For An Informed Ambedkar Age
Hugo Gorringe & Suryakant Waghmore In a recent interview with The Hindu1, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar suggested the abolition of political reservation for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) “as the people have started voting for Dalit candidates in elections without any bias”‘ (The Hindu, 9 Oct 2014). In this, and other aspects of the …
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 …
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 …
Gail Omvedt “Dalit”, “Scheduled Caste”, “Ex-Untouchable” and “Harijan”. These are only some of the many words used to refer to the most oppressed sections of Indian society, “untouchable” in the traditional caste order, performers of the most degrading task, and still today caught in the throes of poverty, discrimination and the remnants of untouchability. “Dalit” …
Shiv Shankar Das ( Continued from here) The promotion of Buddhist cultural symbols in public sphere by Mayawati led government is driven by the following three strong factors. 1. The Ideology of Kanshi Ram (1934-2006): Cultural Change is a Durable Change Kanshi Ram’s ideology to emancipate the Bahujan Samaj is very important to understand …
Shiv Shankar Das Abstract: The present research note highlights the relationship and the reasons behind the association between the lower caste politics and Buddhism in Uttar Pradesh, the most populated state in India next only to China, United States, Brazil and Russia. There are three reasons behind this association. First, the currently ruling Bahujan Samaj Party’s founder …
‘As a writer I can’t help being objective about myself or the workings of caste’ P.Sivakami. ( This interview was published in The Hindu in August 2009) Subash Jeyan She stands at the confluence of many personal interests and currents in contemporary public life. One of the pioneers of Dalit writing in Tamil, she published …
Barbara Crossette [From The New York Times archives] A brown washcloth in hand to mop his brow under the fiery Indian sun, Kanshi Ram stepped up to the microphones to start a revolution. Tens of thousands of India’s most disadvantaged people – the poor, the powerless, the untouchables – sat along the capital’s stately …
Steven R. Weisman [From The New York Times archives] Anyone who finishes third in a local election in India can usually start thinking about retirement. But the recent third-place showing in a parliamentary race by Kanshi Ram, a fiery champion of the rights of untouchables and other low castes, was strong enough to shake …