KOZHIKODE: Chitralekha’s ordeal has no end. Soon after the Dalit autorickshaw driver called off her 47-day-long agitation in front of the secretariat after the government agreed to her demands last week, her rickshaw was destroyed. “I have been facing these attacks from goons since 2005,” says the 39-year old woman from Edat, near Payyannur.
Her decade-long protest is a Dalit woman’s fight against the caste system and ironically, all her alleged oppressors are allegedly from the CPM stable. Chitralekha had attracted the limelight after she faced ostracism from fellow male autodrivers of Edat when she decided to run her auto there. “Derogatory comments were rained on me and casteist remarks were passed too. What provokes the men in the CPM-controlled area is that I question them and disclose things to the media,” Chitralekha says. “My marriage to Sreeshkanth, who belongs to Thiyya community too invited the wrath of party. They tried to separate us,” she alleges.
Several false complaints were slapped on her to rein in the ‘questioning pulachi’. Unable to bear the continuous torture, she started a 122-day long protest in front of Kannur collectorate in October 2015.
The Chief Minister promised he would give land in Kannur so she could shift from Edat and also make arrangements for running her autorickshaw in Kannur. The non-implementation of the promises triggered another protest in front of the Secretariat on January 5.
“Now I have got the title for 5 cents of land at Katambally and an assurance to build a house. I was in Edat to look into withdrawing of the false charges framed against me in Payyannur station. The auto was damaged in the wee hours of March 3,” she says. But CPM Payyannur Area secretary T.I Madhusoodhanan dismisses all allegations. “She might be knowing that maligning CPM would get her overwhelming support, especially in social media,” he added.
