Close on the heels of Pandiyankuppam village holding its first Gram Sabha meeting in 11 years after prohibitory orders were lifted in May this year, the Kallakurichi district administration has now managed to get two communities in another village, Seshasamudram, who have been at loggerheads for the last eight years, to arrive at a compromise.
The first Gram Sabha meeting of Seshasamudram village was held on Tuesday, August 15, 2023, after a gap of eight years following the District Administration’s efforts to bring the two warring groups: Vanniyars and Dalits, to rapprochement, bore fruit on Independence Day as members belonging to both sides participated in the Gram Sabha. They agreed to bury the hatchet.
The village, earlier part of the composite Villupuram district witnessed unprecedented violence on August 15, 2015, after a section of Vanniyars allegedly went on the rampage and attacked the Dalit colony in the village after its inhabitants insisted on their rights to take the temple car through the main road, which is common to both communities. The temple car and five houses belonging to Dalits were burnt down, and eight policemen and three revenue officials were injured in the violence. Later, 190 members belonging to the Vanniyar community were arrested in connection with the violence.
