SOCIAL ISSUES
Caste divide
S. DORAIRAJ
Tensions run high within the Christian community in Thachur village,
and the government has adopted a hands-off approach for now.
A. MURALITHARAN
The Roman Catholic church at Thachur village.
THE wrinkles on S. Royappan's face are a result of advancing age, but
the ridges and furrows in them tell a story of humiliation of this
Dalit Christian, as also others like him. Royappan, 82, was a bonded
labourer, or padiyaal, in Thachur village in Tamil Nadu's Kancheepuram
district, but it is the 'bond' with the Roman Catholic church in the
village that remains vivid in his memory.
The 175-year-old Arockiya Matha (Our Lady of Health) church has a
chequered history, and the most recent additions to it may have the
potential to be a turning point for Dalit Christians in the village.
The events were the burials of two Dalit Christians in the cemetery
attached to the church and the opposition to them by upper-caste
Reddiar Christians, who claim the cemetery is only for their dead. The
Reddiars' behaviour failed to unnerve Royappan, though; he had seen
worse.
An eerie silence pervades Thachur, and most of the men of Reddiar
families stayed away from the village for several days fearing police
action. The Dalits in the village had overcome stiff resistance from
the Reddiars and asserted their right twice in January when they
buried the brother of a Dalit priest and a Dalit farm worker in the
cemetery. The priest's brother, Velankanni, had died of natural causes
on January 22, but the farm worker, Rajendran, was murdered; his body
was retrieved from the lake in the village on January 24.
A. MURALITHARAN
THE CEMETERY IN the church compound. All along, "upper-caste"
Christians have resisted Dalit Christians' attempts to bury their dead
here.
The full import of the development in Thachur, a predominantly
Christian village around 80 km from Chennai, can be understood only by
delving into the past.
Though the church building was constructed in 1922, the village is
considered to be one of the oldest parishes in the State because the
first Christians here arrived in 1836. The parish was then under the
Pondicherry-Cuddalore diocese. In 1969, it came under the
Madras-Mylapore diocese and moved to the Chengalpattu diocese created
in 2002.
The population comprises Reddiars, who migrated from Andhra Pradesh,
and Dalits, including Adi Dravidars and Arunthathiars. Though almost
all of them are Christian converts, a sharp division existed right
from the beginning on the basis of socio-economic disparity. Varna
vyavastha (caste hierarchy), which is deeply rooted in Hinduism, has
been absorbed by the converts and this has deepened the hiatus
further.
Fr John Suresh, a priest who is also the director of the Chengalpattu
Rural Development Society, said the cross-shaped church enabled the
upper-caste Christians to occupy the centre, while the sides were
earmarked for the Adi Dravidars and the Arunthathiars. The
administration of the parish was under the control of a team of
dharmakartas (trustees) belonging to the Reddiar caste. The Dalits
were denied a role even in the day-to-day affairs of the church, not
to speak of its administration. They could not assume the role of
readers or lectors at Mass. They challenged this decades-old
discrimination in the 1990s. The protracted legal battle resulted in
the closure of the church for over 10 years until a path-breaking
tripartite agreement was reached in November 2006.
But caste discrimination even in death continues in Thachur. The
village has three cemeteries, one for each group. The one inside the
church complex is claimed by the Reddiars, while the other two groups
have theirs on the outskirts of the village.
A. MURALITHARAN
The site in the cemetery where Velankanni, brother of a Dalit priest,
was buried overcoming "upper-caste" opposition.
The Dalits' struggle drew support from some political parties,
including the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and organisations
such as the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF), the
Dalit Human Rights Centre, and the Chengalpattu Rural Development
Society, which work for the welfare of oppressed people.
According to Bharathi Anna, convener of the Kancheepuram district unit
of the TNUEF, even today the vast stretches of fertile land on the
Palar river bed belong to the Reddiars. The majority of the Dalits
work in these fields. A few of them are marginal farmers and a
minuscule number have government jobs. Though a sizable number of
upper-caste Christians have migrated to urban areas, including
Chennai, they continue to own land in the village.
Reddiars, Adi Dravidars and Arunthathiars reside in different
localities in the village. Most of the Dalits continue to be farmhands
though the padiyaal system has by and large vanished. A good number of
them have become construction workers, while some Dalit youth have
entered the portals of higher education.
However, the Reddiars have been reluctant to relax their grip over the
administration of the church. Royappan and several other residents of
the village narrated the treatment meted out to them and others. There
was a time when the padiyaals were flogged with tamarind twigs or tied
to the wheel of a moving bullock cart as punishment. The Dalits
employed by Reddiars had to drink water and gruel poured into their
cupped hands. Such practices continued in the feudal society for long.
With some parish priests initiating steps to democratise the
administration of the church, besides striving for the economic
independence of the oppressed people, Dalit Christians slowly started
raising their voice against discriminatory practices, said Fr John
Suresh. As a result, the priests incurred the wrath of the upper-caste
Christians. Some of them were even assaulted, alleged Fr John Suresh.
In another incident at R.N. Kandigai village under the same diocese in
1995, a parish priest who was seen to be pro-Dalit was manhandled by
upper-caste Christians with a view to hindering his priestly duties.
The church was closed indefinitely by the Archdiocesan authorities.
Recalling the legal battle in the local courts, L. Yesumarian,
director of the Chengalpattu-based Dalit Human Rights Centre, said
upper-caste Christians had set the ball rolling in 1995 by filing a
case against a change in the route of the procession of Mother Mary as
part of the parish's feast celebrations. They said the car procession
should take the "customary route", that is, it should not pass through
the Dalit localities.
A. MURALITHARAN
THE CEMETERY OF the Adi Dravidar (Dalit) Christians on the outskirts
of the village.
The next case was filed by the same group a couple of years later,
seeking the transfer of the then parish priest, Fr K.M. Joseph, a
Malayalee, and the appointment of a priest who had knowledge of Tamil
and Telugu. In turn, Fr Joseph filed a case seeking a direction that
the parish priest would be the sole authority to administer the parish
and to decide the mode of celebrations. In the same year, the Reddiars
filed a defamation case against the Adi Dravidars. In 1999, the Adi
Dravidars filed a case pleading for orders not to open the church
until the suits in the courts between the parishioners were settled
and decided.
When the legal battle was on, the Dalit Christians carried on
different forms of agitation demanding a due share in the
administration of the parish. They also called for steps to end the
caste-based discrimination in the church and in the village. The
control over the land belonging to the church also became a
contentious issue.
Sustained struggles by the Dalits of Thachur resulted in the agreement
of November 28, 2006, signed by representatives of Reddiars, Dalits
and the diocese in the presence of officials of the Revenue
Department.
The 12-point agreement laid down that all Christian groups in the
parish should accept the authority of the bishop of Chengalpattu
diocese and of the parish priest appointed by him as per Canon Law.
The annual festival of the parish, it said, should be held with the
involvement of all members of the parish under the direct supervision
of the bishop. It also said all the groups should maintain unity to
ensure that the car procession passed through all the habitations in
the village.
The accord urged the parties concerned to abide by the diocese's
decision on the issue pertaining to church land. All the places of
worship and movable and immovable properties within the parish's
jurisdiction should be brought under the administration of the diocese
and the direct supervision of the bishop, it said. It also provided
for the setting up of a parish council with elected representatives
and for the appointment of pious groups.
Above all, all stakeholders agreed that acts of caste discrimination
in the church or its administration would not be allowed. All the
groups were advised to withdraw the cases pending before various
courts. It was also agreed that the Sunday evening Mass would be in
Telugu, while on other days it would be in Tamil.
BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
A ROAD-ROKO AGITATION by Dalit Christians in the village demanding the
arrest of the killers of Rajendran, a Dalit farm worker.
Only a few of the provisions, such as the car procession being taken
to all the areas in the village, were implemented without any major
impediment, said residents. However, caste animosity continued to
haunt Thachur. Particularly, the Dalits were not allowed to use the
cemetery in the church complex to bury their dead. The Reddiars ended
their dependence on the local parish priests to perform rituals by
bringing Telugu-speaking priests from other dioceses.
The Dalits were biding their time to break this barrier; a couple of
attempts they made earlier had failed. But Velankanni, they decided,
would be buried inside the church complex. They faced stiff resistance
from the Reddiars while conducting the funeral mass and burying the
body. At one stage, the Reddiars even locked the gate of the church,
Bharathi Anna said. He added that the incident occurred even as the
CPI(M) MLA G. Latha and other leaders were consoling the relatives of
the deceased.
Rajendran, the Dalit farm worker, assisted the family members of
Velankanni in digging the grave. He was found murdered a couple of
days later. The police initially filed a "man missing" case but later,
on the basis of the post-mortem report, changed it to one of murder.
Dalit Christians staged a road-roko protest in the village demanding
the arrest of those involved. The police said they had arrested a few
persons in the case.
Such acts of discrimination against Dalit Christians exist in several
other villages, including M.N. Kandigai, R.N. Kandigai and K.K. Pudur
under the Chengalpattu diocese, said Fr Yesumarian. According to him,
in many villages dominated by Telugu-speaking upper-caste Christians,
language has been used as camouflage to continue with the
discrimination against Dalits.
"Though there are as many as 20 priests, 60 nuns and three bishops
belonging to the Reddiar caste in Thachur, none of them cares to
explain to their own caste members that they should not violate the
Canon Law," he said.
Arunthathiars in these villages are virtually caught in the crossfire
between Adi Dravidars and upper-caste Christians. "One group has
muscle power and the other has money power. We are powerless. We find
no other course but to maintain equidistance in the given situation as
we depend on the rich farmers in the Reddiar community," lamented a
resident of the Arunthathiar habitation in Thachur.
Reddiar Christians of Thachur deny all the allegations against them.
They only want to protect their rights as a linguistic minority, a
spokesman of the Reddiars said, adding that Dalits were being
instigated by some priests belonging to the oppressed community.
Regarding the November 2006 agreement, he said, some Reddiars had
signed it without the consent of others. Denying any caste-based
discrimination against Dalits, he said the Reddiars would demand an
independent probe into the recent untoward incidents in the village.
Official sources say that the government wants to adopt a cautious
approach to the sensitive issue. The district administration has taken
steps to ensure law and order in the village. Though the government
may intend to evolve a consensus among the contending groups of the
same religion, it will not impose any remedy, as it may become
counterproductive, say official sources.
Any attempt by any group or section of people to promote
untouchability is highly condemnable, said Fr A. Vincent Chinnadurai,
Chairman of the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Minorities. The
commission would extend all assistance to restore normalcy in that
village, he added.
The emergence of the Dalit Christian Movement and the Dalit Christian
Liberation Movement and the support extended to them by secular and
democratic forces have raised the hopes of Dalit Christians that they
will win the relentless battle against caste-based discrimination in
various denominations of Christianity, said activists of these
movements.
Dalit Christians constitute more than 70 per cent of the Christian
population in Tamil Nadu. Their sustained campaign, with the support
of the secular and democratic forces, resulted in the 10-point
programme charted by the Tamil Nadu Bishops' Council in 1990 for the
integrated development of Dalit Catholics, they pointed out. After
evaluating the implementation of the programme in 2003, it was further
pruned for focussed action, they said.
However, the different forms of discrimination, such as the violence
against Dalit Christians in Erayur in Villupuram district in March
2008, the attempts to preserve the dividing wall in the cemetery in
Melapudur, the construction of churches with a design to maintain the
caste hierarchy, as in Thachur and several other places, still
continue, the activists pointed out. This underscores the fact that
the struggle has to be intensified, they added.
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