Santhaiyur village’s wall of untouchability goes for the better in Tamil Nadu

MADURAI: The controversial wall that created a divide, literally and otherwise, between two Scheduled Castes - Parayars and Arunthathiyars, in Santhaiyur village in Madurai district was pulled down on Friday amid security. With it, the differences between the groups have seemingly subsided.  Rajakali Amman Temple in Indira Nagar of Santhaiyur continued to be the centre of all disputes, as the Parayar community had built a six feet-high wall around it on a poromboke land four years ago. This irked the Aruthathiyars in the village who said the wall was built only to deny them access to the temple, while the Parayars claimed they raised it only to protect the temple.

Arunthathiyars, who are lower than the Parayars in the caste hierarchy, petitioned the district administration several times and held various protests, seeking to raze down the ‘wall of discrimination’. 
The continuous protests between the two SC communities in the village sparked tension, thus resulting in police giving round-the-clock protection to the wall. Meanwhile, in August 2017, the issue was taken to the Madras High Court Bench in Madurai, which, finding the wall as an encroachment on the government land, ordered its demolition within a span of four months.

Sore over the delay in the implementation of the order, the 90 Arunthathiyar families there resorted to various forms of protests such as surrendering ration cards and voter identity cards to the district administration and finally left the village and sought refuge in the nearby Thaen Malayandi hillock.
Meanwhile, one Palani Murugan, who was staying in the hillock along with other protesters, died of illness. This incident led to mounting tension, as the protesting Arunthathiyars refused to accept his body, lying in the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai, until the wall was demolished.

It forced Collector Veera Raghava Rao to hold several rounds of peace talks between both the communities, thus culminating in the demolition of the controversial wall. He, on Thursday, declared that it was not a ‘wall of discrimination’ and ordered that it be razed down and an anganwadi be built in its place with a public walkway for 2 metres. On Friday, when the wall was being demolished, a group of parayars and a few others, armed with kerosene cans, threatened self-immolation, following which police present on the spot detained over 100 persons.