Comments on: Good Dalit,Bad Dalit

By: Upal Deb

Upal Deb — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:13:26 +0000

Nothing is more traumatic than branding the Dalits in negative epithets.The fact that they are classified in so absurdly generalist terms reflects the caste divides fragmenting India.To me this problem of upper-caste ostracism of the Dalits could have been settled by now,politically or socially.I am moved by much of poetry written by the oppressed poets of the Dalit community.I am no Dalit in caste terms,but I feel Dalits must regiment themselves mutual promotional agenda given the apathy of both the Government and the upper caste sensibility.There is nothing like “good” or “bad” among the Dalits.There cannot be such groups while most of them do have to struggle to make a basic living.Dalit intellectuals and thinkers must come forward to address the historical dimensions of the Dalit struggle to the community.India will be foolish not to mainstream them.Marginality of the Dalits can only point to India’s folly in a time when India dreams of becoming a world leader!!

By: nikhila henry

nikhila henry — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:27:53 +0000

Insecure. They are insecure.

By: themmadi

themmadi — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:33:40 +0000

@naveen
this “innocence” is self deceiving man. come out of ur “false conscious state of mind… dont me so idiotic as to believe “police stories” which are as badly constructed as Kairali news reports..
best wishes for living in this state

By: amala

amala — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:01:28 +0000

On October 21st, 2009 at 12:58 PM naveen wrote:”Dear Ajith, I reread you posting a couple of times and I could see only message from the article.. Your angst. That much is fine. I can beter appreciate angst being communicated as an art form, poem or prose. But an article in this forum is expected to be more than that. Please state your position given the information…”
i’d thought such precise formulations were your life principles..anyway glad to know you’ve started discarding them.
PS:i ain’t debating for your crappy felicitation sir.

By: naveen

naveen — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:20:21 +0000

YOU FINALLY WON THE DEBATE . Its amazing that you could be that precise.

In fact I was caught on wrong foot by being not precise enough

I agree Dalit is not a caste name. I never knew this before. I guess it is more like blacks in USA. No caste consciousness at all. Only some kind of class consciousness or persecution complex consciousness

regret having disturbed you so much

By: amala

amala — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:06:18 +0000

happy to see you evade predicaments miserably, again and again.
lets try this once more;”for starters again,’Dalit’ is not a caste name like nair,namboodiri,marar and hence DHRM cannot be a synonym of NSS or SNDP!”

By: Naveen

Naveen — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:40:46 +0000

Amala , Please inform me What does the word dalit represent , if not a caste or group of castes who were earlier represented as Harijans and by the constitution as SC/ST’s.
Here I quote some dictionaries

Dalit is a self-designation for a group of people traditionally regarded as low caste or untouchables (outcastes). Dalits are a mixed population of numerous caste groups all over South Asia, and speak various languages. – wiki

Someone who belongs to the lowest caste (=social class) in the traditional Hindu social system – Macmillan Dictionary

Dalit is the very term that Indian SC/ST communities named themselves sometimes in 1960s when SC/ST of Maharashtra protested to leave Hinduism to get liberated from Hindus Caste system. It is derived from Sanskrit word “Dal” meaning for “Oppressed,” “Crushed,” or “Defiled.” Dalits are not included in Hindu’s four Castes – Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras developed by Brahmin forces ever since Aryans invented in Indian soils in 1500 BC . All SC/ST communities in India including the SC/ST communities in north east India are known as Dalit Communities by definition in the way how SC/ST communities are oppressed by Indian’s upper caste communities – Dalit freedom Network

Is there any definition without reference to caste or caste groups????

Hope you wont come up with arguments such as Dalits are set of people who face cumulative oppression. People who are crushed continually.
While such descriptions are just that, subjective descriptions, any attempt to identify a dalit will have to take his/her caste into consideration.

So, whether you like it or not, the term Dalit has strong caste foundations. Hence I think it is justified to use Dalit in caste lines and relate caste organizations like NSS, SNDP with DHRM

Now for inmates issue, It is a clear case of the half-empty, half full glass, a matter of perspectives.

And I strongly think it is this same colored thinking that leads to changing identities repeatedly (Harijans-SC/ST-Dalit-?) and still finding it inadequate.

By: amala

amala — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:49:09 +0000

hey naveen,am i seeing angst here..hmm
anyway it is precisely such problems with terms and their politics one is either comfortable or uncomfartable with that have been posed by mr.ajithkumar.(by the way check out ‘inmate in any free online OED:a person living in an institution such as a prison or hospital.— originally denoting a lodger or subtenant;and then check out the history of Dalit colonies in kerala and their ongoing struggles for ownership of land)
for starters again,’Dalit’ is not a caste name like nair,namboodiri,marar and hence DHRM cannot be a synonym of NSS or SNDP!

By: arjun

arjun — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:04:58 +0000

an s shape knife is hiding somewhere here

By: ajith

ajith — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:16:19 +0000

naveen,
ok, first it was my angst and now hypocrisy.i am not surprised.if there is a deviation from dominant perception,I a sure responses of this sort is possible.then,i did not suggest skepticism towards media.i believe that engaging with the media is more political.i am little more concerned about how common sense and consent is constructed which allows the media to produce stories like this very comfortably.and i know that branding of certain group as terrorist or fundamentalist is a more complex process.then i didn’t force you to read from the `same media’.we are fortunate enough that the media doesn’t have a single voice and other voices and contradictions in the media help us to make a more critical judgment of what they produce.i quoted v.v selvaraj’s interview because it would be more democratic if we listen to other voices also.