Friday, Mar 29, 2002
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Tamil Nadu
By R. Ilangovan
This move has not only ensured participation by the oppressed in the exercise of grass roots democracy but forced the Piramalai Kallars to `select' Dalit candidates of their own, making them climb down from their earlier stance of `no poll till dereservation.' They have been denying the Dalits the rights for the last seven years. ``Our objective is to break their hold over the Dalits. We have succeeded in our endeavour,'' said one of the DPI's senior leaders who accompanied the candidates. Subban, who filed his papers for Pappapatti at the behest of the DPI, is an AIADMK cardholder. ``We never worried about his party affiliation. We just confirmed whether he was an eligible Dalit of Pappapatti to contest,'' he added. But the DPI failed to identify candidates for the Nattamangalam panchayat in Madurai district and Kottakatchiendal in Virudhunagar district. Had the State Election Commission extended the last date for nominations, the party would have identified nominees, said the spokesman. ``Unfortunately, we ran short of time,'' he said.
Celebrations at Nattamangalam
The villagers of Nattamangalam, on the contrary, celebrated non-filing of nominations. A Dalit youth of Nattamangalam, speaking to The Hindu said that on Wednesday, last date for filing of nominations, a warning was issued to the Dalits over the public address system against filing papers. Also one man from each caste Hindu house was asked to assemble in front of the Chellampatti union office to prevent any Dalit who dared to file his nomination. The Nattamangalam Dalits said the announcement was made right in the presence of policemen who were posted in the village for security. They complained that police presence was negligible in the Dalit areas. They were also sore over the approach of the Madurai Collector who `spent just two minutes' in Dalit areas to seek their cooperation in the conduct of the polls. Incidentally, the Nattamangalam panchayat had a Dalit president in the early 1970s. The district administration, according to the DPI leader, Sakthivel, was reluctant to provide security to the candidates. ``In fact, we asked the Collector to permit us to file papers in Madurai itself as the situation at Chellampatti and Usilampatti was tense.'' After initial reluctance, the administration provided security, he said.
Uneasy calm at Pappapatti
Meanwhile, Women's Collective, which has been working amid the Dalits of Keeripatti, claimed that an uneasy calm prevailed at Pappapatti and Keeripatti following the filing of nominations for elections there. About 100 men and women assembled in front of the Usilampatti union office today to register their protest against the state, which is refusing to `dereserve' the village panchayat. Dalit youth already left the villages in fear, said the convener of the organisation, Kameshwari. In another development, all six nominations, filed for the Pappapatti and Keeripatti panchayats, were found valid. Scrutiny was taken up at the union offices today. Three candidates each filed papers for the elections for the post of village president.
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