam in Tamil Nadu is very keen about not giving room for communal discord to develop in this part of India. So they are too reluctant to provide assistance for initiating the new-comers into their fold unless responsible Hindus consider it not as a calamity to their way of life but as liberation of the panchama from centuries of caste oppression.  

In such circumstances, I would request democrats to use their influence with the responsible Hindus, R.S.S., the govt. and religious leaders etc. to convince them about the need to desist from rousing communal passions on the issue and to create an atmosphere conducive to the free exercise of their human rights by the panchamas without government interference. The freedom of the Muslims to enfold into their brotherhood the ones who aspire to it without government interference and harassment by Hindu communalists is an an essential demand of secularism.  

This is not the first time in history that people reject the social tyranny of a particular religion and adopt a more rational and humanistic religion. But unfortunately, every Hindu – from the Prime Minister down to the police constable – is propping up the tyranny of Hindu social system on the victims of this tyranny, trouncing all principles to a secular polity. The Indira Congress has started Panchama baiting and Muslim-baiting. Here it has become imperative for democrats to intervene and work in defence of secularism as well as human rights to the Panchamas. We are planning to call a meeting of Panchamas and Muslims at Madurai to thrash out this matter which is so vital for democracy and secularism. Such a meeting should be held at the national level also. 

Meenakshipuram has turned into a forest fire engulfing the entire Tamil Nadu, if not the country. An Indian Express report says the Government of India appears to be very much worried about this fast-spreading epidemic that is sweeping the South. Reports of conversion are coming from Kanpur and Gujarat also. 

While every conscious Dalit should be happy about these developments – the revolt of the Dalits -they should be equally concerned about its consequences. As we have hinted in our previous issue, our fears about the prospects of a communal riot rocking TN are expressed by both Muslims and Dalits.  

Since then, we had reports of a clash in Wandiwash in TN. Our information is that a big preparation is going on. Communal and political interests are out to exploit the present situation and see that TN is seized from the hands of Periyar’s followers who have been ruling the country’s most progressive State. This is the one State in India where the RSS is weakest. The trick it always adopts to gain a foothold is to start a communal riot and then pitch its tent. This is what it did in Kerala, where it has gained sufficient following.  

CPM – RSS clashes are a daily feature there. Over 100 have been killed so far. It wants to repeat the same thing In TN by starting a series of clashes, if possible, between the SCs and Muslims themselves. If this is the game of the communalists, anti-Periyar political leaders are wanting to seize TN by raising the bogey of law and order and proving that the lives of the SCs and Muslims are not safe under MGR’s ADMK Government. The very same political and communal forces are collaborating in Kerala and the same pattern will be repeated in TN – at the cost of much bloodshed of the poorest of the poor.  

Unfortunately, our CPM-CPI comrades have not till now opened their mouth on the TN conversions. Perhaps, they are also welcoming the bid to oust Periyar’s followers and restoration of the Brahmin rule in TN. Therefore, once again we call upon all progressive forces led by the DK, DMK, Left forces, Dalits, Muslims and Christians to frustrate the game of this unholy communal-political axis and keep alive the torch of Periyar EVR in TN.  

Fascist clouds are gathering over TN. Dalits must not only revolt but also give no room for fascists.