Six months after a skirmish over an Ambedkar statue, a social boycott of Dalits living here has yet not come to an end. The boycott was orchestrated against approximately 1200 Dalits of the Mala community by the other fourteen castes in the village, led by the land-owning Raju and Kapu communities.

The Dalits of Garagaparru, who work as tenant farmers or agricultural labourers on the fields of upper-caste landlords, or as staff and drivers at their houses, were removed from employment since May 5. Police filed a case against three people, all of them members of the Telugu Desam Party, who orchestrated the social boycott of the Dalits.

Pathe James, 39, is a tenant farmer who says his Kshatriya landlord withdrew his lease to the land James has tilled for five years. “The heads of the rest 14 castes in the village met in Sivalayam [the village temple],” he said. “They decided that anyone who employs us will be fined Rs 10,000. Anyone who speaks with us will be fined Rs 1000.”