Kilvenmani massacre: Forty-four Dalits (untouchables) are burnt to death in Kizhavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit laborers.
Kizhavenmani (also spelled Kilvenmani and Keezhvenmani) is a village in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu state in India. The village is about 25 km from the district headquarters town of Nagapattinam. It is in the fertile river Cauvery Delta, known for its agrarian economy.
The village made headlines in 1968 when 44 Dalits were burnt alive by local feudal lords after being locked in a hut. The incident is known as the Kilvenmani massacre. Every year the massacre is commemorated by left wing and Dalit groups as "Venmani Martyrs Day". A large memorial was erected by the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
The Kilvenmani massacre (or Keezhvenmani massacre) was an incident in Kizhavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, India on 25 December 1968 in which a group of around 44 people, the families of striking Dalit village labourers, were murdered by a gang, allegedly led by their landlords. The chief accused was Gopalakrishnan Naidu.It became a notable event in left wing political campaigns of the time and in Dravidianist ideology. The incident helped to initiate large-scale changes in the local rural economy, engendering a massive redistribution of land in the region.