These are happy days in which everyone in Kerala wants too settle the land dispute at Chengara. A happy consensus between the Left and the Right seems to be growing there, after the Congress leader of the Opposition, Oommen Chandy, decided to take on Godfathership of the land struggle. The very language of the struggle had changed – interestingly, from ‘we are landless squatters’ to ‘we are settlers’! Now, it is well-known in Kerala that these terms have had different sorts of political associations – ‘squatter’ with the Left, and ‘settler’ with (largely) the Right. Indeed, this was inevitable perhaps, given the fact that the New Left didn’t look very keen on ‘squatters’. However, it is clear that neither dalit or tribal organisations are going to be part of the negotiations towards the final package –today’s newspapers report that prominent tribal and dalit leaders have protested against the state’s reluctance to negotiate with them. It would be very convenient for both the Left and the Right to delegitimize – indeed criminalize – tribal and dalit organizations. And what luck that precisely that boon has been granted to them by the sudden eruption of a ‘lower-caste terrorist group’ (according to the police), the ‘Dalit Human Rights Movement’!
Strange indeed, that the police should discover this outfit now, which, if we are to believe the police accounts and the dominant media, has been engaged in nefarious, criminal and secretive activity for quite some time. The DHRM burst upon us last week, through a bizarre crime that has given the dominant sections of the Malayali media an opportunity to indulge in a no-holds-barred spree of dalit-bashing. On 26 September two gruesome acts of violence were committed in a town near Thiruvananthapuram – an elderly morning-walker was murdered by assailants on a motorbike; the same gang hacked down the keeper of a roadside teashop. According to the police, which is still the media’s sole source of information, the assailants had no personal scores to settle against the persons they had attacked. The police claim that these were acts of ‘lower-caste terror’, committed by members of an organization called the Dalit Human Rights Movement or the ‘Black Shirts’. The police account claims that the DHRM has been engaged in ‘secret brainwashing’ of dalit people’s living in the misery and squalor of dalit colonies in Kerala. The dominant media is now busy unearthing the many evils of the DHRM. It is no surprise that the average upwardly- mobile middle-class consumer-citizen in Kerala whose faith in ‘India Shining’ remains unsullied even today, is gleefully exclaiming, “I knew it!”. The Dalits did never deserve state protection; they were always criminal under the skin.
Mind you, dalit organisations in Kerala which have been actively contesting the state in democratic fora have been taken entirely by surprise. Many of us who have been close to dalit and tribal activists of the recent land struggles in Kerala were hearing of this outfit for the first time. I’ve seen the DHRM once holding a ritualized protest on a day of nationalistic ritual — the Indepence Day or Republic Day, I don’t remember which. From this, it looked like a dubious NGO out to dupe gullible folk. We did not see the DHRM in any of the political , public confrontations between the dalit and tribal organisations and the state which have been quite frequent in the past few years. None of us were ever contacted or invited to any of their events. Therefore I suppose we could be excused for our ignorance of the DHRM, which looked too similar to the many dubious NGOs which have been sprouting in Kerala in these times, like poisonous weeds in untimely rain. But how can the police be excused? After all, all protestors are expected to secure prior permission from the authorities – did the police never investigate any of the links of the DHRM (which has indeed been conducting public protests) when it applied for police permission? The police’s apparent innocence about the DHRM until the day of the murder reveals either their utter incompetence, or deeper, murkier motives.
But worse things appear to be in the offing – some of the fears voiced by dalit young men in 2004, in the wake of a controversy ignited by the suicide of a young dalit woman student, seem to be coming true. In 2004, Rajani S. Anand committed suicide because the authorities refused to support her educational expenses. She took this step when it appeared that she was trapped in a labyrinth of no escape. She had no way of meeting basic expenses; further, she needed a tidy sum to avail of private tuitions to pass exams. Her marks turned out to be quite low because she could not afford such coaching. This became an excuse for banks to refuse her an educational loan. When the humiliation became unbearable, Rajani took her own life. It created a furore. But the authorities went to such an extent that the deceased Rajani had to prove her outlier status in another way: it seems that a virginity test was demanded of her body.The state’s response to Rajani’s death thus brought to view the easiest way, at present, to deny welfare to dalit women: by ‘proving’ them to be ‘prostitutes’. Many young dalit men I spoke with at that time told me that they suffered such threats, which, however, were suitably gendered. They related their experience of being constantly marked as criminals – and that was a way of denying them citizenship and welfare.
It seems that these men’s fears weren’t unfounded.Yesterday,the Mathrubhumi reported a murder in Chengannur, which was blithely attributed to the Kerala Dalit Panthers! Now, the KDP is certainly not the DHRM! The KDP condemned this slur, but one fears it may be only the beginning. In fact, it is difficult not to be suspicious of the dominant media’s attitude (if you don’t belong to the ‘India Shining’ consumerist-middle class in Kerala which has apparently never heard of something like an unbowed and independent press, and instead reposes faith in police accounts or in equally ignorant Gen-next blog stories) – after all, the ‘independent press’ which was so eager to plunge into ‘investigative reporting’ on the Paul Muthoot murder case seems to be totally happy with police accounts of the Varkala murder!
The DHRM may have had a role in the violence at Varkala; and Iam not saying that a ‘lower-caste dalit terrorism’ is an impossibility. If the DHRM is indeed as apolitical, anti-democratic, opaque, and violent as it appears to be in the recent newsreports, then it has nothing in common with the tribal and dalit organizations in Kerala, which have been engaged in political struggle, and we would openly condemn it. But still, how come the police and the intelligence did not have a clue of its venom till today? How come it was allowed to hold so many public protests — when leaders of C.K. Janu’s stature were beaten mercilessly and dragged into jail after the Muthanga incident? How come the alleged and apparently unprovoked violence breaks out just when the Left and Right are moving fast to settle the land struggle with no intention of consulting the very organisations that repoliticised the issue of tribal and dalit landlessness in Kerala? Whatever our consumer-citizen-new elite-comrade/congressman feels, the entire discussion on the Varkala murder in Kerala looks like a bad idea — a badly-crafted plot in a cheap Malayalam movie, in which ‘social wisdom’ about the behaviour of particular castes, ‘proper’ and ‘improper’ gender etc. give away the suspense from the very first scene.
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 
175 million dalits are living on the mercy of hindu medias and their hindu led government.Hindu toilet papers(Indian news papers) can declare any body terrorist in no time because they know they are born from brahma mouth.I would like to tell you one real story of north india when babri mosue had been demolished by RSS and their umblical links in india ,One day hindu millitant organisation had stopped Gomti express at outer signal of Aligarh and they disembark the 20 muslim people from the train and stated stabbing them ,one of hindu guy in fear , told that he is muslims so he was also stabbed to death but next day all hindu toilet papers had published the story that hindus was stabbed by muslim youth at the Aligarh and next day all UP was closed by call given by hindu terrorist organisation,infacts crime was done by hindus but media had painted as muslims had done the crimes.this is called wonderful medias.5 dalits youth had been burnt alive by hindu organisation in jhajjhar in front of 500 police men and DM and SSP but hindu led forces did not open the fire to save the dalit lives and not a single hindu medias was present to take the photographs dalits burning at jhajjhar haryana.175 million dalits have to take the Vows that they would not stay in hindu fold and will never ever forget the crimes done by hindus and their hindu led government.Hindu always sacrifieces the goats,buffalo but never sacrifieces the Lions.DHRM is dalit organisation who is telling the dalits donot bend your head in front of hindus or their gods and godeses.Long live dalit organisation and Dr ambedkar.
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The popular media often deliver a mix of real stories of crass violence lauded with communal/casteist profiling of the perpetrators, who may be members of one or the other marginalised section. Questions any sensible person would have liked to ask otherwise are most often pre- empted by the insidiously crafted malice and distrust. Apart from being given assurance by the political elites to weed out such crimes by keeping vigil on their ‘probable’ sources, the middle class is offered even reassurance of their snobbish ways of indiscriminately despising the poor.
Incident in which the police felled half a dozen poor Muslims to their bullets in Beemappaly (barely ten KM from the capital Trivandrum) invoking barely any popular protest and with near impunity just after the counting of votes in last May, might be an indicator to where the society is being taken by the political class.
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Probably, this can be considered as a fair news about DHRM
http://nchro.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7034
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The only way to be noticed is to frighten. The DHRM has done nothing more. It would however, seem that the DHRM Is only a militant outfit sponsored by some Jihadi group or the other; similar, perhaps to the Love Jihad initiative.
Human Rights movements in Kerala have by and large, been sponsored either by Moslem or Christian fundamentalists. They always use a few Hindu pseudo-intellectuals as the front.
The bureaucracy in Kerala has always been responsible for leading gifted youth to the violent path. The story of many a bright boy’s going astray because the Village Officer refused a caste or income certificate without bribes, is nothing new in Kerala. The police in Kerala, right from pre-independence days, have always put animals to shame.
Kerala is a model more for hypocrisy, than anything else. One need not be surprised by any absurdity that comes up from there.
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What is wrong about muslims,christians to help their own blood brothers who are being killed ,raped by hindus.why hindu led government is helping hindus in Nepal .before Rajeev gandhi murder ,same hindu led government had helped the terrorist organisation LTTE even till today tamil government is helping LTTE and their people in Sri Lanka.Dalits have to fight the barbaric people with the help of christians,muslims and Shiks in India.Dr Ambedkar had won the election with the help of muslim league when Patel and congress had closed the door of Parliament for Dr Ambedkar.I would like to mentioned the world utter by so called great Patel that we have not only closed the door for Dr ambedkar but the window also.this is called hindu brotherhood.
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@Mr R.Sajan
>”Human Rights movements in Kerala have by and large, been sponsored either by Moslem or Christian fundamentalists. They always use a few Hindu pseudo-intellectuals as the front..”
With this whimsical and totally absurd statement on record, how dare you imagine yourself as the not part of absurdity?
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Please read Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s article published day before yesterday in all Malayalam dailies. He says that most so-called HR initiatives in Kerala are Jihadi- funded.
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Think of the late Mr.Menon. He was a front for Solidarity [nay now NDF].
Think of the net-based others from the MM Thomas times, funded by Christian charities from abroad.
Remember that these organisations never notice women’s problems in Islam, or nuns’ issues in the Catholic Church. The Self-financing torture of students is also ignored.
I do not understand your “how dare you imagine yourself as the not part of absurdity?”. Perhaps, you could explain?
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I believe Kafila prides itself as a so-called free media. But that label does not give you folks license to publish a one-sided report, sent by a lazy (or armchair) correspondent.
There are two kinds of issues in Varkala. First, a elderly person was murdered without any apparent reasons. Second, the police and the Shivasena activists tortured Dalits in a nearby colony, alleging the crime of hiding and protecting the culprits of this murder.
Nobody seems to care much about the slain person now. However, the media focus is now on poor Dalits who were assaulted and tortured by Shivasena activists (it must be said that most of the Shivasena activists are dalits too) and some police personnel.
I do not understand what the mainstream media could have done differently in this case. Since when did the job of investigating a murder case become the duty of the media. They went overboard in Paul Muthoot case, but that was an exception, for which they were criticized.
The political parties and other community organizations in Varkala have too shown admirable restraint and maturity. It could have easily escalated into something like Godhra.
At present nobody is sure who killed Sivaprasad. The culprits attacked another person, a tea-shop owner, also in the same morning. Luckily, he escaped with some injuries. According to the police (I have tried to contact him, but he refuses to speak as he does not want to find himself at the doorstep of death again), he has identified some of the arrested persons.
One has to say that the police has done something in this case. About a year ago, a young lady, Savitha, was murdered in a nearby place. Her dead body was found in a canal. Still, no arrests have been in connection with her murder. I made reference to this case because nobody made any reference to DHRM or dalit organizations in the Savitha murder case.
Why did the police blame Dalit organizations in the Sivaprasad murder case? Because, there had been some verbal altercations and skirmishes between some dalit activists and members of the SNDP organization prior to the murder. The situation in the town had been volatile. A Sree Narayana Guru statue (the apostle of SNDP) in a nearby junction had been beheaded.
Here, in Varkala, people are confused about these things now. The general feeling is that some dalit activists are indeed behind the murder. But nobody is sure and has any clinching evidence.
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I must say that I’m terrified by your condescenion, Niji. Really, by your glib assertion that the media could have done nothing more, and your thanks to political movements and community organizations for very kindly refraining from Godhra-like (and perhaps post-Godhra-like) responses! These betray a different sort of laziness — that which finds the mainstream media representations very convenient (because you are pretty sure there is good reason to suspect the dalits) and that which allows the anti-dalit political culture to thrive (and hence the blessed thanks to the powerful that they did not trample and destroy the less powerful!). In fact, your response draws upon precisely the media strategy that I criticised.
I’m also terrified by the sheer deviousness of your writing: on the one hand you want to clearly indicate that the police had good reasons to pounce on the dalits, on the other you want to hang on to a certain Vajpayee-like ‘objectivity’!
And in the end, you don’t know anything more than the rest of us, but bolster your case with ‘other incidents’, well, not really connected with dalits through firm evidence, but still…
This is precisely how the web of deceit was woven around the Godhra incident…!
My armchair writing is certainly less poisonous than such ‘active’ rumour-mongering!
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First of all, I was not spreading any rumors. Can you please pinpoint a rumor in my comment?
I only tried to point out the lack of information or what is called “balance” in journalistic parlance in your article.
After reading your article (incidentally, titled “More on Murder from Kerala”), I felt there was not enough information about the murder (I believe that you wrote about the murder of Shiva Prasad in Varkala). There were in fact some errors too in the article.
For example, DHRM had been active even before the Varkala incident. There were intra-dalit clashes near Attingal, because DHRM activists tried to forcibly convert people into their fold. In October 2008, they conducted a rally against the then DySP of Attingal and blocked Attingal police station for a few hours.
What I want to say is that DHRM was not conveniently invented (or discovered) by the police, as you seem to suggest. Nor police were unaware of their activities.
I still believe the leaders of SNDP, CPI(M), and Congress(I) need to be praised for their mature handling of the issue. The situation in Varkala at least for a week after the murder had been volatile and tense. It could easily have been blown out into a Ezhava-Dalit communal issue. I do not intend to say that they did something worthy of the Nobel peace prize (pre-Obama). But they manage to calm down the communal tension.
Some Shiva Sena miscreants (about only 10 or 15 of them) did try to create problems. What I wanted to say is that the situation would have been very different had BJP or Shivasena been as strong as CPI, Congress, or SNDP in the region. And hence, I still believe, they deserve praise.
I went to Mr. Ashokan’s (who was injured in the attack) house the other day. I could not see him as, he had gone to Sabarimala. His wife and family members are damn sure about the culprits. They said that he had identified the second and the third accused in the police charge sheet (which is likely to be filed in the court tomorrow). The police have not nabbed the first accused yet.
One more thing: the legal adviser of DHRM, Adv. Ashokan (he was also among the arrested) has confessed before a magistrate.
I am sorry if my comment sounded like anti-Dalit sermon, which was not I intended to. I want to remain neutral (though not Vajpayee-like): neither anti-Dalit nor pro-Dalit. My objection to your article was purely based on the lack of information or details in the article.
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Well, to make hints about conversations with one of the victims which are quite ambiguous is close enough to creating a rumour! I’m sure others would read Asokan’s response to your inquiries differently!
BTW, this article is rather old; it was written when the news had just broken. The information we had then was fairly limited. I don’t think I’m in the business of providing information that is more ‘true’; my writing on Kafila has been mostly on how the media reports events and addresses specific issues. I was wondering how the police could act as if they knew little about the DHRM, too little that they could not take precautions and defuse tension –and two months down the line — and as you say — it is quite clear that they did know more about it.
I’m sure we have the right to disagree with each other on ‘forced conversion’ by the DHRM, on confessions elicited by the police, and on the role of political parties and community organizations. I am distinctly and openly pro-dalit and and my views on dalit-non-dalit tensions in Varkala are based on recent research on Varkala which reveals a gaping difference in economic and social well-being between the dalits and non-dalits there (revealed in the difference in migration opportunities as well). I am even more openly pro-DHRM in my more recent post on kafila, and my information is based on observations of human rights activists in the dalit colonies in Varkala and interactions with members of the DHRM.
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the newly coined “dalit terrorism” seems to be conveniently “invented” by Kerala police with the blessings and support of Malayalam media. And it s happening in the much celebrated “progressive”, “literate”, “politically active/aware” “model state” exposes all the tall claims of Kerala..
this shall make one re-look and re-invent kerala.
But the terror and brutalities suffered by Dalits of kerala will remain for ever. History. Remember.
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