The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Behind PMK pitch for parental nod for under-21 marriage: caste faultlines
Points towards tensions between Vanniyars and Dalits in Tamil Nadu
THE PATTALI Makkal Katchi (PMK), a key BJP ally in Tamil Nadu, has reignited a row by promising, in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, to make parental consent mandatory for marriages of individuals under the age of 21 years.
PMK manifesto
Releasing the manifesto Wednesday, party chief and Rajya Sabha MP Anbumani Ramadoss, son of party founder S Ramadoss, said its pledge addresses concerns over young marriages impacting women’s education and health.
The PMK claimed that its proposal would protect young women and preserve family structures,
Currently, the legal age for women in the country is 18 years as compared to 21 for men.
Caste conflicts
The PMK’S promise, which was also made in the party’s 2019 poll manifesto, reflects social tensions in Tamil Nadu over inter-caste marriages, with some observers drawing an analogy with the “love jihad” claims made by the right-wing groups to target Muslim youths. These tensions had intensified over a decade ago in the wake of several inter-caste marriages in rural Tamil Nadu, with Dalit youths finding themselves on the receiving end of accusations that they had allegedly “lured” women from the intermediate communities or backward castes through “romantic adventures”.
Dharmapuri riots
The conflict between the Vanniyar and Dalit communities flared up following widespread anti-dalit riots in Dharmapuri in November 2012 over the marriage between a Vanniyar girl and a Dalit youth. The PMK was said to have been at the forefront of the protests against the Dalit community that erupted against this marriage.
These protests turned had turned violent; a mob of over 1,000 people attacked Dalit hamlets near Dharmapuri town. The Dalit youth committed suicide in 2013. The PMK faced allegations of orchestrating these attacks on Dalits. Anbumani was then a Union minister in the Congress-led UPA government. His father Ramadoss, who denied the PMK’S role in the riots, made a controversial statement accusing Dalit men of “luring” Vanniyar women.