বিনায়ক দামোদর সাভারকারের ‘হিন্দুত্ব’ তত্ত্বের উপর গড়ে উঠেছে আজকের আরএসএস-বিজেপি-র সাম্প্রদায়িকতা, বিদ্বেষ ও ঘৃণার রাজনীতি। গোহত্যা, জাতিভেদ, জাতীয়তাবাদ ইত্যাদি বিষয়ে সাভারকারের মত থেকে বর্তমান মৌলবাদী হিন্দুত্ববাদী সাম্প্রদায়িক শাসকশক্তি আজ অনেকটাই সরে এসেছে। বিজেপি তথা নরেন্দ্র মোদীর হিন্দুত্ব আসলে একদিকে সাভারকার আর অন্যদিকে হেডগেওয়ার আর গোলওয়াকারের ধর্মভাবনার এক খিচুড়ি তত্ত্ব। এই প্রেক্ষিতে সাভারকারের মতবাদ ও জীবন […]
In a 2-part essay, Zeeshan Husain looks at the interplays of castes and gender from AD 600-1750, focusing on historian Irfan Habib’s Medieval India: The Study of a Civilisation (2007). Habib divides this period into three parts — early medieval India (AD 600–1200), India under the Sultanates (AD 1200–1500), and Mughal India (AD 1500–1750) — and […]
“Although there is no comparison between Article 15 and Pa Ranjith’s Kaala, but still, it is tempting to look into their ways of direction because these two are the only Bollywood films in recent times, having Bahujan issues as the main theme. Unlike Article 15, in Kaala, Dalits are not always dirty and helpless, waiting […]
June 26, 2019 was the 145th birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj. Shahu Maharaj was a social reformer and also the ruler of Kolhapur, whose Government was perhaps the first to implement caste-based reservations, not just in education but across all Government agencies. His Government, working on ideas of Mahatma Phule, was also one of […]
In these times when the entire nation is reeling under severe attacks from the dominant classes, “I would like to remind the young generation of today including myself, that we have to remember the dream of our great Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar to create a society that is without caste and without ignorance. And to this […]
In order to decide the meaning of ‘Economic Backwardness’, Modi Government set up no Commission, or undertake any comprehensive study across the country, unlike what the apex court had stipulated in the Indra Sawhney case (1992). But the present arbitrariness of a blanket 8 lakh per annum slab for economic backwardness for the ‘forward classes’ […]
10th January marks the martyrdom of Bhagwat Jhadhav, the first martyr of the Dalit Panthers Movement, a militant anti-caste struggle that shook Maharashtra during the 70s. Like every year, several anti-caste, cultural organisations and political parties including the Kabir Kala Manch, Samta Kala Manch, Republican Panthers and the Republican Party of India organised meetings in […]
6th December for Indian mainstream media means one whole day of baying for blood on the question of Ram Temple, “special coverage” and “breaking news” of VHP-RSS-Shiv Sena’s calls for justice for Hindus in this country, and so on. What the media completely blacked out however is one of the country’s biggest single annual gatherings […]
Within the last month and half there have been a series of caste killings in Telangana – often narrated as “honour killings” – murders of young dalit and OBC men for marrying in defiance of caste hierarchies. While the ruling party maintains a stoic silence with upcoming Assembly elections, people are coming together to protest. […]
In his book Karmayog, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks of manual scavenging as a ‘spiritual experience’. He gives this sermon even while manual scavenging is banned by law in India. At least one person dies every day while cleaning sewers and septic tanks. Besides risk to human health and life the occupation employing thousands of […]
Yesterday, 19th August, several thousands marched in Delhi at the call of Bhim Army, demanding #releaseChandrashekharAzadRavan and all dalit activists, #ArrestShambhajiBhide & other accused of Elgar Parishad violence, #releaseGadling & 4 other activists in jail under false cases, #dropFalsecases on 2 April Bharat Bandh protestors, and adequate compensation to all affected of Police and dominant caste […]
Speaking at the 6th Hyderabad district committee meeting of the Kula Nirmulana Porata Samiti (Struggle Committee for Annihilation of Caste), Bandaru Laxmaiah, State President of KNPS, spoke of the wave of dalit organising in the wake of the Karamchedu massacre in 1985, led by the Dalit Mahasabha, and subsequent formation of KNPS in 1998. Addressing […]
V. Geetha In this summer of our discontent, with fury raging on our campuses and streets, I would like to take a detour through nineteenth century lives and ideas, so as to return to the present, with an enabling sense of history. I start by calling attention to the way knowledge came to be reconceptualised […]
Abhishek Bhattacharyya Prof Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd, now Chairman of T-MASS, or ‘Telangana Mass and Social Organizations,’ appears to have put behind him the recent spike in threats to his life, and is very busy with travel and various meetings. I learn from him of a celebration organised here in Hyderabad by KVPS (Kula Vivaksha Vyatireka […]