Treatment of Dalits Ramanathapuram district was deemed to be infamous for its brutal caste based discrimination during the colonial era of the 1930s. Dalits were denied any type of symbols linked with superior social position. In his book, J. H. Hutton, the then Census Commissioner, explained the eight restrictions enforced on Dalits by upper castes, including a ban on the use of jewelry, ornaments and
education. This system was subsequently re-established with a stricter collection of 11 restrictions.
Rise of Dalits In the 1930s, with the support of Christian missionaries,
Dalits became educated and economically strengthened. As Dalits gained access to jobs and education, they started to assert themselves. But at the other side, the Thevars stayed disadvantaged in education and, as reported in the Government Order in 1957, they were unable to "align themselves with the present democratic reality and could not accept that the
feudal system was rapidly disappearing." Due to the rise of
Immanuel Sekaran, there was a huge change in society in the form of resistance to caste exploitation by low-caste and Dalit workers, particularly in the southern districts as well as from
left-wing movements in the
Thanjavur district. This led to increased awareness amongst Dalits, who used the opportunities available in the government through the
policy of reservations. The social scientist M. S. S. Pandian described that migrating to greener pastures and later returning to their villages and investing in agriculture enhanced their financial base, which ultimately led to Dalits, starting to assert themselves.
Elections The
Congress Reform Committee (CRC) was formed one month before the
1957 elections to the
Lok Sabha and the
Madras Legislative Assembly, and soon began cooperation with the
All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) of
U. Muthuramalinga Thevar. The CRC-AIFB combined contested 59 seats in the assembly election, 54 candidates from CRC, and five candidates from AIFB. There was also an informal agreement with the
Communist Party of India, which did not oppose the CRC. In the 1957 general elections, U. Muthuramalinga Thevar had contested both the
Srivilliputhur parliamentary seat and the
Mudukulathur seat in the
Madras legislative assembly. He won both, defeating the
Congress candidates. The combined CRC-AIFB formulated a 12-point election
manifesto and emerged as the major opposition alliance in these elections, but could not defeat the Congress government. CRC won 14 seats and AIFB won three. Half of the seats won were from the Ramnad and Madurai districts. Following the election, a joint 'CRC opposition' group was formed in the legislative assembly, to counter the bid of the
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (which had 16 seats) to hold the post of Leader of the Opposition. Soon five independent assembly members joined the CRC opposition group, and V.K. Ramaswamy Mudaliar was elected leader. After the election, Thevar chose to retain his parliamentary seat, and a
by-election was called for the
Mudukulathur assembly constituency. The by-election was held on 1 July, and when the results were released on 4 July, the situation in the area grew tense. The Forward Bloc candidate T.L. Sasivarna Thevar won the election. Gradually, incidents of violent clashes between
Thevars (who generally supported the Forward Bloc) and pro-Congress
Pallar began to occur. Initially these clashes were limited to a handful of villages, but after some time the violence spread throughout the constituency. In order to offer sacrifices to the
Badrakali temple, the Maravars kidnapped 9 Dalit men from the Katamangalam village and took them. == Events during the riots ==