Students’ clash turns ‘casteist’

CHENNAI: A clash between two groups of Dr Ambedkar Law College students here last night is assuming casteist overtones, as they belong to two communities hostile to each other and involved in frequent clashes in southern districts of the state. A group of students armed with knives, logs, iron pipes and tube lights attacked another group, in the presence of policemen, who were mute spectators, despite pleas from the public and journalists to intervene. The police said they needed written permission to enter the campus from the college principal. Finally, the public entered the college and chased away the students and rescued three critically wounded students. The condition of the three students was improving, police officials said, while seven students have been arrested.The clash is said to have broken out with the omission of Ambedkar's name from the name of the college in printed notices for the anniversary celebration of Muthuramalinga Thevar, a close associate of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose. Thevar's followers belong to a particular backward community who worship him as a deity during his birth anniversary celebrations. The people belonging to the backward community and Dalits in south Tamil Nadu have been involved in frequent clashes for more than two decades. Dalit students alleged that the students of the other community had deliberately omitted Ambedkar's name since they did not want his name to be seen along with that of Thevar. A state-wide alert has been sounded in southern districts, where the two communities are dominant, following reports of violence. A probe has been ordered into the clash.

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