|
About the
Author : Thol. Thirumaavalavan
Date of Birth
:
Place : Tamil Nadu
Books Published
: 2003
 Author :
Thol. Thirumaavalavan
Pages : 185
Publisher :
Samya
Prize : Rs.200 [In India] Abroad : $ 17 US
Book order via
mail
TALISMAN — Extreme
Emotions of Dalit Liberation: Thirumaavalavan; Translated into English from the
Tamil original by Meena Kandasamy, Pub. by Samya, an imprint of Bhatkal and Sen,
16, Southern Avenue, Kolkata-700026. Rs. 200.
THE 1990s witnessed a significant development in the socio-political history of
Tamil Nadu — the Dalit upsurge and the emergence of a new, militant Dalit
movement. This Dalit assertion of an unprecedented nature is seen as an offshoot
of the massive mobilisation of this oppressed section for the celebrations of
the birth centenary of the relentless fighter for their cause, B.R. Ambedkar.
That Dalits in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, who had all along been
silent victims of atrocities perpetrated by sections of people from the
predominant non-Dalit castes, were no more prepared to be at the receiving end,
became clear when they hit back with a vengeance in several areas. The backlash
soon spread to other regions, particularly the northern districts.
Thol. Thirumaavalavan is one of the two principal Dalit leaders with a
substantial mass base, who emerged from this movement of resistance, the other
one being K. Krishnasamy. Working in different regions they have been keeping
lakhs of Dalits, particularly the youth, under their charismatic spell.
Thirumaavalavan, besides being a forceful orator, has also proved himself as an
effective writer.
This work is a collection of 34 essays he wrote for a Tamil magazine during
2001-03. These insightful essays cover a whole range of subjects pertaining to
Tamil life, social, cultural, economic and political, besides highlighting the
plight of the Dalits, who have been victims of caste-based discrimination and
violence. The author's deep understanding of the crosscurrents at work in the
State politics is quite amazing.
From Dalit upsurge to "the resurgent Tamil nationalist sentiment", from the deep
fissures in the Dravidian movement to the vicious machinations of the Hindutva
forces, from the casteist atrocities against the Dalits to the cruel forays into
poor nations by the U.S. troops in the name of containing terrorism and from the
Presidential election to panchayat polls, Thirumaavalavan deals with almost
every incident or event in his essays.
The first essay "What rules the nation: law or casteism?" discusses the
challenge posed by casteist oppression to the civil society and calls for a
national debate on the issue. He explains how even the police, the state
administration and the judiciary are often indifferent to the plight of the
Dalits and turn a blind eye to the atrocities against them.
In fact, he says, the police themselves let loose a reign of terror against the
victims, under the pretext of maintaining law and order. "This way, innumerable
people of the cheri (where the segregated Dalits live, often outside the village
or town) suffer as refugees in their own land. They run from village to village.
But the manipulative administration takes no notice of them," he writes.
He gives an account of atrocities against the Dalits at different places on
various occasions, with elaborate, well-written, footnotes. Some more articles
are also there on violence against the Dalits. A couple of essays deal with the
Government's failure to hold panchayat president elections in four Dalit
villages, reserved for the Scheduled Castes, because no eligible person would
dare contest the elections against the wishes of the dominant caste Hindu
communities.
He wonders whether the administration is serious about holding the elections in
these villages. Many of the essays, which relate to State politics, look at the
developments in this respect from the Dalit perspective.
In an essay on Dalit uprising vis-à-vis Dravidian politics, Thirumaavalavan
explains how the principal Dravidian parties have drifted away from the ideals
of "Periyar" E.V. Ramasami and blames the downslide on the "competitive
politics" since the 1970s, when the actor-politician, M.G. Ramachandran, was
removed from the DMK following differences with Karunanidhi, who led the party,
and formed his own Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam that later became the All
India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
The same kind of feud continues between Mr. M. Karunanidhi and MGR's political
successor, Ms. J. Jayalalithaa, the author states and adds that this has
weakened the movement to a great extent. In Thirumaavalavan's view though the
principal objectives of the Dravidian movement included women's liberation,
social justice, annihilation of caste system and struggle against Brahmin
domination, the movement has in the last 50 years succeeded only in respect of
ending Brahmin domination.
But the benefits arising out of it have all gone only to the intermediate
castes, Backward and Most Backward Castes and this has led to a situation in
which the oppression against the Dalits, according to him, has increased now,
with the intermediate castes continuing the atrocities against the Dalits.
The author argues that the Dalits cannot, therefore, expect much support from
the Dravidian parties in their struggle against oppression. Explaining how the
Tamil society has been "slowly losing its identity" owing to the Hindutva
forces' action in tampering with history, saffronising education and
homogenising Tamils' religious life and the Dravidian movement 's failure to
counter these forces effectively, Thirumaavalavan reveals his mind stating that
the alternative lies in building up resistance from below by appealing to the
"Tamil sentiments", as the Dravidian movement once did. |
Author : Thol. Thirumaavalavan![Tamil Info Service [TIS] - Click to visit Home Page](http://www.tamilinfoservice.com/image/tis/tis_smal.gif){kind=small}