Manjolai: A History of Violence and Exploitation

Manjolai, a picturesque hill station in the Ambasamudram Taluk of Tirunelveli District, is renowned for its world-class aromatic organic tea and cardamom production. However, beneath its beauty and aroma lies a dark history of exploitation and violent suppression. The origins of the Manjolai tea estate are linked to the notorious Clement De La Haye murder case, also known as “the most expensive criminal case in Indian history,” which caused political turmoil in British India in 1919. Sivasubramania Sankara Theerpathi, the son of the Zamindar of Singampatti, was a prime suspect in the case. To save him, the Zamindar leased 8,374 hectares of his land in the Western Ghats to the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation, Limited (BBTC), owned by the Wadia group, in 1929 for a period of 99 years. The corporation subsequently established the Singampatti group of tea estates, famously known as the Manjolai Tea Estates.

In 1952, the government took over all the Singampatti zamin forests, encompassing 22,000 hectares, including the leased tea estate, through the Zamindar Abolition Act. However, the then Tamil Nadu Congress government allowed BBTC to continue its 99-year lease on the land. In 1977, the government issued a notification under the Tamil Nadu Forest Act to convert the 22,000-hectare Singampatti forest into a reserve forest. BBTC obstructed this move through various letters and court petitions, arguing that its leased land should not be converted into a reserve forest and should instead be granted a Rayatwari patta (a type of land grant to zamindars). Consequently, the Forest Determining Officer and the Forest Department encountered significant difficulties in proceeding with the conversion.

Currently, about 2,000 workers are employed at the Manjolai tea estate, a large portion of who are Dalits and other communities brought to the hills from Tirunelveli. There are also migrant workers from states like Kerala, Assam, and West Bengal. Many workers have been employed on the estate for three to four generations.

Today, the estate is infamous for its harsh working conditions and exploitation. Workers face the following problems:

1. Housing: Workers live in cramped quarters, with multiple families sharing a single house, leaving less than a meter of space per person.

2. Health Issues: Workers suffer from leech and snake bites, with leeches becoming particularly problematic during the monsoon, sometimes even getting into food pots.

3. Food and Livestock Restrictions: Despite a workforce of 5,000, workers are not allowed to grow their own vegetables or keep cattle for food and milk.

4. Workload: The Plantation Labour Act of 1951 stipulates a minimum plucking requirement of 25 kg of tea leaves per day. In Manjolai, however, workers are forced to pluck 100 to 150 kg daily.

5. Working Hours: The Act limits work to 48 hours per week, with a maximum of 9 hours per day. In contrast, Manjolai workers are made to work 12 to 14 hours daily.

6. Maternity Leave: According to the Maternity Benefit Act of 1961, women should receive breaks for breastfeeding until the child is fifteen months old. However, in Manjolai, women are denied these breaks, leading to health issues such as breast infections and inflammation. They are also prohibited from changing clothes during menstruation.

7. Wages: Workers are paid very low wages of Rs. 76/day, while supervisors earned Rs.90 per day until 1999.

Manjolai also has a history of intense protests and state-sponsored violence, notably the infamous 1999 “Manjolai Labourers Massacre” which remains one of the most egregious acts of state violence against the working class in the history of modern India. On July 23, 1999, with general elections approaching, Dr. Krishnaswamy, President of the Puthiya Tamilagam Katchi, organized a large procession of 5,000 people, predominantly workers from the Manjolai tea plantation. The demonstration also included cadres and leaders from various opposition parties, such as the Tamil Manila Congress, the CPI, and the CPI(M), with prior police permission.

The protesters marched from the Manjolai tea estate to the Tirunelveli District Collectorate Office, intending to submit a petition containing 20 basic demands for the upliftment of the plantation workers and the release of 652 workers jailed following a June 8 demonstration in front of the Collectorate. However, the police stopped the rally 50 meters from the Collectorate and blocked all roads leading to the office. Attempting to pass between the collector’s office wall and the banks of the Tamiraparani river, the protesters were confused when the police fired gunshots into the sky. The police then began chasing the people with batons. With no other escape route, people fled into the Tamiraparani river and tried to cross to the other side. Observing this, the police moved to the opposite bank, surrounding the people and beating them to prevent their escape. The police indiscriminately beat those fighting for their rights, attacking them with stones and tear gas shells. Ultimately, unconscious individuals with bloody wounds were thrown into the river. The police also exhibited casteist behavior by insulting women with casteist slurs and forcibly removing their clothes. By the end of the violence, 17 people, including a one-and-a-half-year-old boy, were killed, and 500 others were injured. The then DMK-led government under M. Karunanidhi, after committing these heinous acts, further compounded its transgressions by labeling the violence as a caste riot. This attempt to belittle the demands of the Manjolai estate workers was a despicable effort to diminish public outrage.

Twenty-five years have passed since that day, yet the workers of Manjolai continue to fight for their rights despite numerous hardships. The corporation has now decided to evict the workers under a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) within 45 days, as the lease period is set to end by 2028. The workers are protesting, demanding that the government take over the land under the Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation Corporation (TANTEA) and provide them with employment. For the workers, Manjolai is not just a tea estate; it is their home where they were born and raised. Most of their ration cards and voting rights are registered there, and it is the land that has been cultivated through the blood and labour of their ancestors for four generations. Despite these pleas, the government continues its inaction.