by Chandrabhan Prasad Politicians, usually, lack a sense of shame or remorse. When they were made to wait outside, while the general negotiated with Hurriyat leaders, Indian politicians didn’t seem to mind and instead, argued that a head of state has “schedule constraints” to keep in mind. But what about the Varna-media? When our editors …
BJP and its suicidal tendencies
Chandra Bhan Prasad (Originally published in The Pioneer on August 28, 2001) Was LK Advani’s Ram Rath a ploy to fight the Mandal Commission or only a tool with which to mobilise Hindus around the Ram Mandir issue? What must have been an electoral calculation – a subtle opposition to Mandal will earn the …
DU: Hindustan’s other Nathdwara
by Chandrabhan Prasad About a decade back, Rajasthan’s Nathdwara town was in the news. The town houses a Hindu temple into which Dalits are not allowed. The maverick Arya Samaj sadhu Swamy Agnivesh had organised a march to accord Dalits their right to enter the temple. Read More Most newspapers wrote lengthy editorials condemning the …
Does India deserve international curbs?
by Chandrabhan Prasad A novelist friend has just returned from Oxford. She was there to attend a Dalit-related talk where the UN-sponsored World Conference Against Racism, to be held in Durban this year, came up for discussion. She wondered why European scholars were not easily prepared to equate caste-based discrimination with that of race. Another …
Protest against the burning alive of two Dalits in Khaithapur village of Nalgonda district
Several Dalit and Human Rights organisations and individuals (led by Andhra Pradesh Ambedkar Yuvajana Sangham, Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes’ Wefare Association and others) held a protest demonstation against the burning alive of two men suspected of practising witchcraft in Khaithapur village, Nalgonda district, at the Babasaheb Ambedkar statue junction, near Tank Bund, in Hyderabad on …
Muslim-Dalit Relations
Gail Omvedt Islam is a religion of egalitarianism and brotherhood. After the defeat of Buddhism, it maintained these values in India for centuries. Not only did those who became Muslims benefit by escaping from caste restrictions, but Muslim rule also provided a social and political context for the growth of Bhakti movements. Within these, to …
The Dravidian movement
Gail Omvedt “So many movements have failed. In Tamil Nadu there was a movement in the name of anti-Brahmanism under the leadership of Periyar. It attracted Dalits, but after 30 years of power, the Dalits understand that they are as badly-off – or worse-off – as they were under the Brahmans. Under Dravidian rule, …
Three-day Bharat Nirman Campaign concludes
Imphal :Curtains came down today on the three-day Bharat Nirman Campaign, organized by Press Information Bureau, Imphal, together with sister organizations at Loyalakpa Laibung, Keinou, Bishnupur District.
Categorisation: A Poisonous Proposition
Anand Teltumbde Not even Manu, that much maligned protagonist of castes also could have imagined the infinite instrumental value castes would assume in governance of globalising India at the hands of the ruling classes. Poor Karl Marx had prophesied in 1845 that with the spread of railway network in India and consequent industrialisation the …