Chithralekha, a Dalit auto-rickshaw driver from Kerala, was in news after being repeatedly targeted by CPM for rebelling Communists’ caste supremacy in the red citadel, Kannur. In her biography, Chithralekha has torn apart pseudo-Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani’s mask of hypocrisy, recalling a real-life experience.
In her biography, titled KL 13 L 8527, Chithralekha says she faced gross discrimination at Mevani’s house when she visited Gujarat for taking part in a protest organised by Rashtriya Mevani’s Dalit Adhikar Manch (RDMM). The family members of Mevani did not even allow her to take a shower at his house, local media reports quoted Chithralekha as saying in the book. She says she was at the receiving end of caste discrimination at Mevani’s house.
Jignesh Mevani made his first appearance with a rally in protest against an alleged attack on Dalit men in Una village in Saurashtra region of Gujarat. The book reportedly contains many such incidents, which expose the pseudo-Dalit activists and feminists.
The biography is all about her prolonged struggle against the casteist Communists in CPM who called for an open war against the hapless Dalit woman after she married a man from upper-caste. In a revenge attack, CPM workers set her auto-rickshaw on fire in 2005.
Following the incident, she and her family came on the radar of the CPM leadership. As she did not succumb to the threats, the CPM socially ostracised her family; they were forced to flee their home village. She was physically attacked by CPM goons and her auto-rickshaw was destroyed several times. There were attempts of murder of her husband and brother-in-law. Her heartbreaking story came to light after she started an indefinite strike in front of the District Collectorate, seeking relief and protection from the Government.
According to Chithralekha, what is going on in the name of the so-called social renaissance and progressiveness is all propaganda. Caste and caste discrimination are very much alive in the state and play a crucial role in daily life. She says, no Dalit-Feminist outfits came to her rescue because CPM is on the opposite.
Born in SC Pulaya community, Chithralekha became an eyesore to the upper-caste leadership of CPM ever since she married to an upper-caste man, belonging to Thiyya community, says the biography by Rupesh Kumar. Published by Gooseberry Books and Publications, the book will be available in Malayalam and English languages.
