Even as the week-long stand-off between the Dalits and caste Hindus at Vedaranyam in Nagapattinam district over holding of the annual festival in the Sree Bhadrakali Amman Koil Temple continued unabated, the district administration late on Saturday night declared that the festival which was to begin on August 8 has been cancelled.
“In order to maintain law and order in the area, the district administration has decided to cancel the Bhadrakali Amman Temple festival. let the issue be sorted out by the Court,” S Palanisamy, district collector, Nagapattinam told the media after the three-hour long peace meeting convened by Tamil Nadu Minister OS Manian failed to sort out the issue.
“We told the authorities that if we are denied the right to conduct a day’s festival, the 200 Dalit families in the village would embrace Islam. There is no meaning in continuing to suffer the humiliation and discrimination by the caste Hindus,” said Ramani, a local Dalit leader who took part in the peace meeting.
The impasse arose following the stance of the caste Hindus that the Dalits would not be allowed to hold a day’s festival during the annual temple festival. Though Rama Ravi Kumar, general secretary of Hindu Makkal Katchi, a political outfit, has been camping at Vedaranyam since the news broke out, he could not make much leeway in his discussions with the Dalit leaders.
“A solution is possible and we are working for it. A meeting between leaders of the communities have been convened fro Sunday evening and we are confident of resolving the differences. The officials have not been helpful,” said Ravi Kumar.
Representatives of Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamat, who rushed to the village following SOS messages sent by the Dalits, said they would stand by the latter in any emergencies. “Though they wanted to convert to Islam, we restrained them from taking hasty decision and asked them to learn the basics of Islam before taking any drastic action,” said Mohammed Yousuf Shamsu lluha, president, managing committee, TNTJ. He said six families have been already converted to Islam while others are undergoing crash lessons in Quran.
In a related development, Mannargudi Shendalangaara Sampathkumara Ramanuja Jeeyar, head of the Ramanuja Jeeyar Mutt, a Vaishnavite organisation, had made a sporting offer to the Dalit families.
“We will convert all the Dalits into Sree Vaishnavism, which will elevate them to the apex position in caste hierarchy. Once they are converted into Sree Vaishnavites, they have to live by the laws formulated by Ramanujacharya, the first person in the country who stood against casteism and untouchability,” said the Mutt head.
The Dalit unrest is spreading to other places in Tamil Nadu. Saturday saw Dalits staging a march to Draupadi Amman Koil in Villupuram district following the refusal of caste Hindus to the Dalits to stage the temple festival. The temple has been locked for the time being.
Independent observers are of the view that the discontentment among the Dalits is because of one-up-man ship played between Hindu Munnani and Hindu Makkal Katchi, organisations which are loggerheads at each other. The BJP, for its part, has asked the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to take immediate action to resolve the Dalit issue.
Interestingly, the intelligence wing, said it was yet to find out the real forces behind the agitation though it is reported that VCK, the Dalit outfit is spearheading the agitation.