http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=%E2%80%98Uthapuram+in+bad+shape%E2%80%99&artid=2ND3GNhS32Y=&SectionID=vBlkz7JCFvA=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=EL7znOtxBM3qzgMyXZKtxw==&SEO=
By Express News Service 26 Oct 2008 02:22:00 AM IST 'Uthapuram in bad shape' UTHAPURAM: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) warned the State Government against using coercion to suppress people fighting against caste atrocities in the state. "If the fight against caste atrocities is suppressed using repressive mechanisms like the police in Uthapuram, the CPI(M) will unite all democratic forces to battle against the tendency," party state secretary N Varadharajan told reporters here. Distributing relief packages to 93 Dalit families, who were affected in the the clash with upper caste Hindus on October 1 here, he said the situation in Uthapuram was bad. Under the pretext of conducting raids and search operations, the police allegedly assaulted Dalit women and destroyed their belongings, he added. "Uthapuram village will turn either into a war zone or a place for peaceful co-existence, depending on the action of the State,'' he said. Though the State demolished a small portion of the wall that separated Dalits from upper caste Hindus, the former were still denied access to the common areas of the village. The State Government had also failed to build a bus shed and an alternative drainage line or cover the sewerage line (passing through the Dalit areas) in spite of district collector J Jawahar's assurance soon after the demolition of the wall. "The State Government can't even implement the small promises," the Left leader said adding that 40 years of Dravidan rule had not ended caste atrocities in Tamil Nadu. Addressing a gathering of Dalits earlier, he said the CPI(M) would carry forward the fight against caste atrocities across the state.
