Gurinder Azad Jai Bhim friends. Welcome to Round Table India’s Ambedkar Age program, a series of interviews, talks and documentaries on current issues from a Dalit Bahujan perspective. On 26 August 2016, Haryana government started the monsoon session of Vidhan Sabha with a speech by Tarun Sagar who is a Jain preacher. It is …
Renaming as Humiliation
Jadumani Mahanand In JNU, many a times, an Ambedkarite cannot make out any difference between the Left, Right and Centre, which means one observes striking similarities among them. Because of the so-called Modi “wave”, the ABVP in JNU is trying to play politics by renaming the library, convention centre and stadium grounds after B. …
Art and Ambedkarism: A Conversation with Sambhaji Bhagat
Yogesh Maitreya Somewhere in 2012, back in Nagpur, I had read an article on Sambhaji Bhagat, poet, balladeer and a rebellious playwright from Maharashtra. He is also a vigorous Ambedkarite activist, in his own words, “main Babasaheb ka baccha hu” (‘I am the descendent of Babasaheb’). While living in Nagpur I had hardly heard of …
Condemn the Assam Massacre, Ensure safety of Muslims, Arrest Pramila Rani Brahma
Condemn the Massacre in Assam, Demand immediate arrest of Pramila Rani Brahma; Ensure safety of Muslims in BTAD: A Statement by Civil Society Groups, Activists and Concerned Citizens ~ We, the undersigned, express our profound sense of grief and alarm over the gruesome massacre of Bengali-speaking Muslims on 2nd May. This most recent round …
The Crisis and Challenge of Dalit-bahujans
Braj Ranjan Mani There is no competing cultural vision from below for the mind and heart of India. Dalit-bahujans are still absent in the contest of ideas, policies and visions—the fundamentals on which democratic competition takes place.This paralysis of the mind is linked totheir systemic cultural, intellectual and spiritual destruction. Without reference to history …
‘No Alphabet in Sight’: Understanding Caste Formulations After 1990s
Understanding caste formulations after 1990s: Review of ‘No Alphabet in Sight: New Dalit Writing from South India’ (This review is a part of the theory course taught by Dr Bhangya Bhukya, Department of Social Exclusion Studies, English and Foreign Languages University) Karthik Navayan Caste is interpreted in different schools of thought in different ways; …
Caste combined with politics is the culprit: Thirumavalavan
Balaji Lakshmipathi@Moses This article is a translation and transcription of a special phone-in program called ‘Love that ended in death’ (‘maranathil mudintha kathal’) featuring the VCK leader Thol. Thirumavalavan which was hosted by Thanthi TV on 11/7/13. The TV anchor Mr Pandey led the discussion and facilitated questions from viewers. Video 1 {youtube}qaEKOvzhSX0{/youtube} We …
Kanshi Ram, the political genius and true game changer
Raj Kumar Politics is the most difficult of life skills, and those who remain reluctant to master this art are condemned to remain as obedient slaves while the masters of politics enjoy undiminished supremacy in all human relations. History bears testimony that civilization developments have been made possible by the leadership of the political …
Analyzing the ‘OBC-Minority’ Sub-Quota–Part IV
Khalid Anis Ansari Continued from here. [IV] 4.5% Sub-Quota for OBCs within Minorities: The ‘Political’ Dimension The approach that merely concentrates on government jobs and seats in higher educational institutions is indeed a very savarna (upper caste) view of reservation policy. From the perspective of upper caste discourse, which has little appreciation for dignity of …