Latest news with #Mutharaiyar
New Indian Express
24-05-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin and leaders pay tribute on Perumpidugu Mutharaiyar's 1,350th birth anniversary
TIRUCHY: Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Friday evening paid floral tributes to Perumpidugu Mutharaiyar on the occasion of his 1,350th birth anniversary at Othakadai. The day saw visits by political leaders from across the spectrum, each making their own pitch to the influential Mutharaiyar community in central Tamil Nadu. The emperor is hailed by the Mutharaiyars, who are listed under the Most Backward Classes, as their cultural icon. Earlier in the day, ministers K.N. Nehru, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, Siva V. Meyyanathan, and MLAs Stalin Kumar, M. Palaniyandi, and S. Kathiravan also garlanded Mutharaiyar's statue. Talking to reporters, Poyyamozhi said, 'Mutharaiyar is not a leader of a single community but an icon for all Tamils.'
The Hindu
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Political leaders pay homage to Perumpidugu Mutharaiyar
Leaders from across the political spectrum paid tributes to Emperor Perumpidugu Mutharaiyar in Tiruchi on Friday, marking his 1,350th birth anniversary. A steady stream of visitors from various political parties, organisations and youth groups from Tiruchi and neighbouring districts gathered near the Mutharaiyar statue on Bharathidasan Salai to offer floral tributes. Deputy Chief Minister and DMK Youth Wing Secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin led the party's delegation, accompanied by Ministers K.N. Nehru (Municipal Administration), S. Regupathy (Law), and Siva V. Meyyanathan (Backward Classes Welfare). Minister for School Education Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi paid his respects earlier in the day. From the BJP, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L. Murugan, and State President Nainar Nagendran also paid their respects along withformer Minister Natham R Viswanathan from the AIADMK, and AMMK founder T.T.V. Dhinakaran and visited the memorial complex near the Central Bus Stand. Addressing the media, Mr. Murugan said a memorial for Mutharaiyar would be constructed at a location worthy of his legacy once the National Democratic Alliance forms government in Tamil Nadu. He also announced that the Centre would release a commemorative postal stamp next year in Mutharaiyar's honour. Maharashtra Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan, Naam Tamilar Katchi chief coordinator Seeman and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam general secretary were also among those who paid homage. Traffic snarls were reported across several parts of the city, including, Head Post Office junction, Bharathidasan Salai, TVS Tollgate, Sanjeevi Nagar, Cauvery Bridge, Chathiram Bus Stand, and Ponmalai G Corner as a large number of people converged in the city for the occasion. More than 1,200 police personnel were deployed for security. As per the order of District Collector M. Pradeep Kumar, 26 TASMAC liquor outlets and three recreation clubs in and around the city were closed until 6 p.m. to maintain law and order. Meanwhile, Mutharaiyar Ezhuchi Sangam, has welcomed the Union government's decision to conduct a caste-based census. In a press statement, the organisation's honorary president, S. Pannerselvam, urged the government to hold prior consultations with caste-based organisations, citing complexities in classification. He alleged that the State government was issuing caste certificates to Mutharaiyars under various names and demanded that they be issued under the Denotified Tribes (DNT) category. He further urged that DNTs, who currently fall under the Most Backward Classes (MBC) category, be given a separate reservation quota based on their population.
The Print
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Print
More than ‘petty quarrel over petrol'—behind Vadakadu caste violence, a long-simmering temple dispute
Tamil Nadu police played down the Pudukottai incident, saying the clash arose from a petty quarrel between two groups of youths over filling fuel at a petrol pump. The incident occurred as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin's government marked four years in office, a period that has seen a series of caste-related clashes across Tamil Nadu. Chennai: Over 20 people were injured and a Dalit family's house was allegedly torched in a clash between members of the Most Backward Community (MBC) and Scheduled Caste (SC) community in Pudukottai's Vadakadu village last week on 5 May. But people from the Dalit community said it was the result of longstanding caste tensions between the MBC and SC communities in the area. People in Vadakadu's Scheduled Caste hamlet said caste tensions had been simmering between the people belonging to the Muthuraiyar caste, an MBC community, and the Paraiyar community, a Scheduled Caste, for at least 20 years over a temple land dispute and the sharing of rights at another common temple in the village. According to Sethuraman from Vadakadu's Scheduled Caste, two temple disputes have long divided the village. One was over the ownership of a land belonging to the Adaikkalam Katha Ayyanar temple, which is predominantly worshipped by Scheduled Castes. The other was over access to participate in the Muthumariamman Temple festival in the village. 'People belonging to the Mutharaiyar community wanted the land in front of the Adaikkalam Katha Ayyanar temple to play volleyball, where we used to keep Pongal during the Chithirai month, the first month of the Tamil year. Similarly, we are denied access to perform rituals at the Muthumariamman temple, where every other caste in the village is allowed,' Sethuraman said. A senior police official in Pudukottai district, who did not want to be named, confirmed the longstanding issue between the two communities. 'But this particular incident was the outcome of a petty quarrel between the youths from two groups,' he said. As caste tensions flared, 100 people allegedly vandalised houses and vehicles at Thiruvalluvar Nagar, a Scheduled Caste residential area in Vadakadu village, on 5 May. The house of 58-year-old Mallika was among those targeted, and several vehicles—including two-wheelers and cars belonging to Dalits—were set ablaze by a mob allegedly belonging to the Mutharaiyar community. 'We had to endure all this, just because we questioned our right to access the Muthumariamman temple rituals during the annual festival of the temple during Chithirai month,' said Sethuraman, a resident of Thiruvalluvar Nagar. According to Scheduled Caste residents, while all castes in the village are allowed to participate in the Mandagapadi ritual—which symbolises a community's presence in the village by hoisting a white umbrella and displaying sacred weapons—only Dalits are being denied this right. 'For every caste in the village, one day is allocated to perform this ritual. Although it is a common temple belonging to Tamil Nadu's Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment department, we continue to face discrimination,' Sethuraman told ThePrint. However, temple trustee K. Devaraj denied the allegations of discrimination against the Dalits in the village. 'You can ask anybody in the village. We have been living in harmony for decades,' Devaraj said. However, when asked about allegations of denying Dalits access to perform rituals during temple festivals, Devaraj dismissed the claims, attributing the unrest to 'educated SC youths influenced by political parties'. 'Ever since I grew up, they never had the right in our temple. Now, very recently, for the last couple of years, they have been demanding their Mandagapadi rights. That is not the tradition of the village and the temple. Hence, we did not give them access,' Devaraj told ThePrint. Earlier, in another incident on 2 May, a 42-year-old Dalit woman, Muthuselvi, alleged that her pushcart was confiscated in Tenkasi municipality at the behest of the municipality Chairman Valli Murugan, who is the son of Congress MLA Palani Nadar. She also alleged that police threatened her not to sell beef in the Tenkasi municipality. Valli Murugan denied the allegations and told ThePrint that he has granted permission to set up the stall. The woman filed a complaint with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes in early May. Also Read: South Indian directors changing the way Dalits are shown in films—out with Brahminical gaze Caste-based discrimination Incidents of caste-based discrimination in Tamil Nadu have continued to surface in recent years, despite legal safeguards. From human faeces found in an overhead water tank supplying drinking water to a Dalit settlement in Pudukkottai district in 2022 and an assault on a Class XII Dalit student Chinnadurai in Tirunelveli in 2023 to three elderly Dalits being forced to prostrate before a kangaroo court in a village in Villupuram for conducting temple festival without permission in 2021—each case points to the persistence of caste-related violence in the state. According to data submitted by the Union Home Ministry in the Lok Sabha in February this year, Tamil Nadu recorded 1,274 cases of crimes against Scheduled Castes in 2020 and 1,377 in 2021. The number rose sharply to 1,761 cases in 2022. Human rights activist Kathir, founder of the Tamil Nadu-based NGO Evidence, alleged that the lack of swift action against perpetrators had contributed to the increase in crimes against Dalits. 'Even in the Vadakadu incident, as many as 300 people belonging to the dominant caste rampaged through the Dalit hamlet. However, cases were filed against only 15 and only 13 were arrested in connection with the incident,' Kathir told ThePrint. 'If this is the case, it is natural that perpetrators of caste crimes won't hesitate to harass Dalits and the Dalits will also start losing their confidence in the police.' However, Senior Minister Regupathy from Pudukkottai district told ThePrint that the number of cases filed under the Prevention of Atrocities (Against SC/ST) Act had increased as the state has been acting swiftly on caste crimes. 'The previous government did not even take the complaints of Scheduled Caste people to solve the issue. But after the DMK came to power, we are acting on every complaint and we ensure that a case is registered. Hence, the data shows an increase in caste crimes,' Regupathy told ThePrint. 'Police inaction' ThePrint spoke to a cross-section of Dalits in the village who said this was the first time violence of such scale had occurred in their village. 'Men belonging to the Mutharaiyar community used to abuse us verbally whenever we happened to meet them on the streets or at common places. But it has never turned into violence,' said Ambethvalavan, another resident. 'Even in the case of the two temple disputes, the land ownership case is before a local court as a civil dispute and we have been democratically demanding the temple trustees over our right to perform rituals.' Mallika, whose house was burnt, told ThePrint her livelihood was completely lost in the village's fight for its rights. 'We never asked for anything big. We did not ask for money, or property, or anything else that belongs to them. We just asked for access to perform rituals, which costs nothing. But, even for that, we have to pay the price of our livelihood,' Mallika said. (Edited by Sugita Katyal) Also Read: Violent clash erupts over temple entry for Dalits in Tamil Nadu 'minutes after peace meeting'
