Chundur Massacre

Chundur Massacre is an event in the history of Andhra Pradesh, India. It happened in 1991, in Chundur village in Tenali district of Andhra Pradesh, India.

Background

Chundur is a large village in the district of Guntur. It became a Mandal (known as Tehsils in other parts of India) headquarters following the N. T. Rama Rao government’s restructuring of the Panchayati Raj system in the mid-1980s. Located on the Chennai-Tenali railway line, 15 km from Tenali town, Chundur’s population was estimated at 5,800.

The Reddys constituted a major community, accounting for about half of the village’s population. The next biggest community was that of the Malas, which accounted for a quarter of the village’s population. Chundur had also benefited from the century-old Krishna canal. A look at the land distribution pattern provides important clues and insights into the emerging patterns of social tensions in the village. The total land under cultivation in Chundur was 2,400 acres (9.7 km²), half of which was owned by the Reddys. The rich peasants all belonged to the Reddy community and owned a maximum of 15-20 acres. The Telaga/Kapu caste, categorized as one of the Forward Castes, possessed around 250 acres (1.0 km²), and Brahmins and Vaisyas owned 100 and 65 acres (260,000 m²), respectively. The Dalits as a whole had 90 acres (360,000 m²) in their ownership.

There was a relatively high level of literacy and fairly large-scale employment among the Dalits. It was estimated that there were around 200 matriculates and 15 postgraduates among the Dalits; literacy was much higher among the Dalits than the Reddys. The railways were the major providers of employment for Dalits, and around 300 men were employed as fitters and gangmen. In addition, they were employed in the telephone department and banks. Employment in the public sector gave the Dalits of this village a high sense of security and confidence. The railway connection facilitated mobility for the Dalits of Chundur. This seems to have played an important role in increasing the agricultural laborers’ power to bargain for higher wages, at least during the peak agricultural seasons.

What was noticeable about the labor was the phenomenon of the gumpu contract labor system, i.e. a system in which laborers form a group and execute agricultural operations on a piece-wise basis. Thus, labor groups could be found waiting at Chundur railway station in the morning to take trains to go to places as far as Chirala and Narasaraopet to work in both agricultural as well as non-agricultural sectors. They returned home the same evening.

The Dalits also displayed a significant presence in the political arena. Although both the Reddys and Dalits traditionally supported the Indian National Congress, the upper castes did not take kindly to the Dalits’ political ascendancy to higher levels of the political ladder, such as the Mandal Praja Parishad (besides Chundur, four of the MPPs had Dalit presidents), especially as a result of reservations to local bodies.

The socio-economic specificity of Chundur rendered the Dalits relatively less dependent on the Reddys and, therefore, less vulnerable to Reddy domination and manipulation. Due to modern education, public sector employment and easy mobility due to the railway connections, the Dalits of Chundur demonstrated a perceptible transformation in their lifestyle, a great sense of awareness of their rights and, accordingly, assertion. This obviously was not to the liking of the upper caste landowning Reddys not only of Chundur but also of the neighboring Reddy-dominated villages.

Events

What happened on the morning of 6 August 1991 has to be seen against the accumulated frustration of the local Reddy peasantry. What initiated events was a trivial incident that occurred in a cinema hall. It may be noted that access to public places of entertainment and refreshment in Chundur, unlike in a large number of villages in other parts of the State, was less restricted, a fact symptomatic of Dalit awareness in Chundur.

'A Dalit youth, Ravi, studying in a postgraduate college in Nagpur, who went to a cinema theatre in Chundur ‘rested his foot on a seat in front which was occupied by an upper caste boy Kurri Srinivas Reddy. A minor altercation ensued between Ravi and Srinivas Reddy when the latter abused the Dalit youth in the name of his caste’. (Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee, 1991).

This happened on 7 July 1991. In the following days, both the Dalit boy and his father, who was a schoolteacher in a neighbouring village, were subjected to harassment by the Reddys as a measure of retaliation. ‘Fearing further reprisals from the upper castes, neither Ravi nor his father lodged any complaint with the police. This was resented by the Dalits who imposed a fine of Rs. 25 for submitting to the upper castes.’ This is illustrative of the fairly high level of awareness and assertion among the Dalits of Chundur, who were markedly different from those of other areas in terms of education and employment. This obviously attracted a severe response from the Reddys and their supporters in the village and even from those of neighboring villages.

The following extracts from a fact-finding report give a graphic description of ensuing developments.

‘On July 9, Reddys and Telagas formed into a committee and decided to enforce a social boycott of the Dalits (Malas). The committee was again headed by the village Sarpanch. Since then, the Dalits were not allowed to work in the fields of upper castes nor were they permitted to enter the upper caste locality. Land tenancies of the Dalits were canceled. The social boycott of the dalits led to tension and at this stage section 144 was promulgated in the village. While the upper castes engaged outside labour to work in their fields, the Dalits left to places like Tenali and Ponnur in search of work. A 50 strong police picket headed by Tenali Rural Circle Inspector was posted in the village since then.’ (Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee, 1991, pp.8-9)

The report narrates a sequence of events that clearly show that, while the Reddys of Chundur and their fellow castemen in the neighboring villages were determined to show their might, the Dalits also showed a will to retaliate. The presence of the police deterred them from a head-on collision. The prohibitory orders were lifted on 29 July, and in two incidents that occurred on 4 and 5 August, two Dalits were attacked and injured and ‘the same night additional forces were rushed to Chundur even as prohibitory orders were reimposed in village.

The final assault on the Dalits came on the morning of 6 August. The ghastly incident was preplanned and well-executed by the upper castes with the alleged connivance of the police officials present in the village.

‘One version is that a few Dalit youth attacked and inflicted minor injuries on some Reddys. However this was blown out of proportions by the Reddys who spread the falsity that three Reddy men were hacked to death by the Dalits. The Reddy men of nearby Valiveru, Manchala, Munangivaripalam and Vellaturu villages were also mobilised for an assault on Dalits. Around 11 a.m. Saibabu [the CI of police] and Vemuru Sub-Inspector Sheik Madarvali came to the Dalit quarters and asked them to flee as CRPF men from Mangalagiri might raid the village to pick them up following a complaint lodged by the Reddys. When the Dalits were hesitant to leave the village the police virtually chased them away. However all the Dalit women stayed back.’ (Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee, 1991)

What followed was:

‘The marauders, who came in tractors and scooters and were well armed, first caught the fleeing Dalits, beat them with iron rods and killed them with daggers and axes. They then leisurely packed some of the bodies in gunny bags and dumped them in the Tungabhadra drain and irrigation canal. Though the final tally of deaths could not be clearly ascertained immediately as most of the bodies were thrown in the canal, but at least eight Dalits are murdered in the heinous manner and many more injured in what could be described as an unparalled case of brutality.’ (Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee, 1991)

Justice

The police has charged 212 people in 12 different cases related to this incident. 33 of the defendants died during the course of the trial. 56 of the remaining defendants have been convicted while the rest 123 have been acquitted. Among the convicted 21 got life sentences and the remaining got 1 year imprisonment.

References

http://hrw.org/reports/pdfs/i/india/india929.pdf

http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/lsdeb/ls10/ses1/0409089101.htm

http://odi.org.uk/publications/working_papers/wp179.pdf

External links