54th DEATH ANNIVERSARY PARAMAKUDI

It is strange that a  man whose memory attracts over a million people, and increasing every year, on his death anniversary to his memorial in a village in interior Tamil Nadu over half a century after his brutal murder should only attract concerns over 'security' and 'tension' in the mainstream brahminized media. Over the last couple of years, Round Table has linked to five news items that referred to Immanuel Sekaran, and each one of them revealed the ruling classes' attempts, and barely concealed anxieties, to throttle his defiant spirit and message. To re-enact his assassination again and again, year after year. As a a fellow contributor remarked, 'How much repression to keep his memory down, amazing!'

Repression hasn't managed to kill Immanuel Sekaran's memory, but mainstream discourse, especially in the English language media, has carefully weeded out any but the barest references to him. Every exercise to make them forget Immanuel seems to have only strengthened the resolve of the Dalits of Tamil Nadu to remember him, cherish his memory. And today, yet again, they've braved bullets to prove how priceless his memory is.   

Today, on Immanuel Sekaran's 54th death anniversary, repression seems to have struck again, with renewed force. Police firing on participants observing the memorial day in Paramkudi has claimed three lives. We condemn this brutal act of repression. We mourn the lost lives. We shall remember those martyrs. We shall remember Immanuel Sekaran. We shall never forget. 

As a tribute to Immanuel Sekaran, to bring his memory to our readers, we've brought together a few pieces of writing to offer a glimpse into Immanuel Sekaran's life and struggles. We hope this effort shall be particularly useful for those non-Tamil readers who have been very effectively deprived, by mainstream media and academia etc, of Immanuel Sekaran's memory until now. What we've brought together now is a little sketch in a way, and not a detailed illustration; we invite readers to share their memories of him, by contributing articles - Round Table India