Dalit existence is under constant attack and the silence is deafening

What does a casteist society really gain by killing a human being just for falling in love? The truth is nothing. The men who uphold caste pride don’t progress in life, they don’t grow as human beings, and they gain nothing except the illusion of control over other lives.

We’ve been told for decades that education is the tool to empowerment. But what happens when even the most educated among us are not allowed to survive because of caste? What is the use of receiving a degree if loving someone from an oppressor caste means they could be murdered? Which “criteria” really define survival in this casteist society merit, or the caste we’re born into?

The False Narrative of ‘Nadaga Kadhal’ and Victim blaming

After every killing, there rises casteist and patriarchal narratives that would twist the story so that the victims the ones who got killed and the ones who lost their partners become the problem. This strategy divides the oppressed, preventing unity against the system that harms them.

In case after case from Kannagi-Murugesan, to Ilavarasan, Gokulraj, many more, and now Kavin, victims are smeared with the same tired propaganda: that oppressor-caste women are “tricked” or “lured” by Dalit men. This is a lie designed to criminalise Dalit men and erase the agency of women from casteist narrative. Men from oppressor caste think they protect the chastity of women, to maintain their caste purity they make films and in the process of making a film to promote caste pride and create awareness about 'nadaga kadhal' an imaginary concept they end up shaming and objectifying women. Also many films promote rage and violence against Dalits and portray them as abusers and gangsters.

Have you ever seen what actually happens in an inter-caste love? women in these relationships willingly chose their partners and often say they felt more respected, heard, and free than they ever did in their own caste households. They describe these relationships as deeply nurturing even maternal in emotional care not manipulative. There are men who listen, accept and create space for her voice in a way many casteist men never do. Casteist men never know how love with a progressive man can be liberating. The so-called “Nadaga Kadhal” theory is nothing but a clueless, casteist fantasy. This fantasy leads no where other than caste-killings in reality.

Caste Pride Is Insecurity

Casteist violence often springs from deep insecurity: “What if the women from our community don’t like us? What if we lose respect?” Instead of working on themselves, learning empathy, or becoming better men, they destroy lives. They don’t just kill individuals, they try to kill the possibility of love, choice, and equality.

This violence doesn’t stop at relationships. A Dalit boy under 18 can be attacked simply for excelling at school, like the Nanguneri student who was brutally assaulted. When asked what message he had for his attackers, he said: “They should also study like me and progress in society.” That is the mindset of Dalits seeking empowerment through education, not revenge. Compare this with casteists who, out of jealousy, attack a man for something as harmless as riding a Bullet bike.

A Pattern of Atrocities

Honor killing is just one form of caste atrocity. Dalits are beaten, humiliated, and murdered for trivial “offenses”, for winning a kabaddi match, wearing certain clothes, or simply walking with dignity. The message is clear: Dalits are not allowed to live as equals. This is nothing short of a slow genocide, a systemic erasure of a community, much like species extinction. And it is happening not in some faraway land, but here in India, to people who look like us.

State Failure and Vote-Bank Politics

Governments promise legal reform against honor killing, but these promises remain on paper. Even several concrete measures has been proposed such as preventing oppressor-caste clusters from controlling local police, they are never implemented. Why? Because they are afraid of losing the oppressor-caste’s vote bank.

Police complicity in caste crimes is not new. Delays in filing FIRs, reluctance to arrest oppressor-caste perpetrators, and blatant victim-blaming leave survivors hopeless.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Caste pride has never saved a life, fed a child, or advanced society. If anything, it degrades everyone it touches. Oppressor caste men cling to imagined superiority while erasing real human connections.

Kavin’s murder is not just a “honor killing”, it is part of a calculated, ongoing brutality against Dalits. Until we confront the caste system head-on, dismantle its structures, and reject its false narratives, India will continue to lose its humanity, one life at a time. As a society we are failing to save the innocent instead we are nurturing the criminals with hatred on caste grounds!