Dalit politics

'Dalitha' is a compilation of various articles and a few interviews of Human Rights leader and activist Dr K Balagopal, by some of his close associates on various aspects of dalit issues, especially from ‘dalit identity and oppression’ point of view. All the articles and interviews were incorporated in a chronological order starting from the year 1985 to 2008, the year before the death of Dr Balagopal. Almost all the articles touches upon the rights discourse, whether in civil, political, social, etc nature. The short, precise, direct comprehensive writing style of the writer is impressive, as his well logical (legal, commonsensical, literal, etc) arguments were put forwarded in most direct and understandable manner. As the articles were mainly intended to the general public of day to day news readers’ nature the arguments and composition of the articles were in most scholarly lay perspective.

Baburao Bagul's writings cover the entire society and sensibly highlight the problems of casteism, sexism, classism, orthodoxy, illiteracy, superstitions, the cultural terrorism and the violation of human rights. In his literary works, he does nowhere romanticize and fantasize the life of the Indian masses and exaggerate the situations. He presents the ghastly social realities in the lives of Dalits. He does not indulge in fabricating the imaginary stories found in sadashivpethiya literature. While the literature written by the upper castes writers glorify fatalism, inequality, the myth of destiny, the idea of salvation and religious rituals to retain the social order, Bagul exposes these manmade evils to reinstate humanity and create an egalitarian society. The present research paper is an attempt to focus how Bagul puts forth the idea of new society free from inequality, casteism, gender oppression, exploitation, superstitions and poverty; with the firm trust in the rational education and the constitutional rights to create rational beings and nurture the human values and democratic principles in all which is must for the betterment of the entire civilization in India and all over the globe. Humanism in Baburao Bagul's Marathi short stories has its base in Babasaheb Ambedkar's revolutionary ideology. He depicts the downtrodden people's struggle for survival and their quest for identities to emphasize their participation in the human liberation movement for freedom, fraternity, equality and social justice. Despite the reality that Bagul has portrayed his characters as the victims in the caste institution and sexist patriarchy in his short story collections, Jevha Mi Jaat Chorli Hoti! and Maran Swasta Hota Aahe, he endows in them fighting spirit to cherish human values and spread humanity with the strong resolution to reinstate humanity in Indian society.

Stratification is about who gets what, and how. Sociological point of view the division is made in the society according to rank, caste, and class to explain about what they deserve. Social stratification is concerned with the patterning of inequality and its enduring consequences on the
lives of those who experience it. Division is based on what power, status, or economic resources they are availing in the society. Based on the division they also limit the individual choice including freedom and equality. The analy is of stratification in Indian society is to see how such
inequalities persist and endure, over lifetimes and continuing for generations. Marx’s writings from The Communist Manifesto to Das Kapital are about increasing polarization of society into workers and capitalists. According to Marx, ever-increasing polarization in the society will eventually produce a proletarian revolution. On global inequality Branko stated that “equality was sharply polarizing; on the one hand, poor and numerous workers; on the other hand, richer and ever-fewer capitalists.

Bhimayana: Experiences of Untouchability by Srividya Natarajan and S.Anand reveals the bitter truth of casteism as prevalent in Indian society. Through the use of graphic novel format and reviving the traditional Gond art form, the text not only verbalizes the experience of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, a major activist who battled against the various modes of oppression and aggression faced by the Dalit community, but also opens up the untouchable's experiences of existence for the naïve readers. This essay shows how Bhimayana uses a multimodal structure to create a post colonial literacy about caste and caste based marginalizations.

Savitribai Phule: The firebrand intellectual who powerfully used the term ‘Dalit’ in her poetry
Her groundbreaking work influenced the struggle for the rights of women, Shudras and Dalits in 19th-century India and into the present.

Read online at: https://scroll.in/article/1007802/savitribai-phule-the-firebrand-intellectual-who-powerfully-used-the-term-dalit-in-her-poetry

In this article, the author argues that effective parenting practices could prove to be an effective intervention strategy for bringing fast and consistent social, economic and political development of Dalit communities. By imparting values and practices of positive parenting, government can achieve its goal of social, political and economic inclusion of Dalit in the main stream of society.

Dalit literature is the saga of resistance against the hegemony of Brahmanic literature which pretends to be omniscient and all-encompassing while presenting a narrow, one sided, twisted and biased view of reality. Society is changing. So it is obvious that the role of literature and expression must be changed accordingly. An inferiority complex attached with ‘being Dalit’ is reduced considerably. It is time taking process and will go with time. So it is essential that our approach towards Dalit literature must be changed. There is a drastic change in dalit consciousness in last decades. The depressed consciousness of dalits is changing. It is replaced by asserting themselves in every field. Dalits, who were practically invisible from socio-political arena, are making their presence everywhere. They are giving their contribution to society. So our literature must encompass the changing role of dalits. In the present paper we propose the concept New Dalitism as a changed way of expression in the current and emerging socio-political milieu. This is required to differentiate it with the previous approach. Contrary to the Dalitism which is to highlight the disabilities and difficulties and seek sympathy, Neo Dalitism is to question the very literature which justifies this caste hierarchy. It is to develop not only a healthy (not sympathy) image for dalit but an image of appreciation for the people who have been unjustly victimised over the centuries and endured it. It is not to artistically portray the sorrows, tribulations, slavery, degradation and poverty endured by Dalits, but question them and rewrite them from dalit points of view. It is critically examining and pointing out the flaws on the basis of which this caste system is based.

Mulk Raj Anand is one of the most eminent personalities in the History of Indian writing in English. Almost all of his writings deal with the life of lower class people. He basically projects such ordinary people as the protagonists of his books. By depicting this he appears as a great sympathizer to the people of this marginalised section. His famous novel Untouchble depicts the pathetic condition of the Dalits. He projects their pain, agony, sufferings at the hand of so called upper caste people with great sympathy. We are stirred by this heart rending descriptions. But at the same time we can feel that his description is somehow far from the actual set-up of the untouchables. We assume that Anand’s writing is governed by the perspective of the upper class people as he belonged to that class. He is directed by the prejudiced notion of the upper caste people about the lower caste people.  He failed to penetrate into the hut and heart of the Dalits to dig their innermost thoughts, feelings, anguish and longing. In this respect a charge of artificiality can be brought against his writings. Hence my paper will illustrate how his writings are dictated by the upper caste mentality and how his depiction is different from the actual thoughts of the Dalits which is presented in the writings of the Dalit people.

Though the Dalit Literature emerged as a distinctive literary form in the 1960s, the theme and approach was not new as it somehow existed in the writings of Munshi Premchand in pre-independence India. Prior to Premchand there was hardly any writer who could reach to Dalit’s sensitivity as successfully as Premchand. For his valuable contributions towards the theme and portrayal of Dalit in literature Premchand is universally acknowledged as a pioneering figure in this field. He paved the path for Dalit awakening in 1960s. He was a great artist for his realistic character-portrayal. This paper tries to explores the theme and area of Dalit issue in Premchand’s stories along with those working factors which acclaim him as a great story-teller of Dalit.

Jotiba Phule remains one of the few powerful and influential voices that shaped the Dalit discourses in India. Still, Phule remains a marginalized voice in terms of the intellectual and academic treatment his writings or works could receive so far. In Jotiba Phule's writings, mainly in Ghulamgiri (Slavery) and Shetkaryacha Asud (Cultivator's Whipcord), Dharma (religion) and Jati (caste) have been central. He has been a staunch protester against the Brahmanism and Varnavyavastha. But it is not all about his opposition to Hindu religion. He opposed almost all the major social institutions with the Hindu fold of religion. Though he rarely uses the term Hindu or Hindu religion in his writings. He used Brahminism as one of the binaries that perpetuated all that is irrational and inhuman in nature. In Phule's writings, Brahminical system is depicted as bipolar, Brahmins at the one end and Shudratishudra on the other. Therefore, caste or varna system for Phule is a relationship of power and dominance and has to be attacked at all levels. Phule called this pseudo-religion and rejected it. In the mentioned research paper, researcher tries to reflect over two major aspects while analysing Jotiba Phule's writings and commentaries on the issue of the interrelationship between tradition and caste in late Nineteenth century in Maharashtra, its social implications and the inferences that could be drawn from Phule's reflections over the marginality and subjugation that can be suggestive of resolving the modern contexts of social conflict and what are the gaps between the modern context of dalit discourses and Phule's reflections on the issue of caste. Like Ambedkar, but much before Ambedkar, Jotiba Phule reflects over the link between the continuation of caste-based oppressive tradition and the role of education as panacea in bringing changes in discriminatory social system. In the last part of the paper attempt is made to examine Phule's treatment to caste / class-based discrimination and how education is suggested as an empowering mechanism to do away with caste-class victimhood.

This book throws light on the very contentious issues related to the social phenomenon of new Buddhism with which Dr Ambedkar is associated. The collection of essays explores themes that have been mostly neglected by scholars working in this field, and it thus fills a major vacuum. Placing new Buddhism in the larger context of the historical evolution of the religion, the book begins with a section that focuses on the attempt to reinvent an egalitarian and universal religion. The new variant of this social phenomenon is then examined within the context of a multifaceted society be it the Hindu social order or the sect of Brahmanic Hinduism. A discussion of localized instances of this variant as well as comparisons with Western parallels are also included. Issues inspired by Ambedkar presently confronting the Buddhist movement are highlighted in the last section of the book, as are the various categories that exist within this seemingly homogenous group. With contributions by scholars such as Eleanor Zelliot and Gail Omvedt, this volume can very well be seen as a comprehensive social history of Ambedkar's Buddhism.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

This revisionist history of caste politics in twentieth-century Bengal argues that the decline of this form of political mobilization in the region was as much the result of coercion as of consent. It traces this process through the political career of Jogendranath Mandal, the leader of the Dalit movement in eastern India and a figure of prominence in the history of India and Pakistan, over the transition of Partition and Independence. Utilizing Mandal's private papers, this study reveals both the strength and achievements of his movement for Dalit recognition , as well as the major challenges and constraints he encountered. Departing from analyses that have stressed the role of integration, Dwaipayan Sen demonstrates how a wide range of coercions shaped the eventual defeat of Dalit politics in Bengal.

This article offers introductory remarks on the position of the Dalit in Indian cinema. It starts with the observation that the Indian film industry is an inherently caste-based, biased, mechanised product of technological industrialisation in which Dalit inclusion is not a moral concern. The mainstream film industry in India delivers the desires and principles of market and society by excluding a Dalit framework outright—a problem now being addressed by the entry of an explicitly Dalit cinema. By briefly looking at two films, Fandry (2013) and Sairat (2016), both written and directed by Dalit film- maker Nagraj Manjule, I offer a critical reading of ‘Dalit Cinema’. Taking the work of Manjule, a maverick film-maker who is establishing a new discourse of Dalit-centred socio-culturism, I demonstrate the extent to which caste narratives are absent in the Indian film industry.

Caste is one of the most challenging social institutions of India. It has divided society into various rigid categories. It has also made a mockery of democracy, as each caste becomes a vote bank for political parties leaving no scope for individual decision-making. Even key political positions are usually decided by caste rather than the quality of an individual. Yet it is strange that this institution is defended by many stalwarts and thinkers. Contrary to this popular approach Dr Ambedkar opposed caste, despite being a victim of this institution. His opposition to caste was not based on negative or violent reaction but it is based on humane and rational approach. Ambedkar denied accepting caste as a race or any other physical entity. He quoted references from ancient religious texts to show that the Varnas which are popularly believed to be static in origin was at one time flexible in nature. Caste is not race as there is hardly any racial similarity between the same caste men of different regions. Castes can ultimately be annihilated only by inter-caste marriages, but it is also imperative for every citizen to leave aside traditional religious beliefs and teachings that hold this institution sacred and unchangeable.

The  present  paper  is  an  attempt  to  bring  into  discussion  and  point  out  the  grey  areas  in  the  portrayal  of  Dalit  by  Premchand (1880–1936)  in  his  short  story  The  Shroud  (Kafan).  Dalit  means  broken  or  crushed  people.  In  modern  sense  it  means  the Shudra  and  untouchable.  Dalits  are  at  the  bottom  pedestal  of  Hindu  social  hierarchy.  Dalits  were  made  practically  invisible from  the  main  stream  art  and  literature.  They  are  shown  in  poor  light.  Sometime  they  are  presented  mere  as  a  thing  of ridicule,  as  Gheesu  and  Madhav  are  portrayed  in  the  short  story  The  Shroud  (Kafan).  Characterization  of  Dalit  by Pramchand  is  not  justified,  as  in  the  line  of  mainstream  literature.  It  is  more  painful  that  story  like  ‘The  Shroud’  (Kafan)  is from the pen of a literary figure that cannot be classified in a class, who is a class by himself. Keywords:  Dalit  characterization,  Mainstream  literature,  Biased,  Lopsided

The book “Perspectives on Indian Dalit Literature: Critical Responses” is a volume of twenty six scholarly articles focusing on the theme of Dalit’s freedom and emancipation from traditional caste-stigmatised society which sacrifices the interest of Dalits on the altar of tradition. The book endeavours to articulate voices among this marginalized class of people to come in action from their passivity and stillness. The book also tries to cover almost all eminent Dalit writers of past and present century like Omprakash Valmiki, Baby Kamble, Bama Faustina Soosairaj, Meena Kandasamy, Namdeo Dhasal, Sharankumar Limbale, Bhimrao Shirwale, Hira Bansode etc. along with some non-Dalit wrters like Munshi Premchand, Mulk Raj Anand, Arvind Adiga etc. who have sought plea for this marginalized class of people with same ardour and passion as other Dalit writers through their write ups. Hopefully this anthology would serve for better humanity.

Dr. Ambedkar's anti-caste movement brought a new dawn for Dalits not only in Maharashtra, but all over India. His emphasis on education and rationalism empowered Dalits to break the shackles of tradition and chart their own course on the path to liberation. Inspired by his ideals, a multitude of Dalit creative writers emerged in the 60s in Maharashtra. These writers led a fiery literary movement which lasted between the 1960s and the 1980s. With their non-conformist writing style and vivid expression of injustice meted out to them, they strongly challenged the Brahminical hegemony in Marathi literature. Tracing the history and evolution of the Dalit Literary movement in Maharashtra in this period, this paper also aims to delineate the socio-political trends and implications of the movement.

Many a debates are raging in various circles related to Ambedkar’s ideology. On one hand the RSS combine has been very active to prove that RSS ideology is close to Ambedkar’s ideology. In this direction RSS mouth pieces Organizer (English) and Panchjanya (Hindi) brought out
special supplements on the occasion of anniversary of Ambedkar, praising him. This is very surprising as RSS is for Hindu nation while Ambedkar has pointed out that Hindu Raj will be the biggest calamity for Dalits.
The second debate is about Ambedkar-Gandhi. This came to forefront with Arundhati Roy’s introduction to Ambedkar’s
‘Annihilation of Caste’ published by Navayana. In her introduction ‘Doctor and the Saint’ Roy is critical of Gandhi’s various ideas.
This digest brings together some of the essays and articles by various scholars-activists on the theme. Hope this will help us clarify the underlying issues.
Ram Puniyani
(All India Secular Forum)
Mumbai
June 2015

The essay introduces caste as a category for discussing the history of Partition of India, which until now has focused almost exclusively on the Hindus, Sikhs and the Muslims. The Dalit or the 'untouchables' of India are usually left out of this discussion, and whenever they are brought in, they are portrayed as either disinterested onlookers or accidental victims. On the contrary, as this essay will argue, the Dalit were deeply entangled in Partition politics, which threatened their natural habitat in eastern Bengal, where they had reclaimed land from marshes and forests, extended cultivation and set up human settlement. Their regional movement was gradually drawn into the broader subcontinental politics that led to Partition, and the movement as a result lost unity, autonomy and purpose. While one group of the Bengali Dalit leaders were opposed to Partition and believed that a Dalit–Muslim alliance was in the best interest of the Dalit, others got closer to Hindu nationalism and demanded Partition of Bengal. Many Dalit peasants were caught in this politics and became both victims and perpetrators of violence. The essay concludes that while the Dalit lacked power to influence the decision to partition, they nevertheless were forced to take positions within the political divide, which they did according to their own perceptions of caste interests and preferred political future of their physical space.

Caste system is the centerpiece of Hindu ancient texts and appears as the fundamental tool for 'Manu' to frame the 'Laws and Order' for Hindu society. In present India it is a highly controversial subject.  This tradition has played a major role in the development of intellectual theories about racism in the west as well. It is believed that the study of ancient India was a major part of Nazi political ideology in Germany.
Through this paper, I intent to comment on the laws of this social division enforced by Hindu religious text (Manusmriti), their impact on life & how it was transformed to the oppressor regimes (specifically on the lower cast people).

The article draws attention to a fascinating narration of the Christian foreign Missionaries' sustained work among the Dalits from 1850-1950. The writer reviews Santa Kumari Varikoti-Jetty's work on 'Christian Missions among colonial Andhra Depressed Classes'. The reviewer, by and large, appreciates the author, Varikoti-Jetty's research efforts. Same time, the reviewer re-visualises the work under the lenses of Hindutva propaganda dynamics against the Christian Missions in India. Thus, while the work is from historical Christian Dalits conversion dynamics, the reviewer re-visualises the work in the light of the Hindutva section's objection to the Christian proselyte process and negates the Hindutva anxieties as against the liberal right to religious conversion. Also, the reviewer presents the current position of a few Christian congregations, i.e. AELC and TBC. Overall, the review continues in discussion and commentary style.

Nene Balanni (meaning ‘I’m the Strength’) is a Telugu volume composed on the life history of Mrs T N Sadalakshmi, one of the prominent unnoticed lady politicians of India from the state of Andhra Pradesh. The author of the volume Mrs Gogu Shamala chose Mrs Sadalakshmi with great admiration and got determined to compose her life history.

This article examines the development and early politics of the Dalit Panther Iyakkam (DPI), or Dalit Panther Movement, of Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1982, the DPI advanced a political program that petitioned state authorities qua democratic citizens. By submitting formal appeals through official institutional channels, DPI organisers lobbied government bureaucrats to fulfil their professional obligations and advocated an impartial administration of law, delivery of rights, and equitable access to social and economic development. This article examines the earliest phase of Dalit Panther politics in Tamil Nadu through its own documentary evidence, drawing upon DPI Chairman A. Malaichamy's personal letters, written appeals, received correspondence, political pamphlets, and rally handbills. Countering interpretations of subaltern assertion that accentuate 'illiberal' techniques as its primary form and state welfare its principal target, I demonstrate that legal advocacy served as a core feature of early DPI politics. When state institutions proved unresponsive, movement organisers began to consider alternative forms of political practice and came to regard the public sphere as a more conducive arena for making claims on state authority and demanding recognition as democratic citizens.

Despite clear evidence of caste-based discrimination, harassment and victimisation, Punjabis in Britain stand divided on identifying with the victims of casteism. In the context of legislative, religious and academic contestations on caste discrimination in Britain, this article argues for acknowledging casteism where it exists.

This paper explores the impact of Gandhian thoughts on the Indian English Fiction, and how the promulgation of Minutes on Education (1835) established the hegemony of the Western knowledge system over the prevailing system of Indian education. Resultantly, India witnessed a new class of English speaking gentlemen, produced by the English missionary schools to assist the Empire to achieve the much cherished objectives of Macaulay. They were offered important positions in the Imperial set up of government, facilitating British rule in India. Though the first generation Indian writers writing in English imitated the Western authors as their role model and fashioned their writing pattern accordingly, they paved way for their literary successors to embody unjust power dynamics originated with the idea of imperialism. The paper also investigates how the incorporation of Gandhian ideas in oeuvres of illustrious Indian authors provides a plausible picture of constructive influence on masses across all sections of Indian society.

This paper elaborates the Eurocentric features of Bhim Rao Ambedkar's social and political thought through a close consideration of three of his most important English-language writings. They concern his thinking about overcoming caste, Dalit freedom from colonial rule, and the preconditions of democracy. In drawing attention to this aspect of Ambedkar's thought, the paper suggests the indispensability of Eurocentrism to the articulation of his political-ideological commitments. Such a relationship offers an occasion to reconsider the generally disapproving assessments of this intellectual phenomenon.

Abstract
The Dalit basti (localities or slums) was a site of everyday resistance for property rights, unorganised workplaces and invisibility. It was a site of the formation of a homogenous community, economy, market, everyday politics, work, labour relation and labour process. At these bastis, pigs, pork, bristle, leather, waste (garbage), dirty water, the smell of hide, stinking untouchable bodies, buildings, Dalit collective solidarity and rise of sub-contractors were the symbols of Dalit power and the power of impurity. Here, in this chapter, I am going to focus on these Khatik bastis in rural (dehat) and urban-town (shahr-kasba) settings by drawing examples from Kanpur, Lucknow, Banaras, Agra and Ambala (a city in Haryana). By using police and census reports, ethnographic works and oral account, the chapter discusses the histories of everyday protests and politics around these bastis.

Was Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar a Brahmin by birth? Yes, he was Chitpavan Brahmin by birth. Indian upper caste Hindu government has propagated false history about him. 1. If you tell a lie thousand times and constantly, people will believe it as a truth. 2. To hide one lie, you have to tell thousand lies, this is what Indian Hindu upper caste government is doing. 3. It is true worldwide that winners write history, they can brainwash their people whatever and however they want, and present themselves as "good" "noble" even if they are not. All the media, propaganda, rules, school syllabi are in their hands, they can use & manipulate it however they want for their own benefits. Let's get started….