The village of Nayakankottai, on the road from Dharmapuri to Tirupattur, bears the only tribute to Naxalism in all of Tamil Nadu: a whitewashed sickle-and-hammer memorial commemorating slain Naxal leaders Balan and L Appu. But the caste violence that wrecked the lives of over a thousand Dalits earlier this month has forever tainted the image of Dharmapuri district as a former Naxal stronghold that, even a decade ago, had no place for caste or class differences. Read more on the Indian Express.