Social activist Gowsalya, who is known for her campaigns against caste killings, on Sunday married Parai artist Sakthi in Coimbatore’s Gandhipuram at the Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam head office on Sunday, The News Minute reported. Parai is a type of drum used in Tamil Nadu and the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka.
Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam General Secretary K Ramakrishnan, Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam founder Kolathur Mani, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi Deputy General Secretary Vanniyarasu and activist Evidence Kathir were among those who arranged the wedding.
In 2016, Gowsalya’s family killed her former husband Shankar, a Dalit, in broad daylight. Gowsalya was 19 and married for just eight months when Shankar was murdered. Since then, she has been campaigning against caste violence.
In December 2017, a Tiruppur court in Tamil Nadu awarded death penalty to Gowsalya’s father and five people. The court, however, exonerated her mother and her uncle, who were also accused in the case.
Sakthi and Gowsalya vowed to continue their fight against caste violence. “Inter-caste couples and couples who have had love marriages can always come into our house to take refuge,” The New Indian Express quoted them as saying. “Periyarist, Ambedkerist and Marxist people, working for the welfare of the society, can always come to our house.”
Evidence Kathir hailed Gowsalya for fulfilling Shankar’s wishes. “Shankar wished to built a small house in Udumalpet village and he wanted his brothers to do higher studies,” he said. “Gowsalya, as a single woman, has done it and continues to work for the development of the people in the village by taking evening tuitions.”
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