Saturday, October 15, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Protest Meet against State Repression on Telangana Mass Movement

 


Dear Friends

Telangana has been witnessing unprecedented mass movement as well as repression by the government. This is a historial moment in many angles and has many things at stake for all those working for a better society. The moment will decide how the state is going to view all the democratic and dissent voices against any form of domination, not just regional. If the government succeeds in repressing the mass movement, it will harden its attitude against all forms of protests in any region.  This might strengthen hands of repressive state eroding whatever democratice spaces already available.If the Telangana movement succeeds, it will strength the dissent  voices within the region also for further demand for democratization of society.  

The dissent voices within the movement should always be seen as a healthy sign for further demand for widening the scope of movement. This should never come in the way of democratic forces in unequivocally opposing the unprecedented repression unleashed against the mass Telangana movement by the state . HRF invites all the democratic forces to join hands in condemning the repressive state aginst peaceful mass movement and register their dissent voice in the historical moment.

Protest Meet

against

State Repression on Telangana Mass Movement

Venue: Indira Park

Time: 10 am to 2.00 pm

Date: 18th October 2011

Contact: Karthik Navayan:9346677007

S. Jeevan Kumar: 9848986286

--
B.Karthik Navayan,

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[ZESTCaste] A Dalit widow is not getting job beacuse of her caste!

 

A Dalit widow is not getting job beacuse of her caste!

Rajeev Sagaria is telling us about a Dalit widow Pirabai who is not
getting a job because of her caste. District Magistrate of Bolangir
gave a written order on 6th Oct 2010 to give a job of assistant in
Anganwadi to Peerabai but there is no implementation of the order
after a year. Many officials have offered to help but nothing has
happened on ground. People say off the record that if a dalit woman
cooks in Anganwadi who is going to eat? For more Rajeev ji can be
reached on 09437527198

http://www.cgnetswara.org/index.php?id=7936

regards
Swara moderators team

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[ZESTCaste] India: Let’s keeps the Gods (and Goddesses) out of the caste system

http://asiancorrespondent.com/67274/india-let%E2%80%99s-keeps-the-gods-and-goddesses-out-of-the-caste-system/

India: Let's keeps the Gods (and Goddesses) out of the caste system
By Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay Oct 15, 2011 3:20AM UTC

Do Hindu Gods and Goddesses have caste identities? Can one bring in
the divisive issue of caste when talking about them? Would it be right
to say that one particular God or Goddess is a Brahmin while the other
is a Kshatriya, a Vaishya or even one of the OBCs?

These thoughts surfaced in the mind after reading a news report
mentioning that a section of students in New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru
University have decided to "observe 'Mahishasura Day' on October 25 to
reiterate that the demon killed by Goddess Durga belonged to a
Backward Community."

The report elaborated that the All India Backward Students' Forum
"decided to honour Mahishasura after a tussle with another section of
students who had allegedly taken the forum head-on for putting up
'blasphemous posters on the campus during Durga Puja that hurt
religious sentiments'."

Having been the only university in which I ever enrolled, I have an
overt interest in developments related to JNU. The report led me to
speak to friends which though not adding much on the incident per se,
sharpened stray thoughts sparked off by the report.

I have been aware of the academic discourse on the caste profiling of
mythological characters – especially from the Ramayana. At the level
of popular culture, I have tracked Dalits celebrating 'Ravana Melas'
to protest the burning of his effigies on 'Dussehra' and his portrayal
in mainstream Hindu culture as the epitome of evil.

The step in JNU to observe Mahisasura Day is something similar so
prima facie there should not be any opposition to it since Ravana
Melas have been held at various places for years. But spreading the
trend elsewhere and to other mythologies would dilute the symbolic
nature of the protest. It also has the potential of boomeranging.

Mythologies have portrayed Lord Krishna as a Yadav king but I have not
come across any Upper Caste Hindu refusing to revere him. If we
extending caste profiling of mythological characters, Gods and
Goddesses a situation may arise when any OBC group may suddenly
declare that Upper Caste Hindus do not have the right to include Lord
Krishna in their pantheon. Instead of eliminating the caste order,
that would only widen the existing schism.

There is also the added problem of 'fitting' in the Gods of the
ati-Shudras or Dalits. Will OBC groups allow Dalits to consider
Mahisasura to be their God also and allow entry into temples?

We have caste based parties or political parties that draw their
strengths primarily from one caste. Gods have not yet been split on
caste lines. Instead of doing so, it would be best to allow people to
follow their own Gods – and if any group has a 'problem' with the
mythology of one group then it's best to shut one's ears. After all,
the bulk of these Gods and Goddesses either wake up once a year or
come visiting just once. Thereafter, it is a matter of routine
personal religiosity with no community participation.


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[ZESTCaste] India's 'Dalit Queen' opens huge low-caste memorial

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gYIX6GHZebE-lu_8WN5W6iImf1Ag?docId=CNG.90819ee27cf4a010878467cfb74b4367.731

India's 'Dalit Queen' opens huge low-caste memorial

(AFP) – 20 hours ago

NEW DELHI — A powerful Indian politician, known as the "Dalit Queen,"
opened on Friday a huge memorial complex to herself and other
low-caste icons as opponents slammed her extravagance.

The grandiose memorial containing towering statues of heroes of those
on the bottom rung of India's ancient Hindu caste hierarchy was the
latest opened by Mayawati, who calls the projects an inspirational
"lighthouse" for the poor.

At the sunset ceremony, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India's
most populous state and one of the country's most deprived, struck
back at critics who accused her of self-glorification.

"All the parties have got together to conspire against me and malign
me and my party's image," the populist leader who styles herself as a
saviour of the poor, told thousands of supporters at the televised
ceremony.

Mayawati, 55, arrived by helicopter and was surrounded by heavy
security at the "statue park" in Noida outside the national capital
which has been constructed on a sprawling scale to rival monuments of
ancient Rome.

The vast sums Mayawati has spent on marble, granite and sandstone
statue parks that are scattered around the state of poverty-hit Uttar
Pradesh, according to legal suits filed against her, has appalled
critics.

"This money should have been diverted to (improving) schools, health,
medical care," Renuka Chowdhury, a senior leader of the ruling
national Congress party, told NDTV. "This extravagance is vintage
Mayawati."

Uttar Pradesh opposition Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary
called the statue park "immoral and condemnable".

Mayawati, who must face voters in state elections next year, told the
crowd that 99 percent of the 6.85 billion rupee ($140 million) cost
had come from "donations" from well-wishers.

The Noida park contains over dozens of outsize statues mounted on huge
plinths, including those of Mayawati's mentor, Kanshi Ram, who brought
her into politics and founded the Bahujan Samaj Party which she now
leads.

There is also B.R. Ambedkar, the low-caste Hindu or Dalit who framed
India's constitution.

Mayawati, too, is immortalised in stone carrying her trademark handbag
along with many giant statues of elephants -- symbols of her party.


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[ZESTCaste] Meira Kumar or Shinde as new PM to be Cong's next gimmick: Maya

 

http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-installing-a-dalit-as-pm-to-be-congs-next-gimmick-maya/20111014.htm

Meira Kumar or Shinde as new PM to be Cong's next gimmick: Maya
Last updated on: October 14, 2011 21:25 IST

Sharat Pradhan

Accusing the Congress of playing gimmick after gimmick to woo dalits,
Bahuijan Samaj Party supremo and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati
on Friday predicted that the next game of the party would be to
install a Dalit as the country's prime minister.

"Don't be surprised if the Congress now installs either former
Maharastra chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde or Lok Sabha Speaker
Meera Kumar as prime minister for a brief period -- solely to impress
the Dalit community," she said during the inauguration of her
multi-billion dream project -- Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green
Garden at Noida on Friday evening.

"While the Congress never allowed Jagjivan Ram to become prime
minister simply because he was a Dalit, their desperation to win over
the community is now compelling them to now put up a Dalit PM, but
only for a brief while," she quipped.

***

'Cong won't be able to dent my Dalit following'
Last updated on: October 14, 2011 21:25 IST

At the function, the UP CM sounded the bugle for the launch of her
party's campaign for the forthcoming 2012 state assembly elections.

With an obvious eye on the by-polls, she said, "I am confident that
the Dalits of this country can see through the Congress party's
repeated games. Let me tell you that no matter what it does, the
Congress party will never be able to serve its objective of denting
the my Dalit following."

Terming the gigantic 82-acre memorial-cum-park as the first of its
kind in the country, she said, "I had to undertake this project
because successive governments of different political parties never
cared to give recognition to the rich contribution of these social
reformers, simply because they were drawn from the most downtrodden
strata of society."

Taking on the entire opposition that has been highly critical of her
government's extravagance on projects like this one, Mayawati said,
"First of all I would like to point out that the total expenditure on
all the monuments that I have built during my tenure in honour of
various Dalit icons did not work out to more than one per cent of my
government's annual budget."

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[ZESTCaste] The four challenges Mayawati has thrown at us in Noida

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/the-four-challenges-mayawati-has-thrown-at-us-in-noida-108558.html

The four challenges Mayawati has thrown at us in Noida

R Jagannathan Oct 15, 2011

The inauguration of the Rs 685 crore, state-funded Rashtriya Dalit
Prerna Sthal in Noida by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on
Friday has been misread by almost all analysts.

The focus of the attacks on Mayawati have been on the size of
expenditure involved and use of state funds for a private political
project. But in Dalit politics, this is almost a non-issue. More
important is the symbolism and challenges it throws up for Indian
politics and society.

Mayawati has flung four challenges at us – and at herself – by
inaugurating her 84-acre memorial.

Challenge No 1 is her not-so-covert attempt to make neo-Buddhism a key
state project, overturning the general neutrality of the state in
religious projects.

The 84-acre Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden is not exactly a
religious shrine funded by the state – though there is a Buddha statue
and we heard lots of Buddhist chanting in Friday's ceremony – but the
84-acre Dalit heroes memorial and garden is reminiscent of kings of
yore building triumphant temples and mosques to mark their victories
and glory.

As Kancha Ilaiah, a Dalit writer said at a TV show the other night,
the Sthal is Mayawati's attempt to challenge the Hindu caste system
and ethos pervading Uttar Pradesh (Ayodhya, Kashi, Varanasi) and paint
it in Buddhist hue.

Challenge No 2 is the clear political goal of Mayawati: Delhi next. Of
course, she still has the Uttar Pradesh elections to win next year,
but the key to that election lies in raising Dalit sights further,
since her performance in the state has – at best – been patchy.
Raising the stakes helps her flock focus on bigger things instead of
the non-delivery of any significant improvement in their lives.

Anything Mayawati does is done kingsize. Naresh Sharma

The symbolism of the Sthal is also in its location. Noida overlooks
Delhi and is part of the National Capital Region. The location of the
Ambedkar park here is indication of Mayawati's way of saying: "My eyes
are on Delhi."

The Sthal, which hosts 15 statues of Dalit icons BR Ambedkar, Jyotirao
Phule and Kanshi Ram apart from Mayawati herself, is a symbol of the
Dalit challenge to the current caste dispensation.

Mayawati's speeches also reflected the same aggression. She castigated
Sonia Gandhi for refusing to help her with her CBI cases. She
pre-empted the possibility of the Congress placing a Dalit like Meira
Kumar in the top job just to fools Dalits. She blasted LK Advani for
not starting his anti-corruption yatra in Karnataka, scene of a major
illegal mining scam.

Challenge No 3 is shock and awe. Anything Mayawati does is done
kingsize. She makes no bones about the size of her birthday cake. She
wants expensive cars in her cavalcade. And she is brazen about her use
of state funds for party and private purposes – as the erection of 20
statues of her party's election symbol – the elephant – in Noida and
other Ambedkar parks in Uttar Pradesh suggest.

If any other party had done the same thing, there would have been a
hue and cry. Sure, parties opposing Mayawati have indeed kicked up a
fuss about it. But this is precisely what she wants. When everyone
attacks her, the Dalits have no option but to support her.

For Narendra Modi in Gujarat, the more the opposition attacks him
personally, the more he consolidates his Hindu vote. This is what Maya
is counting on with the Dalit vote, in which Rahul Gandhi is trying to
make a dent.

By doing things of huge scale, she is also trying to overawe her Dalit
vote and project power – which may go down well with the powerless. To
the disempowered Dalit, the fact that Mayawati can cock a snook at her
detractors among the upper castes is a matter of pride, not regret.

Challenge No 4 is her political caste combo. The Mayawati coalition is
the exact inverse of the Congress coalition before the Babri-Ram
Janmabhoomi agitation. The old Congress had the upper castes leading a
Dalit and minority combo. Mayawati is going for the same combo with
the Dalit on top and Brahmins playing second fiddle in Uttar Pradesh.

The hard act to follow is how she is going to attract the Muslim vote
– or even retain the Brahmin and upper caste vote. The Buddha's main
focus of attack was a Brahminical system gone berserk in his time. But
the overt return to the Buddha through Ambedkarite neo-Buddhism is not
going to be easy to pull off in her current coalition. Neither
Brahmins nor Muslims will be comfortable with this assertion.

But she is trying nevertheless.

In a few months time we will know if her strategy works. But no one
can accuse her of pusillanimity.


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[ZESTCaste] Video news report: Dalits can't enter MP CM's village temple

 

Dalits can't enter MP CM's village temple -IBNLive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8mkMtRiuMU

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[ZESTCaste] Cong may name Dalit Prime Minister ahead of polls: Maya

 

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Cong-may-name-Dalit-Prime-Minister-ahead-of-polls-Maya/Article1-757373.aspx

Cong may name Dalit Prime Minister ahead of polls: Maya
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, October 14, 2011

Unveiling an 84-acre grand memorial dedicated to Dalit icons BR
Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule and Kanshi Ram in Noida on Friday, UP chief
minister Mayawati claimed the Congress could
temporarily install a Dalit like Meira Kumar or Sushil Kumar Shinde as
Prime Minister before assembly polls in the state next year to
hoodwink the community and deflect attention from the 2G scam.

She, however, was confident that Dalits - 21% of UP's population -
would only vote for her.

"Out of fear of the BSP, it is possible the Congress may make Meira
Kumar or Sushil Kumar Shinde prime minister for some time," Mayawati
said.

Mayawati said the Congress had not made Kumar's father Jagjiwan Ram
Prime Minister "because he was a Dalit", but may now put a Dalit in
the top post "with a heavy heart".

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh responded to this: "Dr Manmohan Singh
is an honest Prime Minister and there is no vacancy in the Prime
Minister's post at present."

Mayawati also said that despite ruling UP for 38 years, the Congress
did nothing for its poor.

Pointing out that it was the Congress that worked for Dalits, Singh
said, "If memorials are built in memory of Dalit leaders, we are
happy. But one doesn't understand Mayawati erecting her own statue and
also garlanding it. From Nehru, Indira Gandhi to Sonia Gandhi, we have
all worked for Dalits. We gave them reservation. But she does vote
bank politics."

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been attempting to recapture this
vote, once a mainstay of the Congress' rainbow coalition of upper
castes, Dalits and Muslims.

Defending the Rs 685-crore Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal, Mayawati
pointed to memorials of "Congress leaders" west of the Yamuna and said
the majority of the cost for the memorial built by her came from
donations.

She also accused the Centre of "misusing" the CBI to implicate her in
corruption cases, claiming Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had in 2003
promised her "justice" in the disproportionate assets case if the
party returned to power but did not "keep her promise".

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[ZESTCaste] ‘Dalit icons not honoured, so BSP doing task’

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/noida/Dalit-icons-not-honoured-so-BSP-doing-task/articleshow/10360944.cms

'Dalit icons not honoured, so BSP doing task'
Ayesha Arvind & Vandana Keelor, TNN | Oct 15, 2011, 04.13AM IST

NOIDA: Inaugurating Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden in sector 95
on Friday, Mayawati delivered a lengthy speech that was clearly aimed
at the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh early next year. The chief
minister spent a good 40 minutes addressing the audience, using every
opportunity to take on the Congress and all other opposition parties.
She even challenged the Congress at one point, claiming that
irrespective of whatever antics it employs ahead of the 2012 assembly
elections or the 2014 Vidhan Sabha elections, "not a single Dalit
vote, either from UP or from any part of the country will go to it."

Mayawati began her speech by justifying the need for the ostentatious
park though there were several similar memorials in Lucknow, claiming
that it was the Congress party's sheer neglect of Dalit leaders that
prompted her in the first place to commemorate them. "This memorial is
for the many Dalits who now live in the capital and also for the
people of western UP who can't visit Lucknow," she said.

"The western banks of the Yamuna in Delhi are dotted with statutes and
memorials dedicated to Gandhi and Nehru families but there is nothing
to honour the memories of Dalit leaders like B R Ambedkar and Kanshi
Ram in spite of the fact that the latter died in Delhi," she said.
"Hence, the BSP has taken it upon itself to do the needful."

Mayawati said that contrary to reports, she had spent only one per
cent of the state budget on her dream projects. A majority of the
funds, she said, were mobilized from donations, adding that even that
one per cent amount would be recovered through ticket fees.

The chief minister lashed out at the Congress for doing little for the
poor that, according to her, had forced thousands of residents of UP
to migrate to other cities. Dubbing the Congress as an "anti-Dalit"
party, Mayawati blamed the Centre for failing to introduce quotas for
Muslims and the poor from upper castes. She targeted Congress
president Sonia Gandhi, alleging she had not kept her promise in the
disproportionate assets case. "When the BJP government at the Centre
ordered a CBI raid in 2003 at my residence and at the houses of my
aides and relatives, at a time when our leader Kanshi Ram was battling
for his life in a Delhi hospital, Congress president Sonia Gandhi had
called me to assure that when the Congress returned to power I would
be granted justice. But from 2004 till date, nothing of that sort had
happened," Mayawati said. The CM also attacked the central government
for not taking any decision on Poorvanchal, Harit Pradesh and
Bundelkhand.

Then she turned her guns on the BJP. Alleging that the BJP was
misusing CBI to its advantage, Mayawati commented tongue-in-cheek that
L K Advani's rathyatra should have begun from Karnataka.


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[ZESTCaste] Cong hits back at Mayawati for misusing dalit card

 

http://zeenews.india.com/news/uttar-pradesh/cong-hits-back-at-mayawati-for-misusing-dalit-card_736648.html

Cong hits back at Mayawati for misusing dalit card
Last Updated: Friday, October 14, 2011, 23:42

New Delhi: Congress on Friday hit back at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Mayawati accusing her of massive corruption by resorting to politics
of dalit votes.

Party General Secretary Digvijay Singh told reporters that the UP
Chief Minister is only involved in "self upliftment" while Congress
has strived for adivasis, dalits and weaker sections.

"Every prime property in Lucknow is that of Mayawati... What she does,
how she is acquiring these properties, she should tell us," Singh, a
critic of the UP Chief Minister, said.

Singh also made it clear that Congress has no intentions of replacing
Manmohan Singh from the prime ministerial post.

"Dr Manmohan Singh is an honest leader, the post is not vacant so
where is the question for another PM?" he asked.

The Congress leader said this in response to Mayawati's statement that
Congress could make either Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar or Union
Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde as Prime Minister to split the dalit vote
ahead of the UP polls.

Insisting that Mayawati has resorted to only wastage of money, he
alleged, "Government of India has given her Rs 2.5 lakh crores, but
she has spent all this in constructing parks, elephants and statues."

"It is squandering of the tax payers money, the hard earned money was
spent on constructing statues of her parents. If she wanted to do so
she should have spent her own money and not that of the exchequer," he
said.

PTI

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit memorial: Cong, BJP attack Maya for wasting public money

 

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/dalit-memorial-cong-bjp-attack-maya-for-wasting-public-money/860278/

Dalit memorial: Cong, BJP attack Maya for wasting public money
Agencies Posted online: Sat Oct 15 2011, 10:15 hrs
New Delhi : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today came under
severe attack from both the Congress and the BJP for wasting public
money worth crores in parks and statues.

While Congress said the hard earned money of the public was being
wasted by her in "constructing statues of her parents", the BJP said
the people of the state would raise their voice against this wasteful
expenditure and give her a befitting reply in the next Assembly
elections.

"It is squandering of the tax payers money, the hard earned money was
spent on constructing statues of her parents. If she wanted to do so
she should have spent her own money and not that of the exchequer,"
Congress leader Digvijay Singh said.

He added that Mayawati has resorted to wastage of money, as
"Government of India has given her Rs 2.50 lakh crores but she has
spent all this in constructing parks, elephants and statues."

On the other hand, BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the people of the
state will surely give a befitting reply to her in the forthcoming
polls for "misuse" of public money.

"In democracy, if you say that you can spend the money as per your
wishes, the people of the country will certainly raise their voice
somewhere. I think the people of the state will surely give a
befitting reply to Mayawati in the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh polls,"
Rudy said.

He also wondered how this Rs 650 crore splurge is being done in
violation of the Supreme Court directions. He said that thousands of
crores splurged on parks belonged to the people of Uttar Pradesh.

"We are very amused that the system could hoodwink the highest court
of the land to undertake this splurge. We still wonder how it
happened. At the end of the day it is public money. The government has
lost all accountability."

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit candidates threaten to withdraw from contest

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/article2538078.ece

MADURAI, October 15, 2011
Dalit candidates threaten to withdraw from contest
D. Karthikeyan

The four candidates who are contesting for the Keeripatti panchayat
president post. (from left) B.Chinnasamy, P. Palani, N. Subban and
A.Subban.
Photo: G. Moorthy The four candidates who are contesting for the
Keeripatti panchayat president post. (from left) B.Chinnasamy, P.
Palani, N. Subban and A.Subban.

Four candidates who are contesting for the post of panchayat president
in Keeripatti coming under Usilampatti taluk have threatened to
withdraw from the contest alleging undemocratic practices followed by
caste Hindus in the village.

Keeripatti is one among the four reserved panchayats, the others being
Pappapatti and Nattarmangalam in Madurai district and Kottakachiendal
in Virudhunagar district, which saw severe opposition from the
dominant castes to conduct elections, and when held the Dalits were
asked to resign, thus making a mockery of democracy.

However, concerted efforts during the previous DMK government saw the
restoration of a democratic setup in these panchayats.

The Hindu carried a news item on September 29 stating that the
situation is dicey in Keeripatti after dominant caste members called
for an 'oor (village) panchayat' (an assembly of elders, wealthy and
influential persons, mostly belonging to the predominant caste group)
and chose A. Mokkakaalai (33), a conservancy worker, as candidate.
For lineage god

This being the situation, on Friday, they again called for an 'oor
panchayat' meeting for which Mokkakaalai, the candidate chosen by the
Piramalai Kallars, was seen beating the 'thamukku' (traditional drum)
to announce the meeting.

The villagers said that the meeting which took place from 6.30 a.m.
till 7.00 a.m. saw the Piramalai Kallars make promises and take vows
on flames of camphor to their lineage god Vangaru Thevar Samy that
they will not vote for others but only Mokkakaalai.

It was also said that people who voted for others would be ostracised
from the village. The Dalit candidate Mokkakalai fielded by the
Kallars have been assured of three sovereigns of gold and Rs.1 lakh in
cash if he wins the election.

The Dalit candidates, B. Chinnasamy (35), N. Subban (50), P. Palani
(41) and A. Subban (55), told The Hindu that the administration was
biased towards caste Hindus. Higher officials, including the Collector
and Revenue Divisional Officer, did not visit the Dalit areas in the
village to hear their grievances but only met the caste Hindus.

They also alleged that the policemen who accompanied the candidate, M.
Baluchamy, during the campaign were the kinsmen of villagers and it
was nothing but mere tokenism on the part of the administration. The
other Dalit candidates have not been able to campaign at the caste
Hindu areas.

"Once the election is over, we all could be under threat as there is a
precedence of the entire village ostracising Dalits who disobey the
prevailing practices," said A. Subban. They urged the State Election
Commission (SEC) to either postpone the elections or ensure proper
security and allow them to campaign and conduct the elections in a
democratic manner.

A. Kathir, Executive Director, Evidence, said that there was no doubt
that there existed a kind of uncertainty in Keeripatti over the
realisation of empowerment of Dalits, which was one of the declared
objectives of decentralisation of power. The SEC should take stringent
measures to restore democracy in its fullest form.


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[ZESTCaste] Spare schools from strike: MRPS

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Spare-schools-from-strike-MRPS/articleshow/10361887.cms

Spare schools from strike: MRPS
TNN | Oct 15, 2011, 06.32AM IST

HYDERABAD: Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti chief Manda Krishna Madiga
on Friday threatened to go an indefinite fast demanding exemption to
government schools and colleges from the strike as students from the
weaker sections were suffering the most.

Addressing a dharna at Indira Park, he questioned the wisdome of TRS
and political JAC in forcing only government schools and colleges to
close when private and corporate colleges continued with their
classes. He urged people to see the clandestine understanding between
TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, the liquor mafia and the movie
industry. "Is there any logic in closing down government schools, when
cinema halls and liquor shops are allowed to function freely? These
two sectors fetch government a lot of revenue. KCR and Kodandaram must
come out with answers to these questions. The poor students in
government schools are not only being deprived of their mid-day meals,
but education. It is strange that the school in which KCR's grandson
studies is not closed during the Sakala Janula Samme, but all other
schools that have a state syllabus (SSC) are being asked to close," he
pointed out.

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