Kannur, Nov. 19 -- Years after continuously fighting a lone battle against casteism and ostracism in society, Kannur's Chitralekha, an auto-driver by profession, has now decided to take up Islam. She blames the ruling 'casteist' CPM government, which, she says, has been continually harassing her in the name of caste.

"I am doing this because I am unable to continue this fight alone anymore," she wrote in a Facebook post on Monday.

Chitralekha is from Payyanur in the Kannur district of Kerala and belongs to the Pulaya castes whose members were historically slaves of feudal landlords. She managed to raise eyebrows when she married Srishkant, a higher caste Thiyya man.

Her life has been particularly difficult since 2004 when she decided t...