Instead of being led by Brahmins, why not lead them?
PRAFULLA SAKYA, C/O aPPA BIBWE, TRIMURTI SADAN, PLOT NO.12, SADANAND SOCIETY, BIBWEWADI, PUNE - 411 014

I for one am completely in agreement with the policies of the Bahujan Samaj Party. The critics may differ but I fully approve the current game-of-politics. The BSP has done the right thing by organizing the Brahmin sammelan and coining a new slogan "jiske jitne sankhya bhari, utni uski bhagidari.

Kudos for becoming the first party to understand that it cannot win elections without the support of the "upper castes". Hence BSP stands tall among all other self-styled parties claiming to be the ultimate saviours of Dalit-Backwards without doing anything.

The BSP is the first political party to take such a path-breaking step that instead of "we" joining the Brahmins and becoming pawns in their hands, it has asked them to join "us". Where does the question come of the party diluting its ideology —or diverting itself from its basic commitments? It is crystal clear that unless and until a party comes to power it cannot really make a substantial change in the lives of the poverty-stricken millions, mostly the Backwards. The "Dr. Ambedkar Garden", Parivartan Chowk, and the recently inaugurated Bahujan Samaj Prerna Kendra or for that matter the response it got for its Brahmin sammelan, could never have been possible but for the power the BSP enjoyed during its rule. And I can't see why BSP in about 15 years captures Delhi.

If the party has to show that it can ably handle a country, so diverse like India, it has to take all its different "nations" together. India's peculiar "nationality question" has its own compulsions. That is what the BSP is doing with its new-found mantra:

"Lead them, instead of being misled by them".

There is no doubt, a micro-minority is ruling India. The real problem is how long the majority Backwards will cuddle with it and keep cursing them. The Brahmin strength is in money, trade and media power with which they have been controlling us. Our strength is unity and our massive numbers. The message is loud and clear. If we exploit our strength and achieve unity we will soon capture Delhi. If Brahmins can run the govt. with our help, I fail to understand why it is then difficult for us to run it with Brahmin support.

The reality is "you" cannot rule without "them" and "they" cannot without "us". The bottom-line is the fruits of power cannot be tasted without each other's support.

Any party which wants to rule India must have the support of different sections of Indian society. So, there is nothing wrong in what the BSP has done by organizing the Brahmin sammelan.

The BSP needs to work out a few more political game plans. It has to change the outlook of the party. It has to show that it is no less than any other party.It has to concentrate on media. The task appears a bit difficult considering the fact the media is a Brahminical monopoly. But it has to get ahead with all the handicaps and convert them into positive points.

The BSP has set a right Indian political-momentum for itself with its bold initiatives of "lead them, instead of being misled by them".

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"Socialist Brahmin" calls DV casteist
DR. ANAND TELTUMBDE, 4D -JEEVAN JYOTI, SETALWAD LANE, NEPEAN SEA ROAD, BOMBAY - 400 036

Thank you for sending me the issue of DV in which you reprinted Yoginder Sikand's review of my book, "Anti-Imperialism & Annihilation of Castes", albeit after editing it in your characteristic style and pasting your own label onto it.

Your Editorial comment, titled in an unseemly bold letters was however in utterly bad taste, to say the least. Because, in the title itself you projected me as though I were some Lilliputian who is being used by some "Socialist Brahmins" against my own people, and worse, that you knew me so well as to advise to come out of their grip. As for the latter part, had you really known me, I am sure; you would not have gone that far in your assumptions. None who know me would ever think that I could be used by some one, least against my own people. Alternately, even if you had read the book in question, you would have thought twice before belittling me in this objectionable manner.

Identity politics: I do not flaunt labels nor crave for certificates around. I do not subscribe to identity politics either and therefore there may not be any common ground for us to communicate. Please stand corrected that no one injected marxism in me. It was the natural intellectual quest of an eight-year old lad of landless parents in a village in Vidarbha, the epicenter of Ambedkarite movement, with which I acquired my convictions with hard labour. However, I would still be wary to call myself a marxist in the same way as Marx himself had declared that he was not a marxist or our own DD Kosambi (not a nazi Brahmin, I hope!) used to say about himself denying such labels. My commitment is to the truth and oppressed humanity.

Sinful perversion: As regards Dr. Ambedkar, please do not make a joke of yourself in commenting that I have not read or understood Dr. Ambedkar. I have not only read Dr. Ambedkar, I have studied him. As for comprehension, I have never lacked in brains (as my scholastic credentials would testify) and requisite experience with struggles to understand what I studied. People who know "Dr. Anand Teltumbde" among your readers might lose faith in you if you make such loose comments.

I would not jump on to accuse you of not reading or understanding Dr. Ambedkar but would certainly point out that it is a sinful perversion to say that Ambedkar did not want annihilation of castes, or rather he wanted to strengthen castes. You may paint me in your fanciful manner (albeit not without risk), but do not paint Babasaheb Ambedkar as a petty casteist Mahar. In the Annihilation of Castes, Dr. Ambedkar analyses how difficult the task of annihilation of castes, purportedly undertaken by the Jat Pat Todak Mandal would be. Because, unless you apply "the dynamite to the Vedas and the Shastras.. (and) destroy the Religion of the Shrutis and the Smritis", in his diagnosis, the castes could not be destroyed.

Hindus told destroy caste: It however does not mean that he did not want destruction of castes. The decision to discard Hinduism that he verily indicates in the book is itself a logical step towards transcending castes and his aspirational declaration that he would make entire India a Budhist country, a desire to annihilate castes. Consider for instance these last sentences of the book:

"In my opinion only when the Hindu society becomes casteless society that it can hope to have strength enough to defend itself. Without such internal strength, Swaraj for Hindus may turn out to be only a step towards slavery."

Or these ones before:

"you must make efforts to uproot castes, if not in my own way, then in your way. I am sorry, I will not be with you. I have decided to change.. But even when I am gone out of your fold, I will watch your movement with active sympathy and you will have my assistance for what it may be worth."

It does not require great intellect, I suppose, to understand that Dr. Ambedkar did want destruction of castes.

Dr. Ambedkar did not go about naming people by their castes or indulged in Brahmin-bashing as you do.

You should know that most of his early comrades were from the upper castes. He repeatedly clarified that he was against Brahminism and not against Brahmins. The former is an attitude that any caste including Dalits can have (please read his Bahishkrit Bharat for clear quotes). The abominably casteist language you use to establish your dalitism, let me say, would be abhorrent to Dr. Ambedkar. If it is just the language, one would not mind it. But even the contents also spew out caste venom, which no sane Ambedkarite should stomach. As for me, there cannot be a graver insult to Dr. Ambedkar than carrying on such acts in his name.

Hats off to your Ambedkarism that says we Dalits should strengthen our caste identities. In the turbulence of Ambedkarian movement Dalits have barely overcome their subcaste identities and constituted themselves as Dalits. You say they should go back and be proud Mahars (It does not end with Mahar, caste logic takes you further down to sub and sub-sub castes!). As you say, caste identities cannot be annihilated and therefore we should proudly strengthen them.

Pardon me, but if you persist with this logic, shouldn't someone ask you your own caste identity? Surely, you are not a Dalit (and mind, Dalit is not a caste!). You are a Shetty. If caste identities cannot be annihilated, what makes you mask yours and stake claim on our Dr. Ambedkar? Should you not be a proud Shetty, one of those who oppress Dalits? Why even that, with your casteist logic, should this magazine of yours - Dalit Voice not be appropriately called "Shetty Voice"?

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Editor answerable only to DV family , not prostitutes of vaidiks

Never have we hesitated to publish even the worst attacks on the Editor. A Tamil Dalit, then living in America, had hurled the worst abuses calling us RSS agent. Even this was published in full. It is for the DV family members world-wide to judge if the Editor is right or wrong. In the said Editor's comment, we had only praised Brother Teltumbde as an "honest intellectual". (DV June 16, 2005 p.25: "Teltumbde must come out of sinister Socialist Brahmin grip"). Out of respect for him, we ordered many copies of his book, Dr. Ambedkar on Muslims, and got it sold. We inserted several free advts. of this book and sold three copies of the book even after we received his email hurling personal criticisms. We even wanted to hold a seminar on the book and invite him. Teltumbde knows all this and how we held him in high respect.

All our criticisms were directed against India's Manuwadi marxists. When not a word of criticism was made against him, how did he get so much offended? We never made any personal criticism but his reply was a wholesale personal attack.

We too were marxists in our college days but it took 30 years to see through the Brahminical mischief. Babasaheb with his superior intellect had never fallen a prey to marxism which has killed Dalit movement in Bengal, Kerala and to some extent in AP also.

We have not only read the Annihilation of Castes but reprinted it with our foreword. Teltumbde quotes a passage from it in which Babasaheb says: "In my opinion only when the Hindu society becomes a casteless society..." Here Babasaheb is referring to Hindus. Not the Untouchables who are outside the four-fold caste system and hence not Hindu —but outcastes. The Annihilation book was meant for Hindus. We have said this hundreds of times. Babasaheb prepared this speech to be delivered to Hindus —not Dalits. Since Babasaheb and Untouchables are not Hindu there is no question of quitting Hinduism. In the quote Teltumbde has given Babasaheb was pleading the Hindus to quit their castes. Teltumbde must read the passage again removing the Brahminical glasses.

The Annihilation was the only book of Babasaheb made famous by the vaidiks. The rest of his books were suppressed until the Maharashtra Govt. published it. The Annihilation book played havoc with Dalits because the vaidiks used it to destroy their identity. But the vaidiks became rulers by strengthening their identity. Since Teltumbde is not familiar with our arguments, we have to repeat them here.

While we welcome Teltumbde's below-the-belt-attack, we want to assure that we are judged by the Dalit Voice family worldwide. We are answerable only to our family, not outsiders. Our constituency has been voting for us continuously for the past 25 years. We don't bother about the criticisms of Brahmins or their bum-lickers. In fact such criticisms re-confirm our stand.

We owe everything to our family. DV is not only 25 years old but has become the country's oldest and the largest circulated Dalit journal published in six languages. We have readers in every part of India and major parts of the world.

Our Dalit Sahitya Akademy has published over 100 titles of which over 70 are authored by the Editor. Every book is translated to different Indian languages and some important foreign languages. This is the record of our service which is written in letters of blood and etched in the heart of all genuine Ambedkarites.

DV is loved and respected because our family knows how much the Editor has suffered and sacrificed for supporting Justice and Truth.

We have withstood many shocks and Brahminical intrigues. Had we been imposters and frauds, we would have been exposed long back. It is not possible to fool all the people all the time. The Brahminical rulers gave us enough punishments to test our nerves —arrested four times, jailed at Chandigarh, two attempts on life, passport impounded for 20-long years. And many more. But all those parading as Dalit ideologues and criticising us are enjoying good life. Our sincerity, dedication, sacrifice, sufferings have been all tested many times and we want no certificate from vaidiks and their camp followers.

As for our "caste identity" thesis, we had a five-year-long Debate in DV and 100 seminars in different parts of India before we poured our thoughts into the book, Caste — A Nation Within the Nation, which just received the LISA International award in London. The book has already gone into third edition and its Kannada version is selling well. Many language editions are coming.

"Caste identity" is a fait-accompli. Everything is decided by caste in India. We have now extended our thesis to economic planning and caste-based budget allocations.

We did not choose our caste. That we belong to the Backward Caste Bunts jati is not a secret. We have never hidden it. Teltumbde may think that by disclosing my caste (identity) name, Dalits will discard us. Vaidiks tried all sorts of games to suppress us and close down DV itself but they failed. If the vaidiks come to fight us directly, we will gladly confront them. But they always use stooges. They send their barking and sometime biting dogs. Babasaheb was a victim of many such dogs.

Vaidiks employ weak-minded Dalits to indulge in character assassination of another Dalit. This happened with Babasaheb who wept at the fag end of his life saying that the educated elites of his own community had let him down. Some publicity-seeking Dalit elites, enjoying kushy life with the protection of our enemy-oppressor, are indulging in misleading the Dalits. But these internetwalas raise lot of dust but they don't have even two followers.

India's intellectual world is totally corrupted by the vaidiks. No corruption is so serious as intellectual corruption. We are sorry that some Dalit "intellectuals" are prostituting themselves to keep the Dalits permanently enslaved —EDITOR.

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Sardar Patel & Dalits
ANIL RANGARI, 104 -BHARATI APARTMENT, GURU NANAK NAGAR, DURG - 491 001

Ever since I became a member of the DV family (1996), I did not read a word about Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and his contributions to the Dalit-Bahujans. Recently I met a BC person who said some BCs compared the Sardar with Mahatma Phule, Sahu Maharaj, Periyar and Dr. Ambedkar. They said the Dalits should stop criticising the Sardar if they wanted unity between the SCs and BCs. Someone is publishing a magazine, Jai Sardar Patel, for this purpose, he said. I need a reply from the Editor or any DV member on this question. Can the Sardar's thoughts liberate SC/ST/BCs from the slavery of Brahminism/Hinduism (BSO)?

We have not written on Sardar Patel because we do not know anything about him. But this much can be said that during India's country's first "caste war" (1981) in Gujarat, of which we were an eye-witness at Ahmedabad then, it was the Patel boys in the company of Brahmins and Banias, who attacked and killed Dalits. Will our DV members from Gujarat enlighten us further? — EDITOR.

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Life full of poison: A Dalit girl recollects life in JNU
MANISHA DAHIYA, STUDENT, SIS, R. NO. 223 - CHANDRABHAGA HOSTEL, JNU, NEW DELHI - 110 067

I keep asking myself this question, "is life poison?" Its origin is profound. The poison in my life started when I cleared the pre-medical test and was admitted to Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi, in Aug.1990 from a reserved category (to be precise Scheduled Caste). In a country where people belonging to Dalit community are not considered human beings, even I knocked the door of this premier medical institute college. Here upper caste teachers and students were opposed to reservations. Besides, there was a big agitation against the Mandal Commission Report which recommended reservation for the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) during those days.

In one such agitation all students there had to go even against their wishes as there was a call from above (read teachers). Upper caste teachers as well as students frequently used to say:

"These people get admission only because of reservation, and they have no merit".

The teachers were biased in giving grades to Dalit students. My position was more critical in that I hailed from a poor family, my father a clerk in MCD and mother an illiterate woman. My elder brothers were somehow managing my educational expenses there. My home is situated in a DDA colony called Paschim Puri which is a congested slum, though not in records.

In such a poisonous atmosphere, it became very difficult for me to pursue study there. I became a nervouswreck and only then I told my brother regarding discrimination there. He went there to inquire from my supervisor, Dr. Gayatri Ghai, who told him:

We do not discriminate against anyone here. For us all students are equal, this girl does not even come to classes.

It was an altogether white lie. They put the entire blame on me only. My brother was baffled. The whole atmosphere was so vicious that I became panicky. My health started sinking, my mother was worried and took me to a "holy" man who had a long beard and used to wear an orange dress. His ashram was in Vikas Puri. Later I came to know that she was advised by some women from our community to do so. This man told my mother that I had been haunted by a ghost. He took me to a vacant room with some bizarre smell and smokes inside. He told me to lie down on floor and close my eyes. He was chanting some mantras and in between sprinkling some kind of powder on my face. I think that man was a tantrik. Nobody was allowed in that room, not even my mother. After this operation, we came out of that room. He gave my mother a pendant and instructed her that I should wear it in a black colour thread always to thwart the ill effects of the ghost. Then he told her to bring me to his ashram five times and claimed I would be all right. When she took me there second time, he did the same operation. But this time he was looking worried and told my mother, "This ghost is very powerful and would not go away easily. Bring her here at least 25 times". He recommended one special ritual (he called it puja) in this regard. After this visit, she never took me there. I came to know later from her that she was frightened that day and it was not possible to bear the cost of that puja for the family. I don't know exactly what cost that man told her but I was relieved because of this.

I used to remain gloomy since my education was suspended. There was no incentive to do anything, there was no hope in my life. One evening my bother brought a doctor home and he checked me. He was telling him for a thorough checkup in his clinic near to my home. He took me there next day. It was a psychiatry and drug de-addiction centre. This doctor, named Dr. Harish Matai, used to call me to his clinic and after some check-up used to give certain anti-depressant dose in combination which used to be so heavy that I used to sleep a lot after consuming them.

I was so scared of consuming them that whenever I got the opportunity I used to throw away these drugs in toilet. At first he was calling me to his clinic twice in a week, then once in a week, then once in a fortnight. Sometimes he used to give me injections also. My brother worried about so much sleeping and he considered me abnormal because of this. So, I was admitted to this doctor's clinic for supervision one night. He have me medicine as well as an injection. Then he was saying that if drugs and injection did not work, he would give me an electric shock therapy. I think the doctor wanted to make money like this. I was so terrified that night that I could not sleep. I pleaded my brother that I was all right and wanted to study only. I think he felt good about this.

I wanted to study again. But the problem was very pertinent: what to start? However, my elder brothers took keen interest to rearrange my studies and I was admitted to the School of Correspondence and Continuing Education, Delhi University. I completed my BA from there while remaining at home in 1995.

Then I cleared the entrance test for B.Ed. and joined this course in the Central Institute of Education (CIE), Delhi University. This institute claimed to be No.1 in Asia. Here also the faculty was discriminating against Dalits.

Some teachers used to say in classes: "B.Ed. degree is a passport of marriage for girls". It was highly derogatory. I was not happy while doing this course but I had no choice. I thought that I had to mollify my life as a teacher in some school only. Meanwhile, I cleared the entrance examination for MA Politics (with specialization in International Relations) in the School of International Studies (SIS), JNU. Once again my dream of pursuing higher education arose. I left the B.Ed. course in between then and joined MA in JNU in August 1997. I was keen to pursue research. I cleared the National Educational Test (NET) conducted by the UGC in June 1999 and was declared eligible for Junior Research Fellowship. Meanwhile, I cleared entrance test for M.Phil/Ph.D. in West European Studies division of the Centre for American and West European Studies (CAWES). I started getting fellowship from October 1999 onwards. With this money. I was able to pursue research.

I used to be active in Dalit Students Federation in JNU right from my MA days. Some of my seniors in this body were very nice and supportive viz., Dr. Mahendra Pratap Rana, Abhay Sir. They always encouraged me to fight for Dalit cause. However, the new boys who joined this body were cunning. When they had some financial problem I helped them with my fellowship money as I was driven by the Dalit ideology. But the same boys did not like my presence at Dalit meetings.

They had of patriarchal attitude. Dalit boys were too much divided and used to fight among themselves instead of fighting the upper castes. I advised them to remain united but in vain. They had huge ego problems. Instead of carrying the Dalit movement forward, they were hell bent to kill it. I realized that this body was not capable of carrying the Dalit movement forward. And I became inactive subsequently after serving it for six years. Babasaheb Ambedkar has aptly said that the "educated people of my community had deceived me".

Now I am in the final year Ph.D. My fellowship finished in October 2004. I am looking for a job as lecturer in some college. My supervisor, Dr. Salma Bawa, saw my documents and told me that I stood a bleak chance of getting a job in India.

With an atrocious past, a depressing present and a disappointing future my entire life is a poison.

This toxin has been inserted by certain dangerous snakes and scorpions (read upper castes) in my life. When dangerous snakes and scorpions bite an individual they produce venom that dissolves the walls of blood vessels, eventually killing the person.

These upper caste people have injected my life with venom that destroyed happiness in my life altogether.

Sir, I want to know what is the way-out? I have studied in all unfavourable circumstances. I am still doing this with no hope in future. India claims to be a great civilization.

They say: Vasudhaiv Kutumbukam (for us the whole world is a family). But in reality they do not consider their own Dalit population a part of this family. They say Satyamev Jayate (truth always wins) but all dishonest and corrupt people go scot-free and only weak are besieged and subjugated in this country.

They preach the philosophy of tolerance to international community while treating their Dalit community with malevolence. They talk of merit while they themselves have no status in the eyes of international community (keep in mind India always ranks high among the list of corrupt nations).

I wanted to become a doctor and serve the nation but these people have turned my life into perpetual illness, I have lost my immunity to fight common diseases even because of enormously adverse circumstances in which I am still living. How long can I carry my life like this? Therefore, I look forward to you to make me a part of the Dalit movement launched by you. I will be grateful to you.