Nearly 3,000 Dalits from five Tamil Nadu districts have decided to convert to Islam next month, alleging continued caste discrimination and torture. The decision comes weeks after a wall collapsed at Mettupalayam taluk in Coimbatore, killing 17 Dalits, reported Indian media.
The 20-ft wall — known as the ‘caste wall’ — was built five years ago to keep the Dalits separated from their upper caste neighbours. It collapsed on 5 December due to incessant rains.
“We have been discriminated against for decades and six months ago, we had decided that we have had enough and will convert. The wall collapse gave us an opportunity to prove our point and explain to those who are ready as to why converting would give us peace of mind,” general secretary of Dalit rights outfit Tamil Puligal Katchi (TPK) M. Ilavenil told ThePrint.
All these 3,000 Dalits are members of the TPK and spread over five districts — Erode, Coimbatore, Tirupur, Namakkal and Salem.
“If a religion does not value our lives, why should we sacrifice?” Ilavenil asked.
Dalits of Nadur village, where the wall collapsed, allege that it was built without any pillars to support it, with the sole intention to keep them away from the Mudaliars, who belong to the Other Backward Class (OBC), living nearby.
The residents of the village have been staging protests for the last five years, demanding that the wall be brought down. But the government paid no heed, they claim.
S. Sivasubramaniam, an OBC, the man who built the wall, further increased the height of the wall to 20 feet from 10 feet, said one of the residents.
