A caste killing over beef
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Countless lynchings have taken place in the country over the past ten to twelve years, either over the possession of beef or on suspicion of keeping beef at home. One more tragic death has now been added to the list. This time, it was not in North India, which is becoming the heartland of Hindutva communalism, but in Tamil Nadu, the bastion of Dravidian politics that challenges communal and ethnic supremacist claims. While Akhlaq of Dadri and Naseem Qureshi of Bihar were surrounded, beaten and killed by communal assailants on charges of possessing beef, a 16-year-old named A. Akhilan, a Class 11 student at Sree K.K. Naidu Higher Secondary School in Coimbatore, ended his life. He had given up his dream of becoming a lawyer and pleading cases for the poor in his hometown without charging any fees, and joined Rohith Vemula and Dr Payal Tadvi.
Kausalya Devi, his mother, laments that her son took a drastic step when the insults and attacks by his classmates, who called him a beef eater and taunted him over his caste, became unbearable. However, there is a backstory to the children's teasing and misbehaviour which illustrates how caste operates in educational institutions across the country, regardless of whether they are in the south or the north. Akhilan applied for a scholarship scheme for Dalit students. During the investigation, the teacher asked which students in the class ate beef, and Akhilan and four others stood up. After that, two classmates made a habit of hurling caste-based slurs at him and physically assaulting him. Although they reported the matter to the class teacher and the school principal, neither paid any attention to it. Kausalya says that although she had decided to raise the issue with the school, her son backed out because he feared further retaliation. Reports have emerged that the teacher who behaved irresponsibly also belongs to the Dalit community. However, that does not diminish the gravity of the offence. Chief Minister Joseph Vijay, who paid floral tributes to the Ambedkar statue before taking the oath of office and announced that he would take uncompromising action against crimes targeting Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, needs to formulate a strong plan to prevent such caste-based atrocities centred on educational institutions.
The news of Akhilan's death comes amid protests demanding action against those responsible for the suicide of Sahil Wakhode, a Dalit student at IIT Mumbai, after he was subjected to caste-based violence. Each such death underscores the fact that Dalit students, whether in premium higher education institutions such as IITs and IIMs or in schools, are forced to live as second-class citizens, while those who cannot endure such treatment have no choice but to drop out of their institutions or leave this world.
A casteist mentality prevails in the country's education sector, as though scholarships and reservations for Dalit students were acts of generosity on the part of others. This pernicious mindset, fuelled by racist and communal politicians, institutional authorities and teachers, has spread even to school students. In addition to caste-based abuse and violence, casteist forces have not hesitated to exclude Dalit and backward-class students from academic spaces. Renaissance Kerala, which prides itself on being caste-free, is no better in this regard. For it was the same kind of exclusion and untouchability that was faced by Dr Deepa P. Mohanan at MG University and Anagha Sasi at Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University.