An SC Hindu conservancy worker ended his life after continuous harassment by de facto Muslim Panchayat Chairman Aayesha in Tamil Nadu. The woman hurled casteist abuses at the victim and forced him to clean sewage with his hands. He consumed poison and passed away after treatments failed.
Sudalai Madan(56), an SC Hindu conservancy worker in Udangudi in Thoothukudi district faced humiliation from former Panchayat Chairman Ayesha Kallasi when he sought promotion. Madan had been working as a sanitary worker in the panchayat for 30 long years. On these grounds he requested the Panchayat Chairman Hemera Ramiz to approve his promotion to Sanitary Supervisor.
Ayesha Kallasi, mother-in-law of Hamera, acts as the de facto Chairman of Panchayat and she demanded Rs 3 lakhs from Madan for the promotion. When he refused to pay the bribe, Ayesha verbally abused him using his caste name and humiliated him. She also forced him to clean the sewer with his hands. Unable to bear the humiliation, Madan consumed pesticide on March 17. He was admitted to the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital. Unfortunately, treatments failed and he passed away in the wee hours of March 23.
Ayesha was an ADMK member and served as the Panchayat Chairman of Udangudi initially. She was the District Women’s Wing chief from 2011 to 2016 and was elected as Panchayat Chairman as well. From that time itself, she showed contempt towards sanitary workers and treated them badly. Umayal, a widow sanitary worker had sought for promotion on the grounds of seniority similar to Sudalai Madan. Ayesha reportedly demanded Rs 1 lakh as a bribe and when Umayal refused to pay it she slapped her in public.
It is alleged that another sanitary worker Mariappan killed himself due to Ayesha’s torture. But things changed after DMK came to power as the party tried to appoint one of their own as Panchayat Chairman. Ayesha cleverly made her son Asaf and daughter-in-law Hemera Ramiz join DMK. Hemera got a seat to contest for the post and won as well. Since then Ayesha has been acting as the de facto Chairman; She jumped to DMK as well.
Another version of events says that Sudalai Madan worked as a Supervisor and Ayesha demoted him. A Kumudam Reporter investigation report says that Ayesha abused him in public saying, “Who appointed the likes of you as Supervisor? How can you work in casual attire? You should only collect garbage”. It appears that she was irked by Sudalai Madan wearing normal clothes instead of khaki to work.
Unable to bear her harassment, sanitary workers staged a protest sometime in March. Even though Madan didn’t participate in the protests Ayesha made Panchayat Executive Officer Babu include his name in a complaint to the police. Madan told Kumudam Reporter that Ayesha snatched his Supervisor job and the responsibility of collecting tax from shops. “She hurled casteist abuses at me in front of everyone”, he lamented. Ayesha, her daughter-in-law Hemera and Babu have been booked under the SC ST Prevention of Atrocities Act but are yet to be arrested.
In the “land of Periyar” where the caste system has been abolished as per the claims of Dravidianists, an SC Hindu man is facing caste discrimination from a Muslim. if anything Dravidianists only brush such incidents under the carpet with the help of pliant media. As DMK and Dravidian Movement seeks to spread wings in other states, Bharatiyas should be aware of their tall social justice and equality claims.
