While the pain of Nayakkankottai residents, who lost almost everything in the November 7 violence, is yet to subside, most of them feel that after so much of sufferings, the couple, Divya and Ilavarsan, should not have separated. Had they lived together that would have been the right honour for the victims of the November violence, they said.
Chinnasamy, a resident of Nayakankottai, talking to Express said, “Most of us lost everything that we earned all these days in the violence that rocked our village in November last year. Love is a personal issue between two persons and it should not have been used for political gains as done here. Even as we regret our losses, we had always wanted them to be together. Now, everything is ruined.”
He added, “Politicians always take pride in saying Tamil Nadu is the birth place of Periyar. But this pride seems to have been lost, and we are not the right heirs to his legacy.”
Many other residents Murugan, Nagamal, Gopal and Mallika, echoed the views of Chinnasamy. All of them were victims of violence and they want the couple to live together.
Another villager on condition of anonymity, said, “They must reunite, or else all our sufferings and sacrifices will be in vain.”
He further said that their reunion would pave the path for progress and it would also put an end to opposition to inter-caste marriages in the State.