VILLUPURAM: A day after the murder of a shop worker on March 29, members of the Villupuram chamber of Commerce shut shops on MG Road and the market area, claiming that rowdy elements were behind the murder. Sources said traders had requested the district administration and police to evict pushcart vendors from Thiru Vi Ka Street, MG Road, and Baghar Shah Street to avoid a repeat of the 1978 violence in Villupuram.
At a meeting with district collector C Palani, traders’ guild president N Ramakrishnan, who took part with other members, said, “There is already a bad memory about the clashes between the vendors and caste Hindus in 1978-79. We don’t want it to be repeated.”
This came as a shock to the vendors of GRP Street most of whom are from Scheduled Caste communities. They said the connection being sought to be created with the 1978 violence only reflects the caste bias towards them.
In July 1978, 12 Dalits were killed and over 100 houses were set ablaze in Periyaparaichery colony — now GRP Street colony. The clash erupted after a group of Dalits attacked a man from a dominant caste for allegedly molesting a Dalit woman. As per official sources, members from the dominant caste launched attacks on Dalit settlement and assaulted locals. The Dalits retaliated by setting several houses on fire. Official sources said 34 caste Hindus were arrested, three sentenced to death, and 27 were given life imprisonment.
When asked about the reason behind connecting the 1978 violence with the ongoing case, Ramakrishnan told TNIE, “We had filed a case in the Madras High Court in 2018 to remove the street vendors since they blocked the way to shops in the market. The court directed the district administration to relocate vendors and six spots (for setting up a market complex for them) were suggested. But the vendors refused and district administration too forgot about it.”
“But since the next generation focused on education, there was hardly any commotion. In recent months, however, the violent behaviour of the people from the area (GRP Street) has resurfaced, with drug abuse and ganja use becoming rampant,” Ramakrishnan said.
According to vendors’ association president S Manikandan, one of the vendor’s son had murdered the shop worker under the influence of ganja, but the menace of drug abuse has been sidelined to deliberately turn the spotlight on vendors. “If law and order is the issue, a man was beheaded in the same area in 2015 and the chamber did not bring up the community of the accused at the time,” Manikandan said.
“Will the same logic be applied in the case of a shopping complex or a mall? Will police and district administration announce the removal of all shops? No, right? Then how are we any different? We are vulnerable because we are SCs,” said vendor M Manikavasagam. Municipal Commissioner N Surendar Shah told TNIE that an alternative place for street vendors in the market place will be identified after a detailed probe.