A panel of MPs and MLAs deputed by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) to visit the three Dalit colonies that were attacked on November 7 expressed unhappiness over the State Government’s response to the incident.
After visiting the colonies, DMK organising secretary P.V. Kalyanasundaram said enquiries with the affected people revealed that the initial compensation sanctioned by the government was yet to reach many of them.
The affected people were inconvenienced when district officials could not provide immediate solutions to various problems that cropped up after the attack.
Mr. Kalyanasundaram said the team would submit its report to party president M. Karunanidhi in a couple of days.
VCK’s appeal to Left parties
Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leader Thol. Thirumavalavan has urged Left parties and Periyar and Tamil nationalist movements to fight for the cause of the violence-affected Dalits.
Leading a demonstration by his party on Wednesday, the VCK leader condemned the looting and setting ablaze of the houses of Dalits.
(According to officials, 268 houses were damaged in the November 7 attack that followed the suicide of a caste Hindu man over his daughter marrying a Dalit youth from one of the colonies.)
Targeting Pattali Makkal Katchi leader S. Ramadoss during most of his speech, Mr. Thirumavalavan said the PMK chief wanted to fish in troubled waters by casting aspersions on the VCK, accusing its cadre of forced inter-caste marriages in the district. The government must go for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the attack and the suicide of the girl’s father R. Nagaraj (45). The party suspected foul play in the suicide.
