For ours is a battle of not for wealth or for power.
It is a battle for freedom.
It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality.
Dr. B.R.Ambedkar :1942.
Dalit means " untouchable or outcaste " of society. Dalits have been deprived of their civil, political, economic , social and cultural rights by the hegemonic order controlled by the dominant caste groups and the authoritarian social structure over centuries in India. Mahatma Gandhi gave them an identity by referring to the Dalits as Harijans or People of Vishnu (God ) hoping for their respectability in the society. But , Harijan soon became more derogatory than the original term. Dalits bear the brunt of class and gender discrimination , and are subject to oppression, poverty, deprivation and atrocities. They are the victims of a vicious casteist- racist social order.
Atrocities on Dalits are often perpetrated for asserting their basic rights as human beings "TO TEACH THE DALITS A LESSON ".The atrocities inflicted on the Dalits across the length and breadth of India are legion. These include :
Caste-linked slur , public humiliation and abuse, denial of drinking water,
denial of the right to use footwear, beating, tonsuring, looting and burning
homes, destruction of property , rape of women and girls, stripping and
parading naked, lynching, burning humans alive, preventing from contesting
and voting in elections, refusal to worship in temples , forcing to drink urine
and to eat excreta, and implicating in false cases
[according to media reports
and the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights].
The more atrocious than the atrocities against the Dalits is the indifference of the Police in all States in registering cases and investigating seriously. Often the victims are made offenders by the Police. The judiciary also does not fare better in rendering justice to the victims as is seen from inordinate delay and low conviction rate.
Jyoti Lanjewar, a Dalit woman poet, wrote in a poem titled "Caves" :
Their inhuman atrocities have carved caves in the rock of my heart,
I have been silent all the years listening to the voice of right and wrong,
But now I will fan the flames of human rights.
It is a battle for freedom.
It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality.
Dr. B.R.Ambedkar :1942.
Dalit means " untouchable or outcaste " of society. Dalits have been deprived of their civil, political, economic , social and cultural rights by the hegemonic order controlled by the dominant caste groups and the authoritarian social structure over centuries in India. Mahatma Gandhi gave them an identity by referring to the Dalits as Harijans or People of Vishnu (God ) hoping for their respectability in the society. But , Harijan soon became more derogatory than the original term. Dalits bear the brunt of class and gender discrimination , and are subject to oppression, poverty, deprivation and atrocities. They are the victims of a vicious casteist- racist social order.
Atrocities on Dalits are often perpetrated for asserting their basic rights as human beings "TO TEACH THE DALITS A LESSON ".The atrocities inflicted on the Dalits across the length and breadth of India are legion. These include :
Caste-linked slur , public humiliation and abuse, denial of drinking water,
denial of the right to use footwear, beating, tonsuring, looting and burning
homes, destruction of property , rape of women and girls, stripping and
parading naked, lynching, burning humans alive, preventing from contesting
and voting in elections, refusal to worship in temples , forcing to drink urine
and to eat excreta, and implicating in false cases
[according to media reports
and the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights].
The more atrocious than the atrocities against the Dalits is the indifference of the Police in all States in registering cases and investigating seriously. Often the victims are made offenders by the Police. The judiciary also does not fare better in rendering justice to the victims as is seen from inordinate delay and low conviction rate.
Jyoti Lanjewar, a Dalit woman poet, wrote in a poem titled "Caves" :
Their inhuman atrocities have carved caves in the rock of my heart,
I have been silent all the years listening to the voice of right and wrong,
But now I will fan the flames of human rights.
No comments:
Post a Comment