Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Re: [ZESTCaste] urgently needed a dalit advocate

 

Dear Better you please contact to NCDHR at 1/8, south Patel Nagar, New delhi. If find any problem pl contact me. i will try my best. you could also contact tio Anuradha or Veera Mani at jamia..

Warm Rtegards !

'Arun Khote

On Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 6:15 AM, surender sagar <surendersagar@gmail.com> wrote:
 

Dear Frreind
i need a Dalit Advocate in Delhi to fight case against jamia millia islamia
as jamia millia islamia has become the great hub of dalit atrocity in delhi , over 35 percent of dalit students are not given admission every year an d they fill all seat with general candidate  on the pretext that dalit studnets are not available , i am one of the victim in jamia admission for ph.d


plz call me 9899591622




--



(Surender Kumar)
Director- Cinematographer




--
ARUN KHOTE



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[ZESTCaste] Urban Rules of Untouchability

http://www.mediavoicemag.com/home-mainmenu-1/cover-story/3820-urban-rules-of-untouchability.html

Urban rules of untouchability
03 November 2010 10:28

There is a polite silence around exclusion based on caste that happens in
the cities. We trace the unstated rules through which it operates

By nisary mahesh and Asha menon

This is an exercise in mapping silence. In the cities, there is an unstated
code that keeps some people apart. It is not polite to voice it, because the
urbane believe themselves to be liberal and free of traditional biases.


However, untouchability — any form of exclusion based on caste — is
prevalent in the cities. We trace the rules through which it operates by
talking to people who are at the receiving end — the 'untouchables' of urban
India.

*Rule 1*

*A good place to start is the capital city. Here, your house broker will
mysteriously become too busy for you if you are a Dalit.*

When Anoop Kumar was in his late twenties, he went house hunting with this
friend. "We went to Gautam Nagar through a broker. The assistant of the
broker showed me the place and we liked it. When we began negotiating for
the rent, the broker asked us our caste. I said I am a Dalit and immediately
there was a change of tone. The broker said that he needs to reconsider it,
that he will need to talk to the landlord, that they nearly fixed another
tenant. Later we found that it was the broker's younger brother's flat. We
fought with him over it, but we still did not get the house."

*Rule 2*

*While looking for a house, be prepared for questions on your caste.

* Anila Jagdish and her two friends were looking for a house in the heart of
Kochi, Kaloor. There were the usual questions posed to single women and
then, came the direct question: "What is your caste?". "I did think it was
odd, but we had to name our castes like the whole thing was not awkward or
nothing out of the ordinary." Anoop has been living in Delhi for the past
ten years and he now notices subtler ways in which landlords probe to find
out his caste. "They ask me my full name, assess my ability to speak English
and then the most familiar question would be about my eating habits —
vegeterian or non-vegetarian." Geeta Menon, of Bengaluru based Stree Jagruti
Samiti which works with unorganised workers, says, "Many non-Brahmin people
have spoken to us about difficulty in getting a house on revealing their
caste."

*Rule 3*

*Neighbourhoods can be very choosy.

* In Kochi, land-holdings of Scheduled Castes are bought by real estate
companies. In these neighbourhoods, anyone who refuses to part with their
small land-holding are not welcome to stay as a 'sore sight'. Balan, who
belongs to the Pulaya community, was asked to vacate his plot by a real
estate tycoon who had purchased the surrounding plots for a mega project.
Balan refused and today, he is being harassed for that. "The drainage water
from the project is being pumped to my plot," he says. There is a legal
dispute, but Balan has little hope. "They can easily with their money
power."

*Rule 4*

*Common pathways are not open to all.

* Several instances have been pointed out in Kochi where Scheduled Caste
people are forbidden from sharing pathways with upper castes. Umesan, a
member of Vela community residing in Ernakulam says how his family was
denied the use of a pathway through an upper-caste person's plot. "I had
acquired rights for use of the pathway, since my plot has no access to the
main road. But recently a person from an upper caste purchased the plot
through which the pathway runs and he blocked the way." The matter was taken
to court with the help of Dalit Service Society and the court ruled in
Umesan's favour.

*Rule 5*

*It is best not to assert your Dalit identity.

* Anoop is a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University, an institute generally
known for its liberal politics. He joined the college for post graduate
studies in International Politics. During a session on reservation policy in
India, majority of the upper caste students said it was wrong. "Angry at
their stance, I stood up and shared my experience of being Dalit."
Shockingly, Anoop was punished for it. "The next two years, none of the
upper caste students spoke to me. If you speak about caste, you are
immediately seen as a cadre of Mayawati's party. It leads to hatred." In
Kochi, Girija talks about the threats she received and the harassment she
had to face from teachers at her law college for organising Dalit students
to avail government grants. "I was quite good at studies, but they
manipulated the internal assessment to punish me. I had to seek the help of
Dalit Federations for justice."

*Rule 6*

*There are separate benches for different castes, even in reputed
educational institutes.

* On November 5, Bandi Anusha (student of a prestigous college in Hyderabad)
grew tired of being kept apart. Says her father. "She was made to sit alone
at the front bench after her friends came to know of her Scheduled Caste
status," he says. Anusha decided to put an end to it and she was convinced
that the only way out of this was to kill herself. Allegedly, she announced
her intention to her classmates and nobody stopped her. She stepped out and
messaged her father "bye dad im gng to die."

*Rule 7*

*City planning officials will have no qualms about exploiting the caste
divide in slums, often to the detriment of backward castes.

* In Chennai's Nochikuppam, Perumal's was one of the many families that
sought relief after tsunami. But he, like the other Dalits in the fishing
hamlet, realised that they would not be given a house by the sea (within
city limits) since they were classified as "NF" (non-fishing) in government
records. Dalits like many other backward communities in the hamlet were
employed in activities that surround fishing — like cleaning the boats,
selling fish, mending nets etc. They infact formed a majority in the hamlet.
"To reduce the cost incurred to the government, the officials said that we
would get it in the outskirts," says Perumal. "And they told the ooru
(hamlet) leaders to campaign for that and not bother about us." The leaders
were easily convinced, since they themselves were vulnerable to eviction
from the city if they did not cooperate with the babudom.

*Rule 8*

*You may not be good enough to sit next to foreign clients or for a flight
ticket.

* Rajen Dev came to Hyderabad to work for a prestigious IT firm. Over the
years, he has noticed that he is not being treated on par with his peers.
Sometimes it is the smaller things. "It is difficult for me to my flight
expenses cleared. I will need to follow the official procedure, while my
upper-caste colleagues get it cleared informally." Then, there is the client
visit during which Rajen is not encouraged to mingle with them. "They invite
me but never seat me next to them. It could be for want of command over
English language." But Rajen fears there are larger implications. "I've been
denied a promotion for the past four years though I've been the best
performer. I sat with my seniors to discuss a development plan if the
problem was with my work. But no one seemed interested."

That an urban corporate would be discriminatory based on caste should not
come as a surprise. In 2007, S Madheswaran and Paul Attewell had written in
Caste Discrimination in the Indian Urban Labour Market (for Economic and
Political Weekly), based on evidence gathered from National Sample Survey,
that "Discrimination (against SC/ST employees) seems to be much more
resilient in the private than in the public sector…"

*Rule 9*

*The definition of 'merit' at work will not be inclusive.

* "Merit in private sector is often defined in terms of what a person scores
in an English-based, written exam," says Venkat of Madras Institute of
Development Studies. Break it down and the skills required – proficiency in
English – are not often accessible to backward castes. In 2007, when
Surinder S Jodhka and Katherine Newman wrote a paper based on interviews
with 25 human resource managers in large firms in New Delhi and National
Capital region, they found that the cultural capital expected from employees
– like "worldly, sophisticated and well educated" – is not accessible to
members of SCs. Mr.R Prakash, Director, Institute for Dalit Development and
Studies, Kerala is also the Superintendent in the Department of Industries.
"There have been many instances in offices where people refuse to address
Dalits with respectable terms like 'sir'," he says. "Even the office boys
refer to Scheduled Caste officers as 'special quota', which means he has not
come to the position due to his merit.

*Rule 10*

*You can be under tremendous pressure to perform, to prove yourself worthy
of the 'benefits' given by the government.

* When Amaravathi, a national- level Dalit woman boxer from Hyderabad,
consumed poison, her family members blamed her coach. "She used to tell us
that her coach would frequently scold her to achieve results or leave the
sports hostel (of Andhra Pradesh) since she was enjoying free amenities
there (referring to the facilities given to SC/St students)," they said.

*Rule 11*

*Domestic help cannot use the same toilets or same water filters.

* "In some households, localities in Bengaluru, the women who clean the
house and the toilets are not allowed to use the toilets not drink water
from the filters," says Geeta.

*Rule 12*

*Even the Gods will discriminate

* "Neither churches nor the temples have not taken any steps to include the
Scheduled Castes in their leaderships," points out Mr. P K Santhoshkumar,
Secretary, Dalit Service Society, Kochi. 'The Kerala Temples Devaswom Bill'
was passed in 2008, to include the Dalits in devaswoms. "But not one has
been included even as committee members nor have they come forward, since
they are not confident how they will be accepted in the 'Nair' dominated
temple devaswoms."

*Rule 13*

*Pooja rooms are a no-enter zone for domestic help.

* In a posh locality in Chennai, a senior lawyer Veena was chided by her
neighbour. Reason? For letting her domestic help clean her pooja utensils.
"I calmly told her to wash them herself, if she has a problem with my
domestic help washing them," says Veena. The neighbour has not spoken to her
since then. It is common even in Bengaluru, says Geeta. "They are not
allowed into the pooja rooms or touch some vessels. Even after they wash the
clothes and vessels, water is sprinkled on the same." On a lighter note, she
adds, "Ironically, how pure is the corporation water that is sprinkled?"

*Rule 15*

*We are all friends till dinnertime.

* Whenever lawyer Priyanka goes to her friend and Delhi-based senior
journalist Maya Fernandes' house, she does not stay for dinner. Says Maya,
"Priyanka is a Brahmin and she is not comfortable with having food in my
house because I cook nonvegetarian food. She usually calls up and asks me to
finish my dinner and wait up for her or leaves just before dinner. One day,
when she did come early and had to wait for someone else at my house, she
bought a packet of chips." It has definitely affected their relationship and
Maya is not sure, if she can ever be a good friend to Priyanka.

*Rule 16*

*Humour is often used to sugar-coat offensive statements and behaviour.

* In a Kochi-based editing firm, Anila has to suffer another colleague's
playful attempts at dividing the staff into different caste groups. "She
counts the Nairs in the room by asking them to raise their hands. Then, she
pitches Nairs against non-Nairs in debates. It is all done as a joke, so how
do we argue? Most people join in so that they don't appear touchy or
oversensitive." One day, this colleague proudly announced in the office that
the Brahmin receptionist liked her the moment he saw her because of her fair
skin. Abraham Ninan remembers an incident that happened in one of the
leading IT firms in Chennai. He was there to take classes in effective
communication and on day one he could spot the class clown. "The minute I
asked him any question, the whole class would start giggling. I realised
that he spoke in halting English. According to them, he clearly did not
belong." He lacked in cultural capital.


--
B.Karthik Navayan, Advocate
H.No. 21-7-761,
Opp.High Court Post Office,
Gansi Bazar, Hyderabad,
PIN-500002, AP.
Cell:09346677007,
email:navayan@gmail.com <email%3Anavayan@gmail.com>
http://karthiknavayan.wordpress.com/
http://www.petitiononline.com/93466770/petition.html
http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Profile.aspx?uid=10379805095932756525


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[ZESTCaste] PRI polls in sight, Cong dubs BJP ‘anti-Dalit’

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/PRI-polls-in-sight--Cong-dubs-BJP--anti-Dalit-/724882/

PRI polls in sight, Cong dubs BJP 'anti-Dalit'

Express News Service Posted online: Wed Dec 15 2010, 02:04 hrs
Shimla : Even as s the BJP managed an early rapprochement between its
leaders in Kullu district over a controversy about caste-based
remarks, the opposition Congress has caught on to the issue and
decided to campaign against BJP as an "anti-Dalit" party in the
upcoming Panchayati Raj Institution and Urban Local Body elections.
Himachal Pradesh Congress Party President Kaul Singh Thakur today
said, "After the patch-up between complainant Ram Singh, President of
BJP's Kullu District unit, and the accused, state BJP President Khimi
Ram and local leader Dharamveer Dhami, following intervention of Chief
Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, the BJP is trying to brush the issue under
the carpet. The FIRs registered in cases under SC/ST Act for
caste-based harassment cannot be closed down even if the parties reach
a compromise. We demand that the case be handled as per law, and
should be taken to its legal conclusion". Kaul Singh accused the BJP
of political bias and discretion in implementation of laws in cases
involving its own party workers.

Caste case settled: BJP


The state BJP on Tuesday said the issue regarding use of caste-based
remarks among its leaders has now been sorted out.

The party's state spokesperson Ganesh Dutt said the Opposition parties
were trying to stoke the issue to get political mileage.

"The issue was an outcome of misunderstanding between two leaders and
it has been solved at the party level," he said.


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[ZESTCaste] AU bandh on SC quota successful

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/visakhapatnam/au-bandh-sc-quota-successful-057

AU bandh on SC quota successful

December 15th, 2010
DC Correspondent Share Buzz up!Visakhapatnam, Dec. 14: The bandh
called by the Dalit Vidyarthi Sa-maikhya in Andhra University on
Tuesday was total.

Dalit students protested against the decision taken by the Chief
Minister, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, to send an all party delegation to
New Delhi on the categorisation of Scheduled Castes.

All sections of Arts, Commerce and Law colleges on the university
campus were shut down by the protesting dalit students who moved from
one classroom to another, forcing out the students.

They were also successful in closing down the administration wings of
various departments.

The students later organised a dharna in front of the Andhra
University registrar's office.

Dalit Vidyarthy Samakhya convenor K. Mahesh, who led the agitation in
the campus, told reporters that government had taken a positive view
of categorisation without having a clear idea how many sub-castes were
in the Scheduled Castes.

He demanded that the government decide, keeping in view the judgment
given by the Supreme Court.

Later, submitting a memorandum to vice-chancellor Prof. Beela
Satyanarayana, Mr Mahesh demanded that reservation for Scheduled
Castes be increased to 22 per cent.

Other leaders alleged that funds sanctioned under the sub-plan for the
Scheduled Caste were being diverted to other causes.


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[ZESTCaste] Manda krishna to fight for Dalit unity: Mala Mahandu President

 

http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-104474.html

Manda krishna to fight for Dalit unity: Mala Mahandu President

Tirupati (Chittoor district), Dec 13 : MLC and Mala Mahanadu President
Jupudi Prabhakara Rao today found fault with the Madiga Reservation
Porata Samiti founder President Manda Krishna, who agitating for the
old-issue of SC categorisation.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Rao alleged that Manda Kirshna
has been agitating for his personal image over the SC categorization
issue and instead of the old-issue, Krishna should agitate for the
''dalits' unity''.

Even the Supreme court and National Commission for SC also opposed the
SC categorisation, the MLC also found fault with the Manda Krishna,
who called off the fast unto death recently following an assurance
given by the Chief Minister Kirna Kumar Reddy that an all party
delegation would be taken to New Delhi before January 31 to pursue the
issue of SC categorisation.

There is no guarantee whether the Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy
will continue in the government up to December 31, he said and added
that disturbances would be raised in the state particularly in
Telangana if Sri Krishan Committee submit its report to the cabinet on
December 31.

Out of Dalit and Madiga, there are another 50-60 sub-castes, he said
and demanded the government to provide reservation in education and
employment to the ''First Generation'', means the people, who do not
belong to politicians, businessman and job holders.

While extending support to the former Kadapa MP Jagan Mohan Reddy, who
have decided to float a new political party, he said that he toured
along with Mr Jagan during the 'Odarpu Yatra'.

Preference would be given to dalits and minorities in the political
agenda if Jagan floats political party, he opined.

--UNI

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[ZESTCaste] School drop-out scripts Ambedkar Purana

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hubli/School-drop-out-scripts-Ambedkar-Purana/articleshow/7101122.cms

School drop-out scripts Ambedkar Purana
Basavaraj F Kattimani, TNN, Dec 14, 2010, 09.51pm IST

GADAG: Being a school drop-out did not deter Ramanna Byati of
Betageri near Gadag from literally scripting an amazing success story.
And the trigger for him to take up the challenge was the refusal to
allow dalits to attend purana-recitation sessions at temples in the
villages in the district during Shravana Maasa. To drive home his
point, he brought out an anthology on B R Ambedkar, the architect of
Indian Constitution and the icon of dalits.

Ramanna took 18 months to bring out the anthology titled `Ambedkar
Purana' in Bhamini Shatpadi (six-line verse). The style of writing
makes it easy for him to recite the Purana and sing to dalits, who
otherwise would have missed such sessions. Ramanna, despite dropping
out of school after III Standard, has the distinction of being the
author of the first book on Ambedkar in Bahamini Shatpadi.

Ramanna learnt Kannada by reading cinema posters and name boards of
hotels in Gadag. However, the drive to learn the language in depth was
his mother's dream to listen to him reciting `Satyanarayana Katha'.

What started as a passion to narrate stories from the puranas made
Ramanna to consider it as profession too. He later went to write
mythological books with help of his daughter Sunanda. In the last 25
years, Ramanna has authored 36 books on Gourishankar Purana, Danamma
Devi Purana, Siddalingan Kavya Sudhe, Neelakanteshwar Purana. Of them,
20 are in Bhamini Shatpadi. Tontada Siddalinga Mahaswami of Tontadarya
Mutt (Betageri) has been supporting Ramanna in his endeavours.

Speaking to 'The Times of India', Ramanna, said: "I wanted dalits to
listen to the purana of Ambedkar __ whom they worship as God --
instead of other puranas."

Ramanna says he is concerned about dalits. "I'm not a dalit, but still
would like to visit their areas and recite Ambedkar Purana in Shravana
Maasa. I wish the government provides financial help to publish my
works," he adds.

toiblr.reporter@timesgroup.com

Read more: School drop-out scripts Ambedkar Purana - The Times of
India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hubli/School-drop-out-scripts-Ambedkar-Purana/articleshow/7101122.cms#ixzz18ALO8XzN

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[ZESTCaste] Indian Dalits find no refuge from caste in Christianity

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11229170

14 September 2010 Last updated at 01:01 GMT

Indian Dalits find no refuge from caste in Christianity

By Swaminathan Natarajan

BBC Tamil
Till death do us part: Dalits are buried on the other side of the
wall in this cemetery
Many in India have embraced Christianity to escape the age-old caste
oppression of the Hindu social order, but Christianity itself in some
places is finding it difficult to shrug off the worst of caste
discrimination.

In the town of Trichy, situated in the heart of the southern Indian
state of Tamil Nadu, a wall built across the Catholic cemetery clearly
illustrates how caste-based prejudice persists.

Those who converted to Christianity from the formerly "untouchable"
Hindu caste groups known as Dalits are allocated space for burial on
one side of the wall, while upper-caste converts are buried on the
other side.

The separating wall was built over six decades ago.

Continue reading the main story
"
Start Quote
Caste discrimination is rampant in the Catholic Church"
End Quote
Father Yesumariyan

Jesuit lawyer, Dalit campaigner
"This violates the Indian constitution. It is inhuman. It's
humiliating," says Rajendiran, secretary general of Periyar Dravidar
Kazhagam, a small socio-political group that has announced a protest
demanding the removal of the wall.

The Catholic Church in India says it does not approve of caste
discrimination. But it says it is helpless in resolving this issue.

"The burial ground is owned by private individuals, so we are not able
to do anything about this. Even the local bishop is not going to the
cemetery to perform rituals," says Father Vincent Chinnadurai,
chairman of the Tamil Nadu state Commission for Minorities.

He says there is a new cemetery in the town, where bodies are buried
without any discrimination.

Yet burials continue to take place in the controversial cemetery,
presided over by Catholic priests.

For centuries Hindus from different castes have been cremated or
buried in different places, according to their caste.

'Cementing caste'

This practice is fading in the big cities and towns, but in some
places in rural Tamil Nadu, caste-based graveyards are still in
operation.

Discrimination against Dalits persists in all strata of Indian
society Dalit Christians are demanding more proactive steps from the
Church to remove the wall.

Father Lourdunathan Yesumariyan, a Jesuit, practising lawyer and
Dalit-Christian activist, says the Church has the legal power to
remove the wall.

Even though the cemetery is on privately owned land, he says, a recent
high court judgement ruled that the Church has full responsibility as
it administers the graveyard.

"The failure to remove the wall only helps cement caste feelings," he adds.

Some years ago two Catholic priests demolished a small part of the wall.

But the influential land-owning upper-caste Christian group rebuilt it.

The Church is meanwhile accused by critics of refusing to give "just
representation" for Dalits in its power structure, even while it
campaigns for a separate quota for the Dalit Christians in government
jobs.

Fr Yesumariyan says: "In Tamil Nadu, over 70% of Catholics are Dalit
converts. But only four out of 18 bishops are from the Dalit-Christian
community.

"In many places influential caste groups have lobbied and made sure
that only the person belonging to their caste is being appointed as
bishop in their diocese."

He says that in places where Dalit Christians are the majority, they
often struggle to get the top job.

Even though the archbishop of Tamil Nadu region is a Dalit Christian,
he has been unable to improve the situation much for other members of
his community in the Church.

Untouchablity 'everywhere'

In recent years a fixed number of jobs and seats have been earmarked
in Catholic-run schools and colleges for members of the
Dalit-Christian community.

There are estimated to be more than 17 million Catholics in India But
this is being challenged in the court on the grounds that "there is no
caste in Christianity".

Fr Yesumariyan continues: "The Indian constitution says it has
abolished untouchablity. But it is everywhere. In the same way, the
Catholic Church says there is no caste bias but caste discrimination
is rampant in the Church.

"There are hardly any inter-caste marriages among converted
Christians. Until recently, Church-run magazines carried matrimonial
advertisements containing specific caste references. Only after our
protest they stopped it."

A few churches in Tamil Nadu have even been closed after Dalit
Christians demanded a share in the administration.

"We say there is no caste in Christianity," says Fr Chinnadurai. "But
in India, Christianity was not able to get rid of caste.

"Those who converted to Christianity brought their caste prejudices
with them. We are trying our best to get rid of them."


------------------------------------

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[ZESTCaste] Bhagwan Das-The historian of ‘his people'

http://www.frontline.in/stories/20101231272610800.htm

OBITUARY

The historian of 'his people'

VIJAY PRASHAD

Bhagwan Das (1927-2010). His life was given over to the fight against
caste and untouchability, and towards the promotion of Buddhism.

S. ANAND/CNAVAYANA PUBLISHING

Bhagwan Das outside his residence at Munirka in Delhi, in 2009.

During the monsoon season of 1991, I began my dissertation research in
Delhi. I always knew that the project was going to be hard: to write
the history of the Balmiki community of North India. In graduate
school at the University of Chicago I studied with Barney Cohn, who
guided me deftly into the study of a "people without history". Nothing
about the Balmiki community was without history, but its absence in
the archives made writing the history difficult. Unlike commercial
communities whose archives resided in their transaction documents and
unlike royal families whose archives slumbered in palaces and in war
notes, the "untouchables" of India did not seem to have their own
archives, and only rarely made an appearance in history books.

My work began in the National Archives of India, where my friend
Prabhu Mohapatra led me into the Revenue papers. Here, in the margins,
I found a lot of information on the Chuhra community of Punjab – the
people whose hard labour made Punjab's fields flower. I also went out
to the various colonies where the Balmiki community lived: in the
Bhangi colony on Mandir Marg and in the Old City, along its walls. One
evening, near Kalan Masjid, a community elder handed me a slip of
paper that had a name and a number written on it. He told me to call
the number and go and see the man.

A few days later, I called the number and asked to speak to Bhagwan
Das. In less than a minute a man came on the line. He spoke with what
sounded vaguely like an American accent. Very courteously he asked me
to see him a few days later. Bhagwan Das lived in a modest housing
complex in Munirka. His unpretentious apartment was filled with books
and magazines, all well read.

One of the first questions I asked him was about his accent. He
laughed, a bit startled by my abruptness, and told me about his
childhood near Shimla, in the Jutogh cantonment. English came to him
not from the colonial overlords, but in the 1940s when he encountered
U.S. airmen during his service on the Burma front during the Second
World War. We chatted about the American troops, and he told me that
he had befriended a few African-Americans among them. He was curious
about racial discrimination and they were interested in his Dalit
community (a U.S. air force report in the 1940s noted, "Native persons
here are of a dark race and the Negro fails to respect their rights
and privacy"; certainly the airmen that Bhagwan Das met did not
respect his privacy, but they did honour his rights). These evenings
in Bhagwan Das' house were my apprenticeship.

Many scholars came through Bhagwan Das' Munirka flat. He offered us
his encyclopaedic knowledge and his kind wisdom. When I heard he had
died on November 18, I was reminded of his calm intelligence and his
kindness. Born in 1927 in the Jutogh cantonment, Bhagwan Das came of
age in the shadow of B.R. Ambedkar, whom he met for the first time in
1943 in Shimla. Ambedkar drew him into the Scheduled Castes Federation
and into working for him as a research assistant between 1955 and
1956. Finishing his law degree, Bhagwan Das went to work at the High
Court. This was his job. His life was given over to the fight against
untouchability and caste, and towards the promotion of Buddhism.

Bhagwan Das helped found the World Conference of Religions for Peace
(Kyoto, 1970), along with the remarkable American Gandhian, Homer
Jack. In 1983, he spoke before the United Nations on the vice of
untouchability. He pointed out that India has an enlightened
Constitution, what many in his circle called "Dr. Ambedkar's
Constitution. Nevertheless, Bhagwan Das told the U.N., "Anything which
the untouchables consider good for them is vehemently resisted and
opposed. Whatever goes to make them weak, dispirited, disunited and
dependent is encouraged." It was a powerful presentation.

Bhagwan Das was also a leading figure in making sure that the Dalit
issue was not seen only in its domestic context, but taken in an Asian
and global framework. In 1998, he was central to the creation of the
International Dalit Convention (Kuala Lumpur) and had a role in the
Dalit presence at the World Conference Against Racism (Durban, 2001).
I had presented a paper at the U.N. conference on Dalit oppression in
the global context, a talk that greatly pleased him (it was later
published in a volume in honour of Eleanor Zelliot, titled Claiming
Power from Below, by Oxford University Press). At the time of his
death, Bhagwan Das was working on a book on untouchability in Asia.

I went to see Bhagwan Das several times during the early 1990s. He had
a remarkable memory: one day, in 1993 (as my notes tell me), he fired
off a series of names of people I should meet: Kanhayya Lal, Bhagwan
Din, Narain Din, Kalyan Chand, Shiv Charan, and so on. Each name came
with a story. Bhagwan Das did not have to consult any paper or notes;
he had their names and their biographies at his fingertips. It was
exhilarating. What kind of idea was this that a "people have no
history"!

Bhagwan Das was a living historian and his autobiography, Mein Bhangi
Hoon (I am a Bhangi, 1976), provided a window into the life and
lineage of one person who fought against the idea that he had no
history. A part of his story is available from Navayana as In Pursuit
of Ambedkar, 2010. I read his works eagerly. He also taught me how to
create my archive. The state might have only put the Chuhra and the
Balmiki into marginal notes; but the people were less dismissive of
their own histories. In plastic bags, and wrapped in rope, under beds
and in steel trunks, he said, there were documents galore; and indeed
this was the case. The most precious papers that tell the history of
the Balmiki community were not found in the National Archives but in
the humble homes from northern Punjab to western Uttar Pradesh.

One day Bhagwan Das said to me, get out of Delhi. Go to Punjab. That
is where the trick will be uncovered. He sent me to meet Lahori Ram
Balley, the remarkable leader of Buddhist Publishing House at Phagwara
Gate in Jalandhar. Lahori Ram told me the story of the Scheduled Caste
Federation of Punjab and handed me an invaluable pamphlet by Fazul
Hussain ( Achutuddhar aur Hindu asksariyat ke mansube, Lahore, 1930).


"IN PURSUIT OF Ambedkar" tells a part of Bhagwan Das' story. The first
volume of "Thus Spoke Ambedkar" was strongly criticised by the press,
said Bhagwan Das. "We expected it and in fact welcomed the criticism,"
he wrote in the second volume, "because we believe nobody kicks a dead
dog."

Lahori Ram had encouraged Bhagwan Das' intellectual and political
work. Both were followers of Ambedkar. In the 1960s, the two friends
would publish a series of books of Ambedkar's speeches, Thus Spoke
Ambedkar (edited with superb introductions by Bhagwan Das; the first
in 1964). The second volume opened with a poem by Khalil Gibran,
demonstrating the open-mindedness of these men. They were not bilious
like those dominant caste intellectuals; nor were they prone to
compromise. The first volume was strongly criticised by the press,
Bhagwan Das recollected. "We expected it and in fact welcomed the
criticism," he wrote in the second volume, "because we believe nobody
kicks a dead dog. All great ideas have to pass through three stages
namely ridicule, discussion and finally acceptance." They were at the
first stage. The next was before them.

The generosity of Bhagwan Das and his friends never ceased to astonish
me. Lahori Ram and Bhagwan Das also sent me off to meet the leaders of
the Balmiki community in Jalandhar and Ludhiana, and later, in Shimla.
The trick was here. I had not noticed it. They knew where they were
leading me. It was the classic matter of the novice historian being
led by the intellectual engagé.

Just outside Jalandhar, in a Balmiki-dominated village, I spent
several nights. One went poorly. It was cold, and I was not keen on
the bed. I went for a walk just before dawn. In the field I saw a
light flickering, and went toward it. There I saw an old man lighting
a set of lamps and placing them in a set of pigeon-holes. He was in
what might have been a trance. I watched him, and then retreated. The
next morning I asked him what he was doing. He told me about Bala Shah
Nuri and Lal Beg, the preceptors of the Chuhras, the great faith of
his people that had been obliterated in the 1930s. It was in this
decade that the Chuhras had been force-marched into Hinduism and
encouraged to forget their own religion and customs. This was the
trick.

I went back to Delhi. Bhagwan Das knew I had found it out when I
walked into his door (it must have been in March 1993). He handed me
his book, Valmiki Jayanti aur Bhangi Jati, which laid out part of the
story. Later, I found Amichand Pandit's Valmiki Prakash (1936), which
was a catechism for the Chuhras; and I found Youngson's collection of
Lalbeg songs in The Indian Antiquary (1906).

Bhagwan Das appreciated how we had together uncovered a forgotten
story: how his community's deep cultural traditions had been
vanquished by the Hindu Mahasabha and conservative sections of the
Congress – eager as they were to increase the numbers of "Hindus"
against "Muslims". It was a tragedy for the Chuhras, the Lalbegs, the
Bala Shahis: they now became second-class Hindus. It is from this kind
of reduction that human dignity shudders. It was also out of this
history that Bhagwan Das followed Ambedkar to Buddhism; better a new
religion that one loved than an enforced one that treated you as
beneath contempt.

The generations before us loved poetry. It is something that we have
lost to our own discredit. To make a point, and to do so in an
unexpected way, they would often offer up a couplet or a line of
poetry. It was very graceful. Bhagwan Das loved poetry. He
particularly liked to talk with me about the verse of the Punjabi
branch of the Balmiki community. It is from him that I grew to love
the writings of Bhagmal 'Pagal', whom I would later meet in Jalandhar,
and Gurudas 'Alam', whose poem from 1947 stays with me.

After one trip to Jalandhar, I brought back Alam's Jo Mai Mar Gia
(1975) for Bhagwan Das. We sat in the main room in his house, me
drinking tea, and him reading out the poems. Here is Azaadi,

My friend, have you seen Freedom?

I've neither seen her nor eaten her.

I heard from Jaggu:

She has come as far as Ambala,

And there was a large crowd around her.

She was facing Birla with her back towards the common people.

In Jalandhar, I also met R.C. Sangal, the editor of Jago, Jagte Raho,
from whom I got a stack of the papers. Bhagwan Das enjoyed the fact
that the paper carried the verse of Baudh Sharan Hans and Alam (I also
found Bodhdharam Patrika, another Ambedkarite newspaper that regularly
carried poetry, including, from 1978, Alam's great Chunav). The last
time I met Bhagwan Das, we talked about poetry. I had thought to bring
together some of these poets into a small volume. I was such a poor
translator that I doubted my abilities. He was as encouraging as ever.

He called Ambedkar "an iconoclast and a revolutionary". These words
apply to Bhagwan Das himself, whose flat in Munirka was a stone's
throw from Jawaharlal Nehru University, but for me it was an
intellectual haven like no other.


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