Rahul Sonpimple (His reply to an open letter addressed to him by Umar Khalid, student leader of JNU) I am new to this culture of open letters, I wonder if I will get one after my every speech. At the outset, let me state that I am not writing this reply to defend myself, …
Afterlife of a Dalit film star
K K Baburaj When a great personality dies, people feel helpless and the country ceases to function. But, after one week, if this great personality returns, he won’t find the job of a city porter. The famous German poet Bertolt Brecht wrote such a poem. Kalabhavan Mani, a Dalit film star and popular singer …
Academic Hindutva and the Futility of Dalit-Left Unity Calls
C Ahamed Fayiz Since the beginning of this year, Indian campuses have been witnessing a grave turmoil. It is nothing but an expression of accumulated frustration born out of the inequitable system of governance in every domain, which has a long history of centuries. Campuses and educational spaces are the most vulnerable places for discrimination …
The ‘Nation’ at War with the Students
N. Sukumar and Shailaja Menon “The backward classes have come to realize that after all education is the greatest material benefit for which they can fight. We may forego material benefits, we may forego material benefits of civilization, but we cannot forego our right and opportunities to reap the benefit of the highest education to …
‘Lal Salaam aur Nila Salaam’: A call for new pathways to social movement
Suhas Bhasme Comrade Kanhaiya’s last words in the speech given at JNU before he was arrested under the sedition act were ‘Lal Salaam aur Nila Salaam’. The slogan denotes a significant ideological shift that the country has been witnessing in the last few years and in particular, the last few months, after the incident …
Changing Dalit Politics in Rural Maharashtra: Case Study of Aljapur Village
Nitin Dhaktode Caste in politics is not new in India. Bihar elections have given clear indication of the importance of caste based politics. Caste has always been playing a vital role in elections since independence, both in the way to win and loose. In this article, I am presenting empirical experiences of Aljapur village …
The Hindu-Muslim Love Story
Karthick RM “If you accept to play the games by the rules set up by those who own or control the board, you will always lose.”– Jean-Paul Sartre Surprisingly, a writer for Scroll.in in a recent article asked a very pertinent question – “Why doesn’t the violence against Dalits incite liberal fury, as does …
An open letter from a Dalit musician, to whomsoever it may concern
Ajith Kumar A S The immediate provocation for writing this letter is TM Krishna’s letter to Modi (“Honourable Narendra Modi-ji”). So I think this letter has to be addressed to a large group of people who ‘share’ TM Krishna’s so-called radical mindset when muslims and dalits are attacked and murdered by caste hindus and …
Red is a Darker version of Saffron
Abdullah Rahman, Rahul Meenakshi & Sanjana Krishnan ‘Kiss of Love’ and the Islamophobic Undercurrent of the Movement The famous case of Downtown restaurant in Calicut that was vandalised by Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) on 24th October, 2014 for allegedly promoting immoral activities is now a nationwide furore. The goons of the BJP’s youth wing …