Vivek Kumar This election is historical because, once again, upper castes have been kept out of power. This has been the trend in the state for the past two-and-a-half decades. Secondly, this election can also be seen as a backlash of upper castes against the consolidation of Dalit power in Uttar Pradesh. Dalit workers and a …
Road To Conversion: The Chakwada Detour
Dr. Udit Raj (First published in October 2002) Hindutva organisations are outraged over conversions, and their outrage prevents them from entering into negotiations with Muslim and Christian leaders. But have they ever bothered to understand the plight of Dalits? Dalits and backwards consider themselves Hindus, but Hinduism does not respond to them; otherwise, there would …
On Reservation Policy for Private Sector
Sukhadeo Thorat (First published in June 2004) Given the range of economic discrimination against marginalised groups like SCs, STs and OBCs the reservation policy for the private sector ought to cover not only employment, but also markets, agricultural land, capital, consumer goods, education, housing, government contracts, etc. Faced with caste related discrimination against and deprivation of marginalised …
An Egyptian evolution
Kancha Ilaiah (First published in February 2011) The Egyptian revolution, perhaps, would be to the Islamic world what the French Revolution was to the Christian world. The Western intellectual predilection that the Islamic world is trapped in feudal Islamic dictatorships is likely to be disproved with this revolution. In fact, Western thinkers forget that the …
Why I Decided To Convert The Dalits Of Jhajjar
Dr. Udit Raj (First published in October 2002) If you had visited Badshahpur, Akhlimpur, or Tikli with me on October 22 and seen what I saw, you would have decided right then and there to give a call to all the Dalits of the area to convert to Buddhism, Christianity or Islam. Anything but Hinduism. …
Modernity and Its Margins: A Critique
CREST National Lecture in Memory of Shri. K.R. Narayanan, former President of India delivered by Gopal Guru The above title contains four fairly loaded terms. These terms also look as if they are standing alone in isolation without making any coherent meaning. Still worse, they might look vague if we fail to forge connectivity between them. They need to …
Hindutva and ethnicity
Gail Omvedt (First published in February 2003) The antagonism to conversion rests on an ideological foundation which takes ethnicity, that is a presumed community of blood and heritage, as central. IN 1996, during a six-month employment in Bhubaneshwar, fascinated by the beauty and antiquity of the area, I travelled with friends to Konarak and to …
Kashi secured, now for the Atlantic
Chandra Bhan Prasad (First pubished in April 2003) “How could Maya do it, without the cow-belt having undergone a cultural revolution?” the ecstatic D Shyam Babu, a new age Dalit scholar, exclaimed. We were analysing the BSP’s triumph in the UP Assembly elections and, sitting glued to the news channels, watching Brahman/Rajput/Bania MLAs pay obeisance …
Neobrahmanism, human rights and social democracy
Braj Ranjan Mani (First published in 2009) The image of India is that of a democratic, multicultural, inclusive society. But more often than not, appearances are not reality. India is a republic—a secular, socialist, democratic republic—where millions of children, women and men remain demoralised, enslaved to the powerful, crying out for fundamentals of life. Fragmented …