Caste
violence at Eraiyur in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district brings to the
fore the issue of discrimination against Dalit Christians by Caste
conscious upper class Christians

By Pradeep Krishnan from Villupuram, Tamil Nadu.

The Christian clergy promised them ‘everything under the sun’ when they were allured to  embrace Jesus as their only savior.  In
their enthusiasm to harvest souls and show increase in numbers, the
cunning Christian priests assured them not only economic prosperity but
also equal status as human beings ‘unlike in hinduism’.  But in practice, all promises and assurances turned out to be big hoax.  As
a resut, this year’s Holy Week (March 16 to 22), the week that precedes
Easter Sunday, was observed as “untouchability protest week” in  several
parts of northern Tamil Nadu. This was in response to a call given by
the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Dalit Christians’
Liberation Movement to highlight the plight of converted Dalits in the
Christian community. At least 10 churches in Cuddalore and Villupuram
districts had to go without or curtail the ceremonies that usually
begin with Palm Sunday, celebrated in commemoration of the entry of
Jesus into Jerusalem.
In some places Dalits hoisted black flags atop churches and in a few
others they locked up the places of worship. Demanding justice to Dalit
Christians, VCK general secretary Thol. Thirumavalavan led a
demonstration on March 19 near the Bishop’s House in Puducherry, the
headquarters of the Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore.

The
immediate provocation for the protest was violence against Dalits by
“upper caste” Christians at Eraiyur in Villupuram district on March 9.
In the police firing that followed, two Vanniar Christians were killed.

Dalit
Christians of the village have been on a fast since March 7 demanding
that the Archbishop recognise the Sagaya Matha Chapel they had built
for a new Dalit parish in the village. Their complaint was that they
were not treated as equals by the upper class Christians within the
Church of Our Lady of Rosary, the present Eraiyur parish church,
located in the centre of Eraiyur. Archbishop Anthony Aanandarayar was
firm that there could not be two churches for the same order in one
village.

On
the third day of the fast, on March 9, angry Vanniar Christians (upper
class Christians) carrying sticks, poles, iron rods, stones and other
weapons stormed the Dalit colony in the village. Over 30 Dalit
Christians were injured and about 80 of their houses were damaged.

The
State government has ordered payment of compensation to the families of
the firing victims, although the Dalit Christians, who were injured and
lost property, are yet to receive any assistance from the government.
Worse, they complained, the Vanniar Christians had subsequently imposed
a social and economic boycott of the Dalit Christians. Most of the
Dalits in the village are agricultural workers who depend on the
land-owning majority community (Vanniars) for their livelihood, and
they are now jobless.

Vanniar
Christians, who are angry about the police firing, accused the clergy
of standing in the way of “maintaining certain traditional practices”
and threatened to convert to Hinduism. The Archdiocese has initiated a
dialogue with Vanniar Christians and Dalit Christians. Meanwhile, the
parish church administration has ordered the closure of the church
until the return of peace. The Eraiyur parish has a 300-year-old
history behind it. Eraiyur is one of the earliest Tamil Nadu villages
in which Christianity took root in the second half of the 17th century
with the help of Hindus, as done elsewhere in the country.

The
Church of Our Lady of Rosary at Eraiyur was built in 1894. Dalits
account for about 70 per cent of the 25 million Christians in India,
but caste-based discrimination against them is not uncommon. Eraiyur is
no exception to discrimination, particularly because Dalits, both
Christian and Hindu, are in a minority in the village dominated by
Christian Vanniars. (Christian Vanniars number about 20,000; the
Christian Dalit population is less than 1,500.) There have been
instances of caste clashes in the Eraiyur parish, which has the
distinction of having produced 30 priests and 55 nuns.

Reasons for the dispute

The
current dispute has its beginnings in the late 1990s. Dalits in the
village have been denied even access to public roads, tea shops and
other facilities. On February 16, 1999, things came to a head when the
Dalits protested against denial of access to the burial ground.
Significantly, the victim here was himself a priest, Fr. A.C.
Irudayanathan, who had lost his mother the previous day. A large number
of priests, nuns and lay people gathered at his house for the funeral
procession. When Irudayanathan wanted the body to be taken through the
main church road (“barred for Dalits” by the “upper caste” Christian
Vanniars), the Christian Vanniars objected. A group of Vanniars stormed
into the Dalit colony and threw stones at the mourners. This caused
unrest among the Dalits.

According
to a special report of the TNBC (Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council
Commission) for S.C./S.T., an official body of the Catholic Bishops of
Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, though the parish priest said the body could
be taken through the main road, a group of Vanniars arrived on the
scene with “stones and home-made weapons” and refused to budge. Top
police officials tried to convince the priests to avoid the church road
and instead take the “customary route”, a circuitous lane (meant for
Dalits). When Archbishop Michael Augustine arrived on the scene in the
evening, the Vanniars prevented his entry into the church. They abused
him and the Dalits. The police apparently said the situation was going
out of control and tried to convince the Archbishop on the need for the
funeral procession to take the “Dalit route”.

Meanwhile,
the Vanniars, according to the report, locked the gates of the church.
“If the Archbishop insists on taking the main route, the police argued,
there would be a law and order problem and they may be forced to issue
orders for shooting and that the police should not be held responsible
for the consequences,” the report said. The Dalits and the clergy had
to obey the police orders and conduct the funeral at the segregated
Dalit cemetery. It is clear that the rigidity of the casteist forces,
the weak reform measures of the clergy, the unhelpful attitude of the
police and the gross indifference of the district administration have
all contributed to the continuation of discrimination, which is banned
by the Constitution.

Even
after nearly a decade, the situation has not improved a bit for Dalit
Christians. Dalits, when they changed religion, have hoped for an end
to caste discrimination that their ancestors had suffered and their
brethren who opted not to convert continue to suffer. But the reality
was otherwise. Untouchability manifests itself in many forms in the
Christian church as it does elsewhere – denial of access to common
resources such as water and public facilities such as roads, compulsion
to do menial and degrading jobs and discrimination in education and
employment.

Dalits
are denied even a common burial ground, a common pathway to the
cemetery, and so on. It is clear that people from the caste Hindu
social groups carry their caste tags and identities even when they join
a new Christian community. Common burial ground and the right to take
the dead to the burial ground in a common tumba (hearse)
through the common road have been matters of contention between the
social oppressors and the oppressed for quite some time in many areas.

The
Eraiyur Dalits have been consistently fighting discrimination at the
place of worship and denial of access to the cemetery for a long time.
In the 1990s, in protest against discrimination in the church, they
built a small place of worship. This has now grown into an alternative
church. It was to win legitimacy for the church that they sought
recognition from the Archdiocese. When the recognition did not come,
they announced a “fast unto death” from March 7.

The
aim of the March 9 attack was to break the Dalits’ economic strength,
which is evident from the enormous damage done to more than 80 of the
nearly 350 houses in the Dalit colony. Television sets and fans,
two-wheelers, tables, chairs and utensils were damaged in almost all
these houses.

The
attackers did not spare even the old, the women and the children. An
eight-year-old boy showed this correspondent a slash on his head, which
was inflicted by a teacher of his school. He was yet to come out of the
trauma 15 days after the attack.

A
young girl, who was attending her sick grandmother, said the attackers
beat her up and tore her blouse. She said her grandmother, who was in a
coma, was injured by splinters of glass from a window pane when
attackers hurled stones at the house. The woman died a few days later,
and her funeral was marred by protests against the Dalits taking out
the funeral procession through the main road. Many children took refuge
in a neighbouring village for many days.

The
Sagaya Matha Chapel was also the target of the upper caste ire. Chairs,
a public address system and a DVD player inside the chapel were
damaged. Hindu Dalits also suffered losses when the raiders ransacked
the colony. Dalit students could not go to school when their classmates
were preparing for their examinations.

A
fact-finding team comprising human rights activists A. Marx and Praba
Kalvimani has observed that the incidents could have been avoided had
the church taken effective, timely steps against the practice of
untouchability and also against discrimination against the Dalit
Christians. It also criticised the police for their failure to reach
the village in time. It described the police firing as unwarranted and
demanded a judicial inquiry into the firing as well as the atrocities
against the Dalits.

Another
group including human rights activists and lawyers E.S. Jose and E.S.P.
Lucia has said in its report that had the Archbishop looked at the
Dalits’ problem “with a fatherly concern as a religious leader”, the
tragic loss of two lives in police firing and the heavy loss of
property could have been averted. “Discrimination, whether in the
streets or in the sacred places, is a crime and of course,
unchristian,” the report said.

VCK Member of the Legislative Assembly D. Ravikumar told Panchjnya  that
in spite of repeated appeals from the Pope to political leaders of all
hues, the church continued to be indifferent to the plight of Dalit
Christians. He regretted that no firm and effective steps had been
taken to end discrimination against them.

The discrimination against dalit Christians is a continuing story.  In spite of tall talk, the Christian clergy is doing nothing substantial to end this discrimination.  The poorest of the poor who changed their religion with high hopes are not totally disappointed and denigrated.  belonging
to the lowest castes, especially the Dalits. They should never be
segregated from other members of society. …. Therefore, customs or
traditions that perpetuate or reinforce caste division should be
sensitively reformed so that they may become an expression of the
solidarity of the whole Christian community.”

Victims of upper caste Christian violence at Eraiyur, Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu.

The
Dalit Christians of Eraiyur have been demanding recognition from the
Archdiocese for the Sagaya Matha Chapel they had built for a new Dalit
parish. Their complaint was that they were not treated as equals by the
Vanniar Christians within the Church of Our Lady of Rosary. Till date their demand is not considered favourably by the upper class dominated Christian clergy.

The Sagaya Matha Chapel built by Dalit Christians and not recognized by the official Church.