CeritalahCaste, Tamil nationalism and the Indian election

Social progressiveness has had a positive impact on Tamil Nadu’s economy – but what effect will have it have on the upcoming polls? We chat to a mixed-caste couple with firm views on identity to get a road map

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Jabaraj and Semmalar met as social workers. The married couple now reside in Tambaram with their teenage son. Photo: Ceritalah

Published: 12:00pm, 12 Feb 2019Updated: 1:49pm, 21 Mar 2019

Jabaraj Selvaraj is Tamil. Unusually for a resident of India’s predominantly Hindu state of Tamil Nadu, he is also a Christian and deeply critical of caste. The 38-year-old social worker is an unassuming man, sufficiently comfortable in his own skin to allow others – in this case his wife, Semmalar, an academic and a Dalit (previously known as “Untouchable”, though this term is now considered inappropriate) – to speak first.

They’re a young, attractive pair, especially when they both clamber onto his impressive-looking 350cc Royal Enfield Thunderbird motorbike. They’re also a mixed-caste couple.

Winning his parents over to the match wasn’t easy. As Jabaraj explains, “Your caste origins follow you even when you convert. My own caste, the Nadar, were known for their anti-Dalit violence and my father, well, he was concerned about what his relatives would think: the pressures of what society is going to say. But urban life is different from the villages.”

Along with their 10-year-old son, the couple live in a three-storey joint-family home in the bustling Chennai suburb of Tambaram. It’s a lively place. Jabaraj’s married sisters live nearby and the house hums with activity: there are visitors all day long and into the early evening.

Jabaraj and Semmalar work with schools in rural villages. Photo: Ceritalah

He hadn’t always wanted to be a social worker.