Home WORLD NEWS Caste discrimination at I-Day function in Tamil Nadu’s Pudukottai

Caste discrimination at I-Day function in Tamil Nadu’s Pudukottai

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CHENNAI: As the nation celebrated 75 years of independence on Monday and many elected representatives hoisted the national flag in their respective local bodies — mostly in government schools — Tamilarasan, the president of Senthangudi panchayat in Tamil Nadu’s

Pudukottai

district, a dalit, went home disappointed over not getting his rightful honour of hoisting the

Tricolour

at the local government school.

Non-dalits in the village scuttled his chance and instead made him hoist the flag at the panchayat office, which reported poor attendance. All district collectors across the state, however, claimed the national flag was hoisted by the 12,600-odd respective presidents of village panchayats without any problem. Around noon on Monday, collectors sent compliance reports to chief secretary V Irai Anbu, who had directed them to ensure not a single instance of caste discrimination against dalits occurs in the national flag hoisting ceremony on I-Day.

The issue of caste discrimination against dalit panchayat chiefs was flagged by Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF), an NGO, which came out with a survey report on the social malice last week. It said presidents of 20 village panchayats were not allowed to hoist the national flag in the past and did not have chairs to sit in their offices or access to official files.

Times View

It is heartening that the Dalit panchayat presidents hoisted the tricolour on August 15. But the harsh truth is that even after 75 years of independence, it had to be carried out under police protection. The incident highlights how caste discrimination continues to afflict different parts of the country. Authorities must take strict action against those who had threatened the panchayat presidents. There should be zero tolerance in such cases.

“The headmaster of the government school, Manimuthu, invited me to the function at the school. But when I went there,

Manimuthu

himself hoisted the flag. They invited me to just humiliate me,” Tamilarasan said.

TNUEF state president

T Chellakannu

said people of the Kallar community had threatened to block traffic if Tamilarasan hoisted the national flag.

However, among the dalit presidents who proudly hoisted the flag on Monday is V

Amrutham

, president of Athupakkam panchayat in Thiruvallur district. After she had a rehearsal of hoisting the national flag on Sunday in the presence of Irai Anbu, a joyous Amrutham, dressed in a new saree, hoisted the Tricolour on Monday.

In Pudukottai district, dalit presidents of Manjanviduthi and Senthangudi panchayats — both in Thiruvarankulam panchayat union — faced resistance from non-dalits in hoisting the Tricolour. The two villages had figured on the list of 20 panchayats flagged by TNUEF. As the issue was taken up with the district administration and police, Suresh Kanna, president of Manjanviduthi, hoisted the flag at the local school under police protection.

Tamilarasan, however, failed to get timely help from the administration. “The headmaster of the government school, Manimuthu, invited me to the function at the school. But when I went there, Manimuthu himself hoisted the flag. They invited me to just humiliate me,” he said. TNUEF state president T Chellakannu said people of the Kallar community had threatened to block traffic if Tamilarasan hoisted the national flag.

Meanwhile, Pudukottai district collector Kavitha Ramu informed the chief secretary that Tamilarasan had hoisted the flag in the panchayat office and was honoured at the I-Day event at the local school. The headmasters of schools were asked to hoist the flags as per the instructions of the commissioner of school education, she said in her report, in an apparent effort to deflect attention from the issue.

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