NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Shoot-at-sight orders issued to end TN caste clashes

Our Correspondent in Cuddalore

With Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi declaring the state government's intention to come down heavily on caste mobs holding the public to ransom, authorities in Cuddalore and Perambalur districts have issued shoot-at-sight orders to end the clashes that have been recurring for the past three days.

Karunanidhi made his declaration to mediamen at Tiruchi, not very far away from Perambalur. "If road roko agitators in the state thought they would be arrested and then let off, then they are in for a big disappointment," he said. "The government will come down heavily on them, and take stringent measures against agitators who block traffic, burn buses and place hurdles in the normal life of citizens," he added.

Earlier, he also came down on caste parties and their leaders. Addressing a function at neighbouring Karur, he urged the people to ignore casteist parties and leaders, who did do no good for the people. The reference was obviously to his Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's Pattal Makkal Katchi ally, whose Vanniar community base has been a source of irritation to the ruling party. The Dalit-Vanniar conflict has provoked most of the caste clashes in the state's northern districts.

It was so over the weekend, too. In both Cuddalore and Perambalur districts, both communities clashed at the village level, with the affected castes in individual cases resorting to road blockades, and setting fire to public and private property, alike. The police too were not spared, and some policemen and revenue officials were hospitalised with injuries suffered in stone-throwing incidents.

The history of Dalit-Vanniar clashes goes back in time, with the most violent of them rocking neighbouring Villuppuram district in the seventies. It was a social issue involving the depressed sections and the intermediary caste, when untouchability was is in vogue -- it still is. It has taken an economic angle, too, with reservations giving the former an edge.

If the Vanniars asserted their supremacy with the advent of the Vanniar Sangam, following it up with the PMK, which has since shed most of its initial militancy, the depressed sections in the northern districts have come under the banner of the militant Dalit Panthers, a socio-political organisation. The Dalit Panthers have been motivated by the success of the pro-Dalit Puthiya Thamizhagam in the southern districts.

However, district-level authorities say the administrative ambiguity of the political masters of the day has been one problem in handling what essentially is a law and order situation. "No government wants the Dalits feeling hurt, even if they are in the wrong, and are violent in some cases. Likewise, no government wants the Vanniars feeling neglected, not when the PMK has a major electoral role to play in the northern districts. Such ambiguities have led to situations where the authorities at the lower levels have been forced to combat these issues with their hands tied to the back," says a senior official.

Now, he hopes, the chief minister's assertive direction should help matters. "While both the police and administrative set-ups have been affected by casteism down the lline, there is now need for a non-partisan political and administrative approach to ending the law and order part of the problem. As for the socio-political issues, they have to be handled at a different level, without confusing them with the law and order question, or vice versa."

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report