The CPI(M)and, its sympathiser, "The Hindu" newspaper stirred up this fresh controversy in an otherwise peaceful village of Uthapuram. The Hindu twisted not only the facts about the "wall", but also doctored the photo of a supposedly "electrified" section of the wall. The fact is, they were normal Electricity Board wires, nothing to do with the wall. The angle of the photo published had employed an "optical illusion" to make it look as though the wires are on the wall. In any case a fully insulated wire on a wall is not "electrifying" the wall.
Ganesh, the author of this piece observes, this village is "like any other village in TamilNadu". The two communities co-operate in a number of ways to keep life going. Only when the Bollywood-inspired youngmen start saying vulgar things to the girls of the other community, trouble starts.
As someone familiar with such villages, I think that since the 1960s there have been attempts by various political entities to disturb village life - only for their political gain. Caste fights were a rarity, still are a rarity, in the villages of TamilNadu. Each caste minds its own business yet co-operates with other castes for the benefit of the village as a whole. There was fairness in most village conventions. I agree some conventions and practices were bad. Those have been gradually dropped.
The Dalits are, naturally, sensitive. They were ill-treated. However, now they are powerful politically. They can fight back easily.
RE:Dalits and Pillais in Tamil Nadu
by Veluswamy kumaran on May 29, 2008 11:13 PM Permalink
I hate Hindu, it is a newspaper, anti-tamil, anti-indian, anti-hindu and every possible thing which is against of me...
Despite being sold most of their prints in tamil nadu, they betrayed tamil interests and the interests of tamil eelam in every possible. Let us start avoiding hindu. Ram is a coward eetaapan. Remember how he licked Jaya's foot, when he was chased by police in bangalore...
RE:Dalits and Pillais in Tamil Nadu
by Kumar N on May 30, 2008 02:23 AM Permalink
The Hindu newspaper is one of most biased newspaper in India. For money they can write anything. Sri Lankan president Chandrika gave an award to Ram for his one sided stories praising the Sri Lankan governments genocide of Tamils.
The Hindu newspaper is a curse to Tamil Nadu. Right minded people should ignore this biased newspaper.
RE:Dalits and Pillais in Tamil Nadu
by bala sreenivasan on May 30, 2008 11:10 AM Permalink
Dear Kris Iyer, thanks for highlighting these lesser-known facts.
What else do you expect from a newspaper headed by a car-holding Marxist known for his 5-star lifestyle. The Hindu is infested with rabid Maoists anti-national elements fostered in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, Madras Institute of Developmental Studies, Chennai, aligarh Muslim University and of course Jamia Milia.
They shamelessly supported Indira's emergency which made the then I&B Minister Advaniji to comment, "if they were asked to bend, they crawled!"
And then you had a half-baked half-Danish columnist (Gail Omvedt) who had the gumption to call the Vedas as a pornographic compilation.
The Hindu proudly proclaims in its masthead as 'India's national newspaper'. It is certainly the national newspaper, not of India, but Pakistan!
