At a time when caste issues are raising their ugly head, a village in T Kallupatti taluk is maintaining communal harmony for the past several decades, thanks to the guidance of elders in ensuring good relationship among the locals.
Visit T Kunnathur village, which has over 4000 resident, to have a proof to the peaceful atmosphere in hamlet.
Unlike in many other villages, Dalits here can enter any temple freely and offer worship. The people from different community conduct festival in different months in common temples without giving room for any dispute or unrest. This practice does not stop with temple alone, Dalits can step into streets of dominant caste members and fetch water from the taps
The most cruel practice of twin tumbler system prevalent in tea shops in other parts of the state is totally unheard of in T Kunnathur, which has 40 Dalit families in its limits.
To top all these, there is only one crematorium for members of various communities residing in the locality. Apart from the Naidus who are the dominant caste, the village also has a sizable count of Devanga Chettiyars and Vannars.
“Though the drinking water pipeline is close to the caste Hindu streets, they have never denied water or ill treated us when ever we go there to fetch water,” says Vannakuil, wife of Shanmugam, the councillor of ward 4 in T Kunnathur.
The caste Hindus also use our streets to reach there field and they have also been kind to us, adds Vannakuil, who runs a petty shop in the locality.
Subburaj, a retired head master of the government school says, “a Dalit has been elected as councillor in a ward where most of the electorate are from the dominant Naidu community. There may be small disputes between families of different castes but we ensure that the problem is resolved without bringing in the community angle.”
P Suresh Kumar, a college student, says that “I frequently visit the place of my friend who come from a dominant caste family and they have treated me with respect always. We have been friends from school days. Never caste feeling has come in between our relationship.”
P K Narayana Moorthy, a Naidu and a trader by profession in his early 80s, said that I have spent my entire life in this village and have never seen communal problems during these 80 years. Even during elections the secular image of the village has been maintained.”
As a perfect honour, the village has been presented with the best panchayat award and a fund of `10 lakh towards enhancing basic facilities by the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare department.
The award and the purse was handed over by Madurai Collector Anshul Mishra on Monday.
The panchayat president R Shankar while expressing his happiness over recognition to his village said that “We will utilise the money to renovate the school and would construct a community hall for the Schedule Caste members.”