Woman panchayat president victimised for being a Dalit

Repro: 14/4/2009
G Saravanan

Chennai, April 13: THE round table conference of Dalit Panchayat Presidents, organised by Human Rights Forum for Dalit Liberation (HRFDL) on Monday went into an eerie silence, when a woman Dalit leader burst into tears while describing how she was victimised by dominant cast after being elected to the top post. It took several minutes to console P Chinnammal, Jegathabi panchayat president in Karur district, by fellow leaders at the auditorium.

Besides, facing severe humiliation in her home turf for being a Dalit woman leader by dominant caste people, Chinnammal was now served with dismissal order under Section 205 of the Tamil Nadu Panchayat Act of 1994, which allows the removal of a panchayat president by the district Collector.

After winning the election, the vice-president of the Jegathabi Panchayat Sakthivel (from dominant community) did not allow Chinnammal to sit in the chair since she belongs to Dalit community. Though she filed complaint against Sakthivel’s attitude with the police, the case was not registered by them as well as by the district Collector since he belongs to a dominant community.

Meanwhile, the panchayat president with the common fund conducted some of the works with the concurrence of the vice-president. But after completing those works, her office forwarded bills for settlement and in this point of time; allegation was made against Chinnammal saying that she misused funds against the stipulated guidelines.

Based on the allegation, reportedly planted by Sakthivel, Chinnammal received dismissal order under Section 205 of the Tamil Nadu Panchayat Act. Since she was novice, Chinnammal approached Anbumani, Extension Officer of the Panchayat (EOP) to solve the crisis.

In collusion with Sakthivel, EOP not only misled her, but also sent a written reply to the notice as if she will not repeat the mistakes done by her without explaining the details to Chinnammal. The letter written by the EOP has become a statement of acceptance of the allegation against her. Based on the notice and reply, the Tahsildar came to the panchayat for enquiry.

Instead of asking Chinnammal to explain her stand for the allegation, the tahsildar just ignored her and wrote the resolution to dismiss the president and obtained signature from the members. Finally, Chinnammal received dismissal order on March 13. Though she appeals against the illegal dismissal order, the dominant community and vice-president Sakthivel forcing her to handover the power or face dire consequences.

‘Stop grumbling in public, live up to your posts’

Chennai, April 13: DALIT panchayat presidents need to adapt themselves according to the mandate of the post and there is no room for lame excuses for their inactions, R Christodas Gandhi, Principal Secretary, Youth Welfare and Sports Development Department and Social Reforms Department, said on Monday He was addressing a round table conference of Dalit panchayat presidents, organised by Human Rights Forum for Dalit Liberation (HRFDL) here.

Criticising some Dalit presidents who had complained about dominant caste representatives for not allowing them to sit in chairman’s chair, Gandhi asked: “Why do you always present yourself weak before others? After all, for sitting in a chair you don’t need any special powers.”

He advised the Dalit leaders to stop the habit of speaking or murmuring about their weaknesses in public. Such revelations would only insult other Dalit leaders in the state, he added. He also asked the Dalit leaders to form a forum to fight against injustice."