Caste Hindus never mingled with us

CHENNAI: Dalit students of Dr Ambedkar Law College trace the source of the unending tension on their campus to the persisting caste atrocities in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, where they face discrimination and oppression at the hands of caste Hindus.A majority of students from both the groups that clashed on Wednesday hail from these districts.When the caste Hindu students try to extend the same domination over Dalits in the campus too, the latter, who came to the city in the hope of getting some relief from the oppression, resent the attitude and oppose it.“When we enter the college, we feel we have been empowered.As we study law, we delude ourselves into thinking that nobody can ill treat us on the basis of our caste,” said a group of fourth year students, who were close to the Dalit students named as accused in Wednesday’s incident.Some of the accused - Chitraiselvan of Tiruvarur, Tanjore district; V Govindran and P Govindan of Dharmapuri district; Balamanigandan of Cuddalore; Jayakumar of Tiruvannamalai; Dilipan Joe of Villupuram; and S Prabhakaran of Dharmapuri - bore the brunt of caste atrocities in their villages. “From day one, the caste Hindu students loo ked down upon us and will not even mingle with us,” they said.Recalling an incident, a Dalit classmate of Bharathi Kannan, a caste Hindu who was injured in the clash, said: “When I touched his food plate in the canteen, he flew into a rage and shouted and flung the plate away.” The attitude is not confined to students alone. The entire college, including members of the faculty, display similar behaviour.“The professor will address you pointing out your caste identity and sometimes even there will be a lecture supporting the caste order,’’ said a student.The caste problem starts at the hostel. “According to hostel rules, Caste Hindus and Dalits should share rooms. But when I approached a caste Hindu student and asked whether I could share a room with him, he insulted me,” said a third year student from Cuddalore district. They prefer staying with caste Hindus only, he added.“Last year, caste Hindu students staged a protest demanding that Backward Classes be allowed to stay in a separate block.When the warden refused it, around 30 BC students left the hostel. But they successfully deflected the blame on us, accusing us of driving them out.” There are 30 students from the Backward Classes and other religions staying with 100 Dalits.“False cases such as homosexual harassment were foisted on us,” the student said.