A learned man in Tamil Nadu has taken it upon himself to clean the septic tanks in the state and has been carrying out this task for the past three years.
Ravichandran Bathran, now known as Raees Muhammad, former assistant professor at the University of Madras and postdoctoral fellow at South Africa's University of Southampton, has welcomed the Supreme Court's verdict on sub-categorisation of SC/STs for jobs and admissions.
The Many Omissions of a Concept: Discrimination among the Scheduled Castes is the title of a research paper by Muhammad, which was included by CJI DY Chandrachud in the footnote of Section D of the judgement delivered on August 1. Hailing from Kotagiri in Nilgiris district of TN, Muhammad is reportedly known as 'Septic Tank Bhai'. He embraced Islam in 2022. “Just as Dr BR Ambedkar embraced Buddhism, I embraced Islam,” Muhammad told The Indian Express.
In 2021, Muhammad decided to start Kotagiri Septic Tank Cleaning Services Pvt Ltd. “I realised that there are people who employ Arunthathiyars (a caste community from Tamil Nadu) and make money from their backbreaking work. I thought, why not start a business?” he said, referring to his plans to stop people from climbing into septic tanks.
According to Muhammad, the Arunthathiyars in Tamil Nadu face discrimination and violence and he hopes that sub-categorisation of SCs for reservation will bring some benefit to the community.
“If someone needs to get into a tank and clean it, I don't let my workers do it. I do it myself,” he assured. Muhammad has built up his business and now pays his cleaners and drivers 30,000 and 40,000 rupees respectively. With an annual premium of 15,000 rupees, his company's employees also have group health insurance.
He says that the roots of the caste system lie in toilets, quoting Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek: “As Zizek says, the structure of the toilet says a lot about the culture of a place. In India, toilets used to be outside the houses. Toilets were always associated with people who were untouchables and outcasts.”
Before starting his business, Muhammad ran a YouTube channel called 'Dalit Camera'. He said that his mother and father worked as cleaners and supported him in everything. His wife Karpagam Allimuthu is a councillor of the Kotagiri Town Panchayat.
“Teaching was not fulfilling for me. I always wanted to do more for my community. I realised that it is important to mobilise the Arunthathiyars,” stressed Muhammad, adding that the Arunthathiyars are in dire need of community leaders.
Muhammad also holds a PhD in “Language, Caste and Territory: Language Spoken by Scavenger Castes in South India” from the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad.
“The Dalit category does not help in addressing the question of hygiene… the universal appeal of the Dalit nomenclature could not accommodate the politics of the lower castes, and over time the Dalit category became synonymous with the SC category of the middle class,” Muhammad wrote in a 2016 article titled Economic and Political Weekly.
“This is a landmark judgment. It is revolutionary because I think it will start a discussion about the atrocities committed against the most untouchable castes of the caste system,” he said, referring to the Supreme Court's ruling on subcategorisation.
He further said, “The Arunthathiyars can now declare the discriminatory practices against them, including those practiced by other Dalits, illegal. The judgment recognizes that cross-caste atrocities are widespread among Dalits.”
When asked if he planned to return to teaching, Muhammad replied: “I don't think so. The last two buckets of excrement in the septic tank must always be cleaned by hand – with the hands of my people. As long as there are castes, there will be caste occupations. We must rebel against that.”
Published on 04 August 2024, 12:06 IST
Comments are closed.