User:Priyangshu110/chitralekha

Eramangalathu Chitralekha (b. 1976 ) known publicly as Chitralekha is a Dalit woman auto-rickshaw driver and later activist from Payyanur in Kannur district of Kerala. She came into the public eye after she started driving an auto-rickshaw in the Edat area of Payyannur and gained a lot of media attention when her auto was burned down by members of CITU in December 2005. She staged a dharna in October 2014 outside Kerala's Kannur Collectorate which went on for 122 days and ended in February 2015.

Early life
Chitralekha grew up in Payyanur in Kannur district of Kerala. Her ancestral home is in Edat. She belongs to the Pulayar castes. Her father left his wife and three children when she was five. Her mother, Narayani, took up all sorts of menial jobs to bring up her children and to send them to school. Chitralekha studied till Class X and then did a short-term course in nursing and midwifery. She married early, had two children and was abandoned by her husband when she was 22. She later married Shreeshkant, an auto driver from the Thiyya community and previously an active member of DYFI, for which they faced a lot of casteist backlash as the Thiyyas (OBC) were much higher in the caste hierarchy.

Decision to drive an auto-rickshaw
She found it tough to continue with her nursing job as it involved a lot of night shifts and wanted to look after her two children.She left her job Under the People’s Planning Programme of the Left government, Chithralekha got trained to drive an auto-rickshaw. In 2004, she got her licence and bought an auto-rickshaw under the Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) scheme.

Struggles as an auto-rickshaw driver
Her decision to drive an auto rickshaw faced opposition from the auto drivers in Edat. They subjected her to casteist slurs and damaged her vehicle on 11th October, 2005. Chitralekha lodged a complaint with the police in reaction to which CITU auto rickshaw drivers pasted posters against her, filed a counter complaint alleging that she was a drug addict and started a smear campaign against her alleging that she was a drunkard and a sex worker.

Chitralekha and her family were living in the higher caste Maniyani dominated locality whose loyalty lay with the CPI(M). After her auto-rickshaw was burnt down, they were forced to flee to Badakara in Kozhikode district where they rented a house and tried other menial jobs.

Human rights activists from Kerala and beyond came to her help and raised money to buy her another auto, especially groups like Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes United Forum and Dalit Morcha.

In February 2008, the keys to the new vehicle was handed over to her by CK Janu.

In January 2010, Chitralekha and her family returned to Payyanur but faced violence from the members of CITU again. A four member fact finding team which included Nivedita Menon and Gail Omvedt went to investigate this event. They found multiple inconsistencies in the versions of the union and the police. In it's preliminary report, the team said that :"The January 20 incident is not an isolated one. Other Dalit women auto drivers in this region have faced intense intimidation, sexual harassment, caste-related abuse, accusations of promiscuity and immorality and damage to their autos."They concluded :"This unease with Chithralekha as well as the characterization of her as a woman “living outside the track” reveals their inability to tolerate this Dalit woman’s assertiveness, stubborn courage and confidence despite her caste and gender."Chitralekha and her family staged a dharna for 122 days (October 2014 to February 2015) outside Kerala's Kannur Collectorate after constantly facing violence from the members CITU. The then chief minister Oommen Chandy promised to rehabilitate her to another town in Kannur and gave her another auto.