Annihilation of Caste has Hit Walls in Tamil Nadu

“The best tool to destroy the caste system is self-respect,” said Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, the social reformer from Tamil Nadu who lived in the last century. But in the very land where he led a strident movement to erase caste, came up yet another ‘caste wall’, a couple of months back, that segregated one community from others. However, it had only a short life as it was demolished early last month.

The dramatic turn of events occurred at Muthaladampatti village in Karur district of Tamil Nadu. It was built, on a piece of government land, by the Thotta Naicker community, an intermediate caste which finds its place between the higher castes and the lower castes. In Tamil Nadu, it is listed among Other Backward Classes (OBCs). 

Though the construction of the wall was construed as a measure to prevent anti-social elements from entering the village, the members of the Dalit communities, especially the Scheduled Caste Arunthathiyars, refused to buy the argument. They saw it as a measure to prevent them from entering the village.

The existence of the ‘untouchability wall’ became a bone of contention. It came up on a plot of 1.25 acres of government land that was, for a long time, under the informal control of the Thotta Naickers, who used it for conducting functions and rituals during their festivals. 

The Dalits too had staked a claim to a portion of the plot where they wanted to build a common toilet and conduct programmes during their festivals. However, their demand was turned down by the intermediary caste; instead, the latter put up a 10-foot-high wall running for almost 200 feet.   

The Scheduled Caste people, historically marginalised and ostracised, saw it as a tactical move to prevent their entry into the village; it was seen as a blow to their dignity and self-respect.  According to reports, the village panchayat too had orally warned against the construction, but in vain.

As the protests picked up steam, several rounds of talks were held between the contending parties with government officials in mediation. As the talks reached nowhere, the Dalits held roadblocks and rallies.  

Meanwhile, the Revenue Divisional Officer of the area issued an eviction notice to the Thotta Naicker community leaders with an ultimatum of 15 days to remove the wall. With the government taking an unrelenting stand, the leaders of the community themselves dismantled the wall on August 9.

The wall has gone; even its foundation was washed away in the heavy rains on the day it was demolished. But the mental and emotional gulf between the two communities has widened. Police pickets continued in the area as an uneasy calm hung over the village.     

‘Caste walls’ galore 

The Hindi heartland has been notorious for caste discrimination but physical and caste-based social segregation and discrimination against the Dalits are the bane of both regions.

Over the years, caste walls have come up in various places in Tamil Nadu, despite being despised by sections of society and political parties. It is no coincidence that the seeds of such walls have always been sown by castes, one above the other.

Over two decades ago, a similar wall had come up at Uthapuram village in Madurai district. Yet another OBC community, Pillaimars, erected the 12-foot-high, 600-metre-long wall reportedly to keep out residents belonging to the Devandra Kula Vellalars, a Scheduled Caste community, from the Mariamman temple in the village. After persistent protests by the Dalits, the ‘wall of shame’ was partially demolished in 2008. Parts of the wall remain there, mocking the secular fabric of the nation.

Another example of building the ‘discriminatory wall’ came from Thokammur village in Tiruvallur district. According to reports, in 2016, a 7-foot-tall wall was built around a temple by a dominant caste to prevent the Dalits from entering the place. Though the builders of the wall came out with an alibi that it was built to save the area from floods, there were no buyers for the argument. Ultimately, after many rounds of negotiations and protests by the Dalits, the wall was demolished in 2022.

The ‘caste wall’ in Pudupatti village in Virudhunagar district came up allegedly for a different reason – to bar the Dalits in the village from using the public facilities available on the other side of the wall where upper caste people live. Dalits, many of whom are Christians, in the village have told the media that the wall was built in a single day, before anyone could object to it or protest against it. 

The Saliars, counted as an OBC community, who built the wall, claimed that the wall had been built on their land and not on government property. They maintained that it was built for the safety of their children who studied in the government-run school on their side of the wall. According to some reports, the wall came up after a Dalit boy married a girl from the other side of the wall.

Despite several protests and representation by various Dalit communities, the wall remains a mute spectator to the widening divide between the castes. Unlike the fate of similar walls that came up in other parts of the state, axe is yet to fall on this one. 

It is not always the upper castes who built walls to segregate the Dalits from the sight of others. A case in point was seen in Pannimadai village in Coimbatore district, where a real estate owner built a 10-foot-high wall blocking panchayat roads, a couple of years back. 

According to reports, he did it to block the view of the nearby Dalit colony, the presence of which would have made the colony he was developing less appealing to the prospective buyers. However, with the intervention of the revenue officials, the ‘wall that blocked an unwelcome view’ was demolished.  

Caste walls have also come up even to segregate farms, owned by caste Hindus, from colonies occupied by the Scheduled Castes. For instance, a nine-foot-high wall was built at Kalkandar Kottai in Trichy district to separate farm lands from colonies of Dalits. The farm owners reportedly claimed that they were selling the land to real estate developers, hence they wanted a wall separating it from nearby colonies.  

Tamil Nadu has seen the emergence of many social reformers who relentlessly fought against caste divisions. They were at the forefront of seeking caste equality, women's rights, eradication of social evils, rationalism and humanism. Yet, the State has witnessed, literally, the erection of caste walls, putting some of the most caste-ridden states in the Hindi heartland to shame. The Dravidian parties that rule the roost in the State have a lot to answer for this development.