In Keeripatti panchayat, water trickles from a pit beside a defunct bathroom in the Adi Dravidar colony. The pit is filled with grime and mud. But that doesn’t stop people from attempting to collect the water in plastic pots for domestic use, as pipelines have remained defunct in this part of the village for the last five years.
“If we go to the caste Hindu side of the village, the women hurl casteist slurs at us. They cut the line and make us wait till they have finished drawing water,” says S. Vijaya, a resident, adding that people from the Scheduled Caste (SC) communities make do with the available water by boiling it.
With the rural local body elections on the horizon, three sensitive panchayats in Madurai — Pappapatti, Keeripatti and Nattarmangalam — that were once infamous for not allowing SCs to contest the polls, have still hardly taken any steps to guarantee their rights. Though the three panchayats, which happen to be reserved constituencies, had elected presidents from SC communities for the last two terms, power continues to be wielded by caste Hindus, who have a clear majority in terms of vote share. The caste Hindus in all three villages affirm that the real contest is for the post of vice-presidents, who are indirectly elected by the panchayat ward members, since they can vie for control with the presidents, given that they have equal power in signing cheques for all kinds of expenditure.
“This time, we have ensured that our preferred candidate from the SC community is elected the president of our panchayat unopposed,” says Thoppusamy, a caste Hindu from Pappapatti.
While Pappapatti and Keeripatti have been divided into six wards each, Nattarmangalam has been divided into 9 wards. The majority community in all villages are the Piranmanai Kallars, and the Scheduled Caste members belong to the Pallar and Paraiyar communities.
A torrid history
Since the reservation of posts for SCs was made mandatory in 1996, the caste Hindus in these villages had, for a long time, barred SCs from holding the panchayat president post. They would either stop people belonging to the SC community from contesting the polls or elect a candidate of their choice and coerce them to quit as soon as they take charge. Several elections and byelections have been held since 1996 to democratically elect a panchayat president from the SC community and ensure that they serve a full term.
The DMK-led government in 2006, under pressure from Dalit and Left parties, appointed IAS officer T. Udhayachandran as the Collector to ensure the smooth conduct of the polls. Since then, SC presidents have been elected twice — 2006-11 and 2011-16 — without much conflict.
There is strong resentment among caste Hindus over the panchayats being classified as ‘Reserved’ for the third time. Arguing that they were supposed to have been recognised as ‘General’ after having been “reserved for SCs” for two successive terms, K. Siva, a resident of Nattarmangalam, says, “Wouldn’t we want to say we had been the panchayat president at least once in our lives? ”
There is also an apparent display of a big-brotherly attitude by a majority of the caste Hindus, who say they are best-equipped to govern. “It is evident why the post of vice-president is far more important. He will know exactly what to do with the funds,” says G. Jeyaraj, a contestant for the post of ward member in Keeripatti.
Residents of Nattarmangalam — both young and old, like P. Ranjith, 38, and V. Nagamma, 80 — say the Scheduled Caste members who will be contesting the polls are barely literate, and hence, cannot make the right decisions. “If we walk amidst them, they must lower their lungis and greet us. How will they fight with officials [to protect our interests]?” asks Ms. Nagamma.
“We are landowners. They are labourers. It has been proven in the past that they will not fight, and we [caste Hindus] must take it upon ourselves to protect them and us and ensure development,” Mr. Jeyaraj adds.
Members of the SC community like P. Saranya of Pappapatti, however, say the caste Hindus will never allow people from their community to independently contest elections and discharge their duties. “We are not even able to get basic amenities,” she says. The relative lack of basic infrastructure, including housing, is visible in all three villages.
Despite this, the tendency among most of the SC contestants seems to be to avoid confrontation, as they are numerically a minority and do not have resources. P. Ganesan from Nattarmangalam, who served as the president from 2006-11 and is contesting again now, says he will work with caste Hindus.
Speaking outside his house, with a broken roof and sewage flowing through his street, Mr. Ganesan says he will try to provide basic amenities to the SC side of the village. “We do not have any major clashes. They pay us wages. We do not want to ruin our existing kinship,” he says.
S. Yosanai, who contested and won the election in the same panchayat in 1996, says subjugation must end with his generation. “All our children are going to schools and colleges. Some are engineers. We are striving to earn a living. Why mess with peace in the village?” he asks.
