Caste writ runs with the dogs in Thoothukudi

Discrimination seems to have taken a bizarre turn at Shanmugapuram village in Thoothukudi district. The dominant community, the Reddiyars, h...

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Discrimination seems to have taken a bizarre turn at Shanmugapuram village in Thoothukudi district. The dominant community, the Reddiyars, have allegedly issued a diktat, barring Dalits from ‘‘rearing male dogs’’. Their objection — such male dogs could mate with the female ones from the ‘‘chaste’’ Hindu colonies.

The Reddiyars will not accept charges of discrimination but are outraged that such reports have leaked out. The Dalits, of the Arundhathiyar community, are too scared to speak out.

The norm on dogs, however, is only the eccentric fringe of systematic discrimination practised in the village, according to a journal released by the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University (MSU). The journal, brought out by the Department of Communication, says Dalits are forbidden from keeping towels on their shoulders when they enter the upper caste streets.

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In schools, their children are seated separately, away from the students of the dominant caste. Some of them are allegedly also forced to work at their teachers’ houses after school hours.

M. Bharathan of Human Rights Kalam, Tirunelveli, came upon the ‘‘inhuman’’ discrimination against Dalits during a visit to the village, located in Ettayapuram taluk, in September. ‘‘The Dalits are illiterate and afraid to speak out against their masters. Things will change only if the Dalits are given education and opportunities to become economically self-dependent,’’ he said.

District secretary of the CPI(M) unit in Thoothukudi, P. Esakimuthu, said a group of members of the Democratic Youth Federation of India had visited the village recently and found several examples of discrimination against Dalits. The team didn’t know of a diktat against Dalits raising dogs; it did not find dogs in their colonies, though. Thoothukudi District Collector V. Chandrasekharan, however, dismissed the reports. ‘‘I don’t see prevalence of any such discrimination in Thoothukudi villages,’’ he said.

Shanmugapuram has about 50 Dalit (Arundhathiyars) and 150 Reddiyar families. The Dalits work as labourers in the Reddiyars’ lands and are dependent on the dominant castes for their livelihood. The Reddiyars, however, deny such reports, calling them imaginary and intended to tarnish the image of the village. The Dalits agree but make it clear they won’t talk to journalists. One of them even asked this reporter to leave the village immediately. A Reddiyar said mediapersons would not be allowed to visit the village.