Tamil Nadu: DMK Dalit Panchayat Chief In Tirunelveli Resigns Over Caste Discrimination Allegations

Even two years ago, Poongothai Sasikumar, DMK's Pappakudi Panchayat Union Chairperson in Tirunelveli, offered to resign over similar caste issue and submitted her resignation to the then Collector.

The DMK's Pappakudi Panchayat Union Chief in Tirunelveli has submitted her resignation, citing caste-based discrimination by the panchayat's vice-chairperson, who belongs to the Most Backward Classes (MBC) community. Poongothai Sasikumar, a member of the Scheduled Caste community, handed her resignation to Tirunelveli Collector Dr. KP Karthikeyan and DMK leaders, expressing that the ongoing discrimination had reached a breaking point.

This is not the first time Poongothai has faced such challenges. Two years ago, she offered to resign over similar caste-related issues and submitted her resignation to the then Collector, V. Vishnu, as reported on The New Indian Express. At that time, the party leadership convinced her to continue in her role, but the situation now seems beyond resolution.

However, when New Indian Express reached out to Poongothai, she reportedly refused to comment on the matter, 

However, Karthikeyan said that he received her resignation letter and a detailed inquiry was underway. He added that a decision would be taken only after the inquiry is completed. 

In a related incident, caste-based discrimination has also surfaced in Villupuram district. E. Sangeetha, a tribal woman and panchayat president of Anangur village in Gingee taluk, boycotted a gram sabha meeting held on October 2 to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, reported Times of India. Her protest was in response to the lack of action taken by the district administration regarding a caste discrimination complaint she had filed against the deputy panchayat president and her husband.

Following her protest at the District Collectorate, Sangeetha was booked under multiple sections of the BNS Act. The district administration took action based on an order stating that agitations held outside government campuses without police permission would lead to arrests.

Previously, several dalit panchayat leaders faced discrimination as they were denied the right to hoist national flag during Republic Day in their respective regions.