Dalit panchayat president hoists tricolour five days after she was prevented by villagers

Seventy-fourth Independence Day arrived five days late for V Amurtham, the panchayat president of a nondescript village on the outskirts of Chennai, as she unfurled the national tricolour on Thursday.

Amurtham, president of Aathupaakam village in Tiruvallur district, was not allowed to hoist the flag on Saturday when whole of India celebrated the Independence Day.

Why? Because she belongs to Scheduled Caste (SC) and a few villagers prevented her from doing the honours citing her caste.

After the incident came to light, the Tiruvallur district administration swung into action and arranged an event on Thursday after suspending the panchayat secretary who colluded with a few villagers to prevent Amurtham from hoisting the flag on August 15. The husband of the vice-president of the village and the panchayat secretary have now been arrested.

On Thursday, Amurtham hoisted the national flag on a specially-erected poll inside the panchayat office complex, flanked by District Collector Mageswari Ravikumar, Superintendent of Police (SP) P Aravindan and other officials from the district administration.

She was elected as President on January this year.

“I breathed freedom for the first time today. I was duly elected as president by the people, but I was prevented from hoisting the national flag. Today, I feel proud, happy, and relieved. I am thankful to the district collector and other officials from the district administration for the special ceremony,” Amurtham told DH over the phone.

Also, for the first time after getting elected as President of the village, Amurtham got to sit on the chair meant for the panchayat president without any casteist taunt from villagers. The flag hoisting ceremony was arranged after the district collector met Amurtham on Wednesday evening and assured her of necessary steps to allow her to carry with her responsibilities.

The panchayat president was not allowed by “some people from the upper caste” in the village to function as the head of the village. “The panchayat secretary and the husband of the vice-president would insult me every time I went to the office. They would never share any details regarding tender to me. All that I was subjected to was casteist slurs,” Amurtham added.

“I am confident that I can continue with my responsibilities from now without any problem now that the district collector has intervened,” she said.

District Collector Mageshwari Ravikumar said she has instructed the district administration to check whether presidents belonging to SC community are being discriminated against and assured of necessary action.