Sengodi’s self immolation, is political protest a male prerogative?

By Geeta Charusivam on Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - 09:00

19-year-old Sengodi  doused herself with petrol to protest death sentence. She died within two hours. Most of the mainstream media downplayed her act of protest. Some trivialised it by saying she killed herself over a love affair. Is political protest a male prerogative? Geeta Charusivam, introduces us to Sengodi, and questions the media’s bias.

Most of you must have read of Sengodi’s self immolation in front of Kancheepuram Taluk office on 28th August 2011. She was a long standing member of Makkal Mandram and lived in its ‘‘Commune’ ’ with us all.

At around 4 pm, she left the ‘Commune,’  without informing any of us, went to Kancheepuram Taluk office campus, which houses the Courts, police station, Taluk and other government offices.

On the way, she stopped and bought petrol. She left the bike in front a tea stall, gave the key to the tea stall owner and told him, ‘Please give this to Akka tomorrow, I am going home by auto as there is heavy traffic.’

She then doused herself completely and lit a match. And raised slogans saying ‘Release Perarivalan, Murugan & Santhan’ till she fell down.

Sengodi’s death is a terrible and unexpected shock. We have never encouraged destroying oneself (by self immolation or other ways) to achieve our goals, so it was totally devastating for us all. We are unable to understand why she felt that this path could be ours.

Also women in our country have to face being burnt by family; in-laws etc or immolate themselves due to personal problems. So we have always been against self immolation as a form of protest.

We may not agree with her for doing so, but Sengodi made the highest possible sacrifice, that of giving up her life for others. We hope it will not go in vain.

We feel Sengodi’s sacrifice is her criticism of us all - political parties and various groups (including Makkal Mandram) that have been demanding commutation of the death sentence of Perarivalan, Murugan & Santhan, for not doing enough.

Sengodi was a very sweet and gentle person. She would not even scold children. Caring and sharing was her way of live. We would often tell her that self-care was equally important. She was very honest and had a strong sense of justice.

She was politically very clear and could articulate her views very well when required. She was not very vociferous, but always had a dignified presence. She was the backbone of our ‘Commune’ . No one can ever take her place. A Sengodi comes but once in the lifetime of an organisation!

Not many can understand our pain, our sorrow and our loss, because not many can understand the concept of a ‘Commune’ . Coming together, living in a shared space, sharing our dreams, our lives and our daily chores. This not because we have a biological or legal relationship, but because we are like minded.

Media’s apathy

Dina Malar (a Tamil daily) has been spouting venom against Sengodi and today it crossed all limits of decency. It showed its true colours once again. It is brahminical, no doubt. It cannot grasp the fact that an Irula Tribal woman like Sengodi could be politically articulate.

Not only that, it has also shown its patriarchal attitude with this comment. The article in Dina Malar was critical of all who are opposing death penalty to Arivu, Murugan and Santhan. It said that she committed suicide due to love failure and now these leaders are trying to pass it off as a sacrifice for a political cause.

Dinamalar insinuates that women can only immolate themselves over love, marriage or other personal issues, but cannot do it as a political protest. Unfortunately, this is very sad for us all who lived with Sengodi and knew her well.

My blood boils to read this malicious and false propaganda about Sengodi. Why is it so easy to try and destroy Sengodi’s final act by character assassination? Is it because she is a tribal or because she is a woman or both?

Geeta Charusivam, is a part-time social activist, closely supporting Makkal Mandram in their activities. 

This article first appeared in Geeta’s blog. It has been modified to be published on Just Femme.

Dina Malar has removed the online version of the article about Sengodi, after protests from Makkal Mandram other groups.

Makkal Mandram is based in Kancheepuram and working in the northern districts of Tamil Nadu especially Kancheepuram, Vellore and Tiruvannamalai. It is a women headed people's organisation taking up human rights issues. A core group of activists of Makkal Mandram live in a ‘Commune’  in Mangalapadi Village in Kancheepuram. Sengodi was also a ‘Commune’  member. Geeta knew her for nine years. 

This is a very mixed ‘Commune’  with men, women (single and married), couples and children all forming part of it. All the work (including house work and raising children) is shared by all members. They do not believe in caste, so members belong to different castes live, eat and sleep in the shared space. They also don't believe in religion (though there is no such rule that only non-believers can be members). Most are atheists (again not a fixed rule). They lead a semi-rural working class lifestyle.