Manjolai Estate Conflict in Tirunelveli District - A Historical Survey

Abstract

Abstract: The tea estates of Manjolai, Kakkachi, Nalumukku, Oothu and Kuthiravetti are situated in the hills of Ambasamudram in Tirunelveli District. Middlemen of the employers brought people of Scheduled Caste communities from Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi regions and the Ezhava people from various parts of Kerala to work as labourers in the estates. The labourers are overseen by the Supervisors addressed as ‘Kangani’ who in turn are answerable to field officers called as Ayya, and they work under Estate Managers respectfully called Durai. The Estate Managers are usually from other states such as Karnataka and Punjab, and the Officers are from other districts in the State. In the year 1948, the Tamil Nadu Estates (Abolition and Conversion to Ryotwari) Act was enacted, and consequentially the Singampatti Zamin’s lands too came under the control of the Government. As a result, in the year 1952, BBTC had to renew its lease contract with the then Congress-led government in Tamil Nadu. Even though decades have passed, many of the demands raised by the labourers still remain unfulfilled. In painful contrast to the fresh leaves of tea that they pluck in the scenic hills up in Manjolai, the lives of the Tea Estate labourers remain as barren as a desert. The deceased workers were employed at the Bombay Burma Trading Corporation’s (BBTC) tea estates in Manjolai. Manjolai labourers massacre or Thamirabarani massacre of 23 July 1999 was the death of 17 Dalit labourers, including two women and a two-year- old child, when they got into the river to escape Tamil Nadu Police lathi-charge. Public were going in procession to Tirunelveli Collectorate to submit a memorandum demanding wage settlement for the tea plantation workers of Manjolai estate. An altercation between the police and the marchers resulted in a lathi charge by police. When the marchers ran helter-skelter, many fell into the river and died.Human Rights Watch condemned the brutal police attack and killing of Dalit tea plantation workers