A day after Kabali fame director Pa Ranjith became emotional while speaking at an event in Chennai to condole the death of Anitha—a dalit student who committed suicide over the NEET issue—BJP activist and actor S.Ve. Shekher took a dig at the director for bringing up her caste identity.
On Friday, Ranjith tore into all social assertions associated with her death. An angry Ranjith was responding to director Ameer, who spoke about Tamil nationalism. “We are living as dalits only. Villages still have segregation, separate space for dalits. I still live in a cheri. Someone here show me a village which does not have a cheri. Tamils are divided by caste. Accept this,” he said, to a huge applause from the assembled crowd.
Ameer was seen arguing that Anitha’s caste identity was irrelevant to the anti-NEET discussion in Tamil Nadu, and that there was need for a unified opposition to NEET. Tweeting sarcastically, a day later, on the argument between Ameer and director Ranjith, actor S.Ve. Shekher, who was once with the AIADMK, said, “I express my gratitude and salutations to Ranjith who calls himself a dalit with pride. He had declared himself as a dalit and not a Tamil.”
Replying to Shekher, in yet another tweet, Ranjith, said, "Dalit is not a caste, it is a liberating concept to eliminate Aryan-casteism."
Ranjith shot to national fame after his movie Kabali, starring Rajinikanth. Ranjith hails from a dalit family and both his directorial ventures—Madras and Kabali—were infused with strong overtones of caste politics. On the other hand, S.Ve. Shekher who was once an MLA from the Brahmin-dominated Mylapore constituency in Chennai (from the AIADMK), is with the BJP and has been openly supporting NEET.
Ranjith's next movie with Rajinikanth, Kaala, is under production and is expected to hit the screens very soon.
