The Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI) has strongly condemned the continuous and ongoing harassment of Chennai-based writer and Dalit activist Shalin Maria Lawrence on social media sites. The unprecedented attack being escalated in recent weeks amounts to “targeted harassment” and is engineered by handles supporting both the “DMK and BJP on social media,” said NWMI in a statement. A known face on Tamil Facebook for about a decade, Shalin moved to Twitter after 2018 to raise awareness about caste-related atrocities in Tamil Nadu. “This has drawn the ire of both right-wing groups as well as persons associated with the DMK, which is in power in Tamil Nadu. However, rather than engaging in introspection or at least combating her with facts, figures, or ideas, they have taken to coordinated attacks, bombarding her with demeaning language including casteist slurs, body shaming her, slurs based on her religion, and making scurrilous charges against her character and integrity. They have also targeted her close family members,” the NWMI statement said. The statement added that Shalin’s refusal to be silenced comes at a great cost to her physical and mental health. “Nevertheless, she persists to speak and write on caste and women because she believes these are important issues that must find a place in public discourse. Every political party in India speaks for women’s rights and equality. Every political party condemns gender-based violence and caste-based violence in the abstract. But not one political party has seen fit to stop its supporters from engaging in coordinated, targeted harassment – weaponizing gender and caste – of women, especially those from marginalised communities, who express their opinions,” the statement said. Being a prominent Dalit activist and writer from Tamil Nadu, Shalin was one of the many activists who met Rahul Gandhi during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Tamil Nadu. Despite her strong disagreements with the Congress party, she also had an audience with Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge during his recent visit to Chennai. Talking to The Indian Express on Tuesday, Shalin said she has been facing attacks all through her activism. “But the latest is much organised and like never before,” she said, detailing how a wave of attack comes at times from DMK and BJP handles. “Just like BJP-RSS cyber groups, DMK too has an effective system and WhatsApp war groups. When they attack, they attack together, at the same time, and with similar tweets drafted and shared across many to target that one person,” she said. “I was a staunch DMK supporter once and I became unpopular when I moved to Dalit activism in 2018,” she said. “Anyone can support a political party but only a few can afford to do activism. I am able to do that because I am financially privileged. When I get complaints from villages, I take it up and write about it. I used to criticise BJP and AIADMK and now I do that with DMK too as they are the ruling party. What provokes them now is the many Dalit issues I am taking up online,” she said. Shalin was among the activists who demanded a detailed probe and action in the Pudukottai Vengavayal incident in which human faeces was found in a tank that supplies water to Dalit residents. She was also at the forefront of raising land issues of Dalits, incidents of discrimination against elected Dalit representatives in Tamil Nadu villages and incidents of denial of mobility for Dalits in villages. Closely associated with Evidence, an NGO based in Madurai, Shalin said she will continue her activism. “They call me Neela (meaning blue - indicating Dalit), Sanghi and elephant, all indicating the Dalit movement. When they abuse me, they abuse Ambedkar and even Buddha too. They body shame me, tag my husband and attack him also besides calling me derogatory names,” she said. In their statement, the NWMI demanded that DMK and BJP leaders “reprimand their supporters/cadres, and tell them to stop such harassment against Shalin and other women”. They also demanded that the “DMK and BJP should send a strong message to their supporters that the harassment of women writers, journalists and activists cannot be tolerated, let alone permitted.” “Ideas must be combated with ideas. Arguments are essential for a healthy democracy. But name-calling, targeted attacks and abusive language only destroy political discourse and erode democracy,” the statement said.
