How TN govt ‘defeated’ caste in 4 panchayats in Madurai, Virudhunagar

Yes. It was the same Pappapatti, which, along with Keeripatti and Nattarmangalam panchayats in Madurai and Kottakatchiyendal panchayat in VirudhuNagar, once remained a matter of national shame then. The evil of caste was defeated by a government and its small team of dedicated bureaucrats who took it up as a personal mission to conduct local body elections in the four panchayats reserved for scheduled castes after a decade. Ashok Vardhan Shetty, who was the then secretary, Rural development and Panchayat Raj department explains how they systematically destabilised casteist elements and achieved the impossible.

“Between 1996 and 2006 elections were not conducted in the panchayats. Dominant castes did not allow scheduled castes to file nominations. When Dalit parties raked it up and got someone to file nomination, they intimidated them and got it withdrawn. Even the ones who got elected, resigned. The whole thing became a farce. Scheduled caste members got elected as presidents two or three times. Five days was the maximum tenure of a president in the panchayats during the decade, ” Shetty recalled.

“As chief minister, Jayalalithaa deputed OPS and SM Velusamy to sort it out. Dominant castes refused to cooperate. The panchayats became nationally notorious, ” he added.

Asked to explain the initiation of the elections, the former bureaucrat said, “After regime change in 2006, we decided to somehow conduct the elections. We hit upon a strategy. At the field level, Udhayachandran and SS Jawahar, who were collectors of Madurai and VirudhuNagar districts, found out that even some govt officials were engaged in the dirty caste politics. So, first, we weeded them out by posting neutral caste people there.”

Then, we identified the troublemakers in the civil society and systematically pacified them one by one. The next crucial step was the legal challenge. The dominant castes placed an ingenious argument before Madras High Court that reservation was implemented in panchayats as the scheduled castes had held the office of president for a few days in the decade. They had demanded dereservation of the panchayats after mandatory ten years.

“The then advocate general of the state sought two day’s time from the court and intimated me about their argument from Madurai. I read the Constitution and told him that the reservation clock starts ticking from the date of the first meeting of the panchayat council. There was no forum or meeting in panchayats. The argument won the case and the panchayats remained reserved for scheduled castes.”

“Immediately after the elections, I told the minister (Stalin) and CM that we could organize Samathuva pervuvila. The panchayat presidents, vice presidents and 50 ‘naatamais’ were invited. It was a kind of an assurance they gave before the CM that they would continue at office. Rs 20 lakh each was given as grant to the panchayats. The next crucial issue was preventing insult to Dalit panchayat presidents during the council meetings. Tahsildars and BDOs were instructed to mandatorily attend every monthly council meeting for first six months.

On legal battle, Shetty reasoned, “They were mocking the government. Supposing we dereserved panchayats, it would have spread to other village panchayats. Over time casteist elements realised that they could not challenge the government. It changed, ” he added.

On whether it changed the social structure, he said, “Empowerment of women, SC or ST will not happen overnight. We should not stop doing it just because it consumes time.” On such elected SC presidents being asked to sit on floor in council meetings, he said, “Several SC presidents had complained then too. I wrote to all collectors to have a meeting with them. If issue persisted, collectors were asked to first warn casteist vice presidents orally. Second time warnings were given in writing. Arrest under the PCR Act was the final assault.”