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Allotment of land at a public crematorium in Kerala’s Palakkad district to a dominant caste organisation, which also built a boundary wall, has sparked a controversy with questions mounting over whether public spaces can be unofficially demarcated for caste groups.
On May 23, the BJP-led Palakkad municipality found itself at the centre of a storm after a local unit of the Nair Service Society (NSS), a powerful dominant caste organisation, began constructing a wall inside the Mattumantha public crematorium with official sanction. The construction, meant to demarcate land for a cremation shed funded by the NSS, triggered public outcry and prompted other caste groups to raise similar demands, raising larger concerns about caste privileges even in public crematoriums.
TNM spoke with two employees associated with public crematoriums in Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur district. They said even though Kerala had private crematoriums owned by particular caste groups, no public crematorium had these caste-based ‘compound separations.’
Prameela Sasidharan, chairperson of the Palakkad municipality, told the media that the NSS is only sponsoring the shed, and there are no restrictions on people belonging to other castes using it for their rituals. The letter by NSS requesting the municipality to allot the land for shed construction had also stated that it could be used by people belonging to other castes but there was no agreement per se.
The Palakkad municipality has now issued orders to stop the construction of the boundary wall. They also said they will construct the shed with the sponsorship of NSS. The chairperson said the sponsorship was allowed because the municipality has no funds for the development of the crematorium.
“In Thrissur Corporation, there is no separation of caste in crematoriums. The Palakkad incident became a controversy because it’s a lone case,” said Joyson, a staff member at the Thrissur Corporation crematorium.
In 2023, while disposing of a petition by an NGO against the Puthur grama panchayat in Palakkad, which allegedly denied burial ground access to a Chakkliyan community, classified as SC in the state, the Kerala High Court said that all individuals in the country have equal rights in public crematoriums, irrespective of their caste.
NSS demand for land
The Mattumantha public crematorium is spread over 10 acres of land and is used by people of many castes. Every caste has a specific place to conduct the final rites as per their community beliefs. Some portions in the crematorium are used by the Christian community too. Even though it’s not a written rule, the specific places were decided many years ago and continue to be used. But during the rainy season, cremation is difficult as there are no sheds.
Currently the only shed available was built around 10 years ago by the Brahmin community under the name of ‘Savasamskara Samrakshana Samithi’, with three cremation chambers. Even though it can be available to all communities, the Brahmins enjoy a special privilege and have priority in using the chambers.
In their application form for allocation of land, NSS stressed this and said that non-Brahmin communities are compelled to perform post-death rituals without following the tradition if more Brahmin bodies are brought for cremation at the same time, as they have priority there. The NSS requested permission to construct a shed to overcome this issue.
Speaking to TNM, NSS Valiyapadam unit secretary Parameswaran Nair said that the NSS would build a shed with eight cremation chambers that can be used by all communities. “Many are facing difficulties due to the lack of sufficient cremation chambers, that’s why we initiated this work. We intended to help, and do this for all communities. Since the existing shed has only three cremation chambers, we can only avail that after Brahmins,” he said.
It was around two years ago, on September 15, 2023, that the Valiyapadam NSS unit submitted a request to the municipality to obtain 10 cents of land in the Mattumantha public crematorium to build a shed for cremation. Fifteen days after the submission, the order was sanctioned through a municipal council resolution on September 30, 2023. Even though the NSS requested only 10 cents, the municipality allocated 20 cents and the NSS put in a borewell and motor on the land to avail water for post-death rituals.
After five months, on February 7, 2024, the 20 cents of land was officially demarcated for the NSS unit. The letter by the panchayat secretary that granted permission to build the shed said “the land will remain under the control and jurisdiction of the municipality.”
Even though the NSS obtained the municipality’s permission a year ago, the public became aware of it when the organisation initiated the construction of a wall in the designated place.
Other caste organisations raise similar demands
Following the NSS move to construct a shed on the land allotted to them, other caste organisations in Palakkad have made similar requests. Currently, Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) representing the Ezhava community and Viswakarma community, both classified as Other Backwards Class (OBC), and the Cheruma community, classified as Scheduled Caste (SC), have made representations to the municipality.
In the application form, they all mentioned the 20 cents of land allotted to the NSS and requested that the municipality allocate them land for a similar purpose. “Conducting cremation during the monsoon is difficult. Land is being requested so that a shed could be built to overcome this challenge,” said the letter by the Ezhava community.
Gopakumar Velayudhan, a representative of the Vishwakarma community in Kalippara village, said they became aware of the municipality’s decision to allot land to the NSS only when the NSS started building a compound wall. “It’s a public crematorium. How can a community be permitted to construct a compound wall? It is not private property,” Gopakumar told TNM. He also said the letter from the Vishwakarma community was sent as a complaint rather than as a request for land.
“The municipality’s order is only for NSS. It did not mention that the shed is sponsored by NSS and that all communities can use it. Either the municipality can give us land, or they can build a shed in the name of the municipality for use by all communities,” Sasikumar, secretary Maruthwamala SNDP unit, told TNM. According to Sasikumar, around 400 families belonging to the Ezhava community are using the crematorium.
Krishnan Karuppan, a representative from the Cheruma community, told TNM that since an electric crematorium was established in Chandranagar, their community members prefer to go there. However, they submitted the request after they learned about the NSS’s compound wall construction. “If the NSS can be given a plot, why can’t we? Many people in our community had no personal land to bury bodies,” he said.
Caste wall?
The shed constructed by Brahmins has been there for the past few years, however, no one had complained about it as no compound wall was constructed. “Everybody can use it when it’s raining. But the NSS is trying to build a wall, that’s what we can’t agree with,” Gopakumar said.
Boban Muttamantha, an activist based in Palakkad, said it was dangerous to encourage caste divisions in a public crematorium. “If the NSS wants to build a shed, they don’t need to construct a compound wall for 20 cents. What is the guarantee that after the construction they will permit other communities to conduct cremations inside? Now, more communities are requesting land. Since the municipality granted permission to the NSS, they should permit other communities as well. Then the nature of the public crematorium will change,” he said.
“What is the guarantee that the NSS will allow other communities to use the shed they built?” this is the question being raised by other communities using the public crematorium in Mattumantha.
Speaking to TNM, Meenakshi TS, a ward member of Mattumantha, confirmed that the municipality has not signed any legal agreement with the NSS regarding the use of the shed by all communities.
Meenakshi said that since the crematorium had minimal facilities to cremate bodies and the municipality lacked the funds to develop it, they decided to accept the NSS sponsorship.
“A wall cannot be built there but the NSS was unaware of it. They informed us that they built the wall to protect a motor to be installed in the shed for drawing water and other facilities. We have now halted the construction work and ensured that all activities related to the shed’s construction will be conducted under the supervision of the municipality,” Meenakshi said.
She also said that there was no specific reason for allotting 20 cents to NSS after they requested 10 cents. “There is no specific reason. Initially, we weren’t informed that they were planning to put in a borewell and motor. So, later we provided more land for those facilities,” Meenakshi said.
“Public crematoriums might not have many facilities, but they are for everyone, and all individuals in this country get the same rights and security there. But that cannot be assured inside a compound built by a caste community,” Boban said.