Big players in the state polity have chosen to be either disturbingly silent or reticent on the attack of Dalits ahead of the election year
DMK president M. Karunanidhi
Chennai: The attack on Dalits at Seshasamudram has exposed the doublespeak of the political mainstream. Big players in the state polity have chosen to be either disturbingly silent or reticent on the attack of Dalits ahead of the election year.
Otherwise a champion of Dalit cause who claims credit at every opportunity for providing three per cent compartmental reservation for Arundathiyars during his tenure, DMK president M. Karunanidhi is yet to speak on Seshasamudram violence perpetrated allegedly by Vanniyars. Even his party treasurer-son M.K. Stalin who posts messages on almost all issues on his Facebook page daily has been unusually silent on the issue that has happened in Vanniyar dominated northern TN.
DMK’s political rival, ruling AIADMK is equally guarded with Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa treating the incident as a “clash between two communities” and announcing Rs 50,000 each solatium to 11 injured government officials, mostly policemen who went there to ‘restore peace’.
Vanniyar backed PMK founder Dr Ramadoss, who, unsurprisingly, empathised with his community people arrested for setting Dalit houses on fire, has meticulously avoided even a mention of the term Vanniyar in his statement. He chose to broadly describe the arrested Vanniyars as “most backward classes” and merely sought action against police for harassing MBC women and children.
Predictably, the two Left parties were first to react to the attack. Both State secretaries of the two Left parties sought action against the attackers (of Dalits). VCK leader Thirumavalavan, who is busy celebrating his 53rd birthday, was content with issuing a condemnatory statement besides a rabble-rousing speech at the “uprising day” meeting of the party in the city on Monday.
As regards Vijayakanth’s DMDK, whose panchayat president Subramani is wanted for fuelling the clash, the less said the better. MDMK Vaiko is also among a few leaders who had condemned the attack and appealed for communal harmony.
No party has either recalled similar attacks on Dalits in the recent past or attempted to trace the root cause of such recurring caste conflicts or rather targeted attack on Dalits thus far. The determination showed in attacking the PMK and expression of solidarity with the Dalits during the infamous Marakkanam and Nayakkankotai attacks (on Dalits) are visibly lacking in Seshasamudram. Apparently, there could be only one reason for the purported silence or mellowed down opposition to the attack on Dalits -2016 Assembly polls in which they (would) want caste polarisation to be a vote-getter like in the past.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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