CHENNAI: Long 75 after India’s Independence, caste discrimination continues to blight people’s lives in the country. But even as this social evil remains a thorn in the side of progress, new champions emerge to carry on the fight against it.
Ask the people of Indira Nagar in Ariyalur’s Anandavadi village, and they would tell you how their attempts to shake off insulting monikers to their street were defeated by deep-rooted casteism. They would also tell you about 28-year-old Anusuya Saravanamuthu, a young civil engineer whose efforts finally won them official recognition for their street’s chosen name. For many, it has surely brought faith back in societal progress.
After the government built them houses in Anandavadi, they named their street Indira Nagar in 2000. To those outside their community, however, the street was Keezha theru or Adi Dravidar theru, or Para theru. Anusuya was opposed to their street, home to 100-odd families, being called as such, for she had enough of people ill-treating them because of caste.
“In my childhood, I and other children from the street were forbidden from entering the houses of some of our friends. We could go near their doorstep, no further,” said Anusuya, who took her BE (Civil) from the University College of Engineering, Nagercoil, and is currently working for a Hyderabad-based company. In time, the original name of the street slipped into oblivion.
Even government documents such as ration, voter ID and Aadhar cards bore Adi Dravidar Street as their address, residents said. Anusuya, too, recalled how, despite giving their street name as Indira Nagar in their application for Aadhaar, her and her family’s cards ended up having Adi Dravidar Street as their address. The experience was similar to others.
Determined to end this casual casteism for good, Anusuya prepared a petition requesting Ariyalur Collector P Ramana Saraswathi to officially change the street’s name. She collected the signatures of everyone on the street and submitted it on a grievance-redressal day in August this year. As a result, the district administration officially recognised the street as Indira Nagar.
Lauding Anusuya for her deed, Amutham Pachaimuthu, a resident, said it remained a challenge for the whole community to bring the official name to common parlance.
“People from other streets continue to refer to it by the caste name. We hope this too changes.”
At present, the name board to the street is being altered and the residents believe this development would greatly benefit their children studying in schools and colleges and would go a long way in changing people’s perception. Notably, the neighbouring Chinna Anandavadi village, too, has a street named after a caste.
“I request the State government to pass an order to change all caste-based names of streets,” Anusuya insists, adding that everyone must make these changes.