Tamil Nadu Shows The Way

A UNI report datelined Puliangudi (June 13), where the latest Hindu- dalit clashes occurred killing ten people, takes us into an altogether refreshing social scenario that is taking shape in India. The report that got wide publicity in the “national press” is of far- reaching significance “The violence which rocked this town of 47,000 people and the neighbourhood last week, was the result of a polarisation of casts and communal forces in many parts of southern TN district of Tirunelveli. Muslims & Harijans have come together under the banner of the Samathuva Sahodarathva Sangham (SSS) which means an organisation for equality and fraternity, and the various caste Hindu groups have sunk their differences to face a perceived challenge from them. Dist. Collector Nirmal Singh Hira, talking to UNI, tacitly acknowledged that it appeared that in the clashes Muslims and Harijans were on one side and the caste Hindus on the other”. (Indian Express June 14) The longish report quotes Hindu leaders criticising the SSS and the dalit and Muslim leaders of the area supporting it. The report did not quote a single dalit or Muslim leader criticising SSS. Dalits, Muslims and Christians had already come together. That they took out a joint march at Nagercoil following the RSS attack on poor Chiristian fishermen was also earlier reported. That these three persecuted minorities joined hands to form a self defence force will not be naturally liked by the persecutors. They will do everything to break this unity. They will also discredit those In charge, arrest them & if possible finish them. That even the communists are critical of such a unity did not come as a surprise to us. M. N. Govindan Nair, national council secretary of the CPI, told newsmen at Madras after a visit to Puliangudi (Times of India, June 18), thot: “Harijans, however, had joined hands with Christians and Muslims under the banner of SSS to fight against social inequalities. Nair said the people of Puliangudi were now divided, with the caste Hindus led by the Hindu Munani (Hindu front) on the one side and. SSS on the other, relegating the political parties to the background. This division according to Nair, would spread to other parts of the State. Nair said the Sangham had now established its units in 61 villages in Tirunelveli dt. In many places partymen had pulled down their own party flags. Activists of the same parties had taken sides with the Munnani or the SSS, he said. His apprehension was that caste and religious feelings were going to dominate the State politics. This was a dangerous situation.” The Hindu (June 15), normally the spokesman of those enjoying property and privileges, he’s given further evidence of the coming together of the dalits. Muslims and Christians and naturally demanded it must be crushed. Tamil Nadu has thus shown the way to the whole country, RSS, which is out to enforce Varnashram Dharma through a Brahminical class-caste fascist dictatorship, is today the single biggest strike force with a country-wide sweep. That the life & property of dalits & persecuted minorities are being increasingly threatened is evident for anybody reading the daily paper. Not a day goes without the killing of innocent lives. The Govt. of India has totally failed to protect them. In such a situation what else can they do? Where else can they go except organise themselves into a self-defence force? The Govt. of India had one year back assured the Parliament that it would set up a “village protection force to save dalits from Hindu atrocities. A PTI report Times of India May 16) said such a force “would be established soon”. Another report said such a special riot police comprising dalits. tribals. Muslims and Christians had been already raised but the govt. had been extremely secretive about it fearing high caste Hindu wrath. In the absence of any protection either from the govt. or the society. TN Dalits, Muslims and Christians have formed their own self-protection force called SSS. We don’t think any civilised opinion in the world can take objection to this move. The need for such a force became all the more urgent in TN because it was in this State that all these three persecuted minorities came under an organised attack. It was here that the country’s first mass killing of Christians took place in Kanyakumari dt. on 1-3-1982. It was again here that the dalits staged their historic mass conversion to escape from the Hindu tyranny. It was here that the RSS formed its front organisation, Hindu Munnani, to fight Periyar E. V. Ramaswamy’s cultural organisation, Dravida Kazagham. The M.G. Ramachandran Govt. being completely a puppet in the hands of the RSS, dalits, Muslims and Christians here had no other go but to form SSS. It is the right of every civilised govt. to protect all its citizens particularly its weakest sections. And in India, the govt. itself has admitted that Untouchables, tribals. Muslims and Christians form its weakest sections. When the govt. also fails, society turns hostile. the press indifferent, what else these actions can do but make their own arrangements to defend themselves? What is wrong in that? Therefore, we wholeheartedly welcome the TN dalit efforts and commend this noble example to all other persecuted minorities in the rest of India. Untouchables. tribals, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and even OBCs. TN has become the melting pot-the laboratory for all sociological experiments. Tamils have become first in every thing. This is because of their characteristic cultural background-the Thiruvallavar heritage, Periyar’s historic self-respect movement, the leadership provided by the Dravida Khazagan in the anti-Brahmin movement, the complete de Sanskritized language which, according to Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s research, was once the all-India Ianguage before the Aryans invaded India. This is the reason why TN had the first non-Brahmin govt. in the country, the first mass conversion of Untouchables to Islam. the first mass killing of Christians. First in all sociological experiments. Therefore, it is no wonder TN became first in the country by starting SSS to defend itself against the multi-million rupee worth RSS with agents in govt., police. Defence services, press and in everything that is Hindu. The high caste Hindu leadership of communist parties is, therefore. naturally worried about such a polarisation of social forces on caste and religious basis. Since dalits. Muslims and Christians belong to the poorest of India’s poor, they automatically form a “class”. And we have been repeatedly telling that in Hindu India ‘caste is a “class” and the Marxian concept of “class struggle” will take the form of “caste struggle”. We are glad the TN persecuted minorities have accepted this social reality disproving the “Socialist Brahmins controlling our communist parties. However, we are sorry that the OBCs are once again left in the lurch. Like all other previous attacks on persecuted minorities, the Puiiangudi attack also came from the backward Thevar’s who are as poor as the dalits. If the OBC leaders are interested in implementation of the Mandal Commission report, they could force the govt. only when they join hands with the dalits, Muslims and Christians. The OBC leaders will have to choose their allies whether they want to go with the exploiters or with the exploited. Will the Dravida Xazhagam-which is the only organisation in the TN today openly fighting the RSS-join the SSS and take the OBCs with them so that the polarisation of social forces becomes complete?