Hugo Gorringe & D. Karthikeyan, University of Edinburgh Speaking at a memorial to honour the memory of Dalits killed by casteist fanatics in Melavalavu last month, Thol. Thirumavalavan, the leader of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) called for ‘a mass movement’ to protect the rights and dignity of Dalits in the state. A catalogue …
‘UPA and NDA are two sides of the same coin’: Sudhir Dhawale
Round Table India spoke to writer and political activist Sudhir Dhawale in Mumbai last week, after his release from a long term spent in prison due to false charges of being involved in Naxal activities. Arrested in January 2011, he was acquitted last week by Gondia’s sessions court after the police failed to produce …
‘I don’t want stable government’: Kanshi Ram
Dilip Awasthi and Javed M. Ansari December 31, 1993 In India, 50 per cent of the media is pro-BJP: Kanshi Ram He sits in an old chair in the corner of a sparsely furnished and dimly lit room in New Delhi, speaking in a commanding tone and bristling with a new confidence for, at …
Elephant Corridors
Vivek Kumar Why walking alone will always work for the BSP Canard, controversy, condemnation, criticism, caricature, the Bahujan Samaj Party chief, Mayawati, has seen it all in her long and tortuous journey to the top. But the fact is, as the 2014 Lok Sabha polls near, she poses the most formidable challenge to BJP …
‘It’s no alliance’
Zafar Agha Uttar Pradesh is the cradle of Brahminism: Kanshi Ram BSP supremo Kanshi Ram spoke to Special Correspondent Zafar Agha from his Escorts Heart Institute bed in Delhi. Excerpts: Q. When did your relations with Mulayam Singh Yadav reach a turning point?A. The panchayat elections were the turning point. There was rigging, booth-capturing, …
Who is the “Aaam Aadmi” in AAP?
Suresh Mane, General Secretary of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), spoke recently to Ria De, of Dalit Camera: Through Un-Touchable Eyes, on the Aam Aadmi Party and the emerging contours of politics in India. This video interview was transcribed by Ajith Francis. Recently, Indian politics is undergoing radical changes- drastic changes especially in the …
The nation doesn’t want to know what happened to the Dalit girl in Jind
Round Table India talks to Asha Kowtal, General Secretary of the All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch (AIDMAM) which has been playing an active part in the people’s movement seeking justice for the 20 year old Dalit girl who was brutally raped and murdered in Jind, Haryana, on 24th August, 2013 on the progress …
Kanshi Ram, the political genius and true game changer
Raj Kumar Politics is the most difficult of life skills, and those who remain reluctant to master this art are condemned to remain as obedient slaves while the masters of politics enjoy undiminished supremacy in all human relations. History bears testimony that civilization developments have been made possible by the leadership of the political …
‘Feminist movements were sympathetic, but never took up caste related issues’
– An interview with Du Saraswathi (First published in the Dalit students’ magazine ‘Insight Young Voices’ in 2005 as “Coalition is the philosophy and need of the hour”) Du Saraswathi is a Bangalore-based writer, poet, artist and an activist. Since her student days, she has been involved with women’s groups, the DSS, peace movements and …