COVER STORY

Isolated in Tamil Nadu

S. VISWANATHAN

Shunned by the two major political alliances, the Dalit parties form a third front in Tamil Nadu.

A NOTABLE feature of Elections 2004 in Tamil Nadu is the failure of two major Dalit political organisations to get into the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). DMK president M. Karunanidhi refused to allot seats to Viduthalai Siruthaigal (Dalit Panthers of India or DPI) and Puthiya Tamilagam (P.T), but appealed to them to work for the success of the alliance. He promised them that he would consider their case at the time of the next Assembly elections. Although both the Dalit outfits had been with the DMK-led front since the 2001 elections and had been expressing themselves in favour of a secular alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party under the DMK leadership, Karunanidhi was in no mood to accommodate them in the DPA. Their followers took Karunanidhi's refusal not merely as an insult to their leaders but also as an affront to Dalit pride. Dalits have a 20-25 per cent of the vote share evenly spread in all the constituencies in Tamil Nadu.

T. SINGARAVELU

Dalit Panthers of India (DPI) general secretary Thol. Thirumavalavan filing his nomination for the Chidambaram (reserved) Lok Sabha constituency.

DPI general secretary Thol. Thirumavalavan and P.T. president K. Krishnasamy were unhappy that they were given a raw deal, while the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), which quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after a lot of hesitation, was the first to be allotted seats. They also pointed out that the PMK, which fought the1999 parliamentary elections as a constituent of the DMK-led alliance, deserted it to fight the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections two years later in the company of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). The PMK is generally seen as anti-Dalit and it derives its strength from the Vanniar community in northern Tamil Nadu. (Supporters of the PMK went on the rampage and allegedly prevented a large number of Dalits from voting in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections in Chidambaram constituency, where Thirumavalavan was one of the contestants. Scores of Dalits were injured and their houses burnt down. This led to massive protests. Thirumavalavan and Krishnasamy wanted the Dalit political solidarity built by them over the last five years to be preserved at any cost. They pieced together an alliance of their own, the People's Alliance, along with the Makkal Tamil Desam, founded by former State Minister S. Kannappan and the Indian National League, a Muslim outfit. A surprise addition to this alliance is Union Minister George Fernandes' Janata Dal (U). This alliance is contesting 28 seats in all. Thirumavalavan and Krishnasamy are seeking elections from Chidambaram and Tenkasi constituencies respectively.

ALTHOUGH Krishnasamy, who rose into prominence during the upsurge against the police outrage at Kodiyankulam, a Dalit village in Tuticorin district in 1995, successfully fought the 1996 Assembly elections as an independent, it was in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections that Dalit political consolidation materialised. This was possible because of the Opposition parties' united protest against the police lathicharge against the workers of the Manjolai tea estate in Tirunelveli who were on strike in response to a call by the union led by Krishnasamy. Seventeen persons, including 11 Dalits were killed in police action. (Frontline, August 13, 1999). The Left parties, the DPI and parties such as the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) organised hunger-strike programmes across the State to condemn the police action, much to the discomfort of the Karunanidhi government. The support from the mainstream parties gave a fillip to Dalit mobilisation in a big way. TMC president G.K. Mooppanar who led the Third Front in the Lok Sabha elections, invited P.T. and DPI to join the Front. This alliance, however, could not make any impact. In the 2001 Assembly elections, the two principal Dalit parties joined the DMK-led front. Thirumavalavan won the election but the DMK was routed. This time when Karunanidhi denied his party a seat Thirumavalavan vacated his Assembly seat on "moral grounds" as he had won the seat on the DMK symbol.

Referring to the isolation of Dalit parties, Thirumavalavan told Frontline that the marginalisation of Dalits and minorities was not new and it had been happening in Indian politics for many decades." For centuries, such sidelining of Dalits from political power has been a big stumbling block to the resurgence of these sections," he said. This, according to him, had driven Dalits to a mindset that political power was not for them and that they were born only to toil for others. He said that in the past 50 years no political party in Tamil Nadu had recognised Dalit organisations as a political force. "The mainstream parties have been using Dalits only as a vote bank and for doing election work for them. That was why, he said, the DPI had entered the electoral arena with the basic objective of turning Dalits into a political force by arousing their consciousness. After the ADMK (Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) was formed, the Republican Party of India (RPI) was given a seat in the elections, but the party was treated only as a branch of the new party. Even this did not continue after the death of the AIADMK's founder and former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran. Particularly, after Jayalalithaa assumed leadership of the party the RPI was sidelined. At one stage, Dalit leader L. Ilayaperumal's Indian Human Rights Party was given two seats, but soon the two successful candidates were absorbed into the AIADMK.

"In the 1999 Lok Sabha elections too, Dalit organisations were taken into the Third Front only under unavoidable circumstances. When all the big parties in Tamil Nadu had already allied themselves with either the DMK or the AIADMK, the TMC was compelled to launch a Third Front," he said.

A. SHAIKMOHIDEEN

Puthiya Tamilagam president Dr. K. Krishnasamy paying floral tributes to the victims of police action in Tirunelveli. Most of the victims were Dalit workers of the Manjolai tea estate who were on strike.

In the 2001 Assembly elections, the DMK found itself in the same position the TMC was in 1999. A majority of the mainstream parties in the State, such as the TMC, the Congress(I), the PMK and the two Left parties had already allied with the AIADMK. The DMK then had only the BJP with it. Karunanidhi was left with no option but to accommodate the DPI and the P.T. along with some small caste-based parties. "But now, because Kaunanidhi has had the support of some much bigger parties, he has ditched Dalit parties," Thirumavalavan said.

"This is nothing but a manifestation of political untouchability, an extension of untouchability from the political to the social," the DPI leader said. A Dalit activist said: "We are denied share in public places such as ponds, wells, temples and so on, how can one expect them to allow us to share power?"

Thirumavalavan did not agree with the view that the present Dalit isolation was because the Dalit parties had strayed away from the path of agitational politics and their militancy had blunted during the last few years. "No, we have not given up the path of agitational politics. We organised several struggles recently. We had protested against the ban on conversions, prohibition of animal sacrifice, the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and so on," he said.

"For us, the elections are only a passing phase. We will continue to protest against anti-people measures of the governments, in coordination with other sections, particularly the Left parties." Dalit parties, he said, would first strive to strengthen their political base in the coming years.

Activists of some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that take up Dalit-specific issues express the view that Dalit political parties' activity is generally restricted to responding to situations arising out of atrocities by casteist forces. It is true that the victims in such situations need their intervention most and, in fact, such interventions have helped in a big way in quickening the pace of relief measures and bringing to book the culprits. Since the Kodiyankulam outrage, the two Dalit parties have played a significant role in highlighting atrocities against Dalits. But, for these parties to make their presence felt more politically they have to play a significant role in projecting Dalit-specific issues, that remain unresolved for a long time. For instance, NGO activists say, although certain forms of untouchability such as denial of entry into temples and discrimination against Dalits in tea shops where the "two-glass" system still prevails are highlighted by the Left parties and other mainstream parties, the Dalit parties could have taken them up in a more effective way. This is also true of issues such as reservation in education and employment. With the government implementing neo-liberal policies vigorously, reservation in employment is increasingly becoming irrelevant by imposing a freeze on recruitment. This is also an area where Dalit political parties' activity is seen as inadequate.

As over 75 per cent of the landless agricultural workers are Dalits measures such as redistribution of land will have a positive impact on their lives. The Dalit parties need to pay greater attention to this aspect. The question of restoration of Panchami land (distributed to Dalits by the government during the British rule, but appropriated by caste Hindus in many areas), extending to thousands of hectares, is being taken up only by some NGOs and the Left parties, in certain areas. The Dalit parties' intervention, in cooperation with the others working in the field, will add to their political importance. NGO activists point out that the Dalit parties will have to strengthen their organisational structure to extend their activities to such vital areas of interest to Dalits.

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