Dr. M. M. Thomas, ex-president, World Council of Churches, Thiruvella, Kerala : Whenever I get DV I read the editorial and other items with great interest. I appreciate the manner in which you carry on the struggle.
Y. P. Chibbar, executive-secretary, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, New DeIhi : We are aware that most of the oppressed in the field of civil liberties today are the poor who are mostly dalits, the OBCs and Muslims and women. Therefore, we would like to develop fraternal relations with you.
Dr. Barbara R. Joshi, New York : The Dec. 16-31 DV carried a letter from N. Srinivasan, Coimbatore, who spoke of the Black poets. There are now several small but influential journals published by socially conscious Black intellectuals, including one called The Black Scholar. It features the works of radical Black poets and recently it included articles on other oppressed peoples. Since Arun Kamble, dalit poet from Bombay, had also expressed interest in Black poets, I have sent to The Black Scholar a letter introducing the crisis facing India’s Untouchables, plus a translation of sample dalit poems. Those interested may write to Conyus, Poetry Editor, Black Scholar, PO Box-7106, San Francisco, California- 94120- USA. Most Black Americans still have limited knowledge of Untouchables, the only term they are likely to recognise. However, I am sure these two massive dalit groups do indeed have much to share that will benefit all. So it is worth exploring all possible ways of direct communication.
D. Santokhee, Mauritius : My visit to India was successful. I met lot of people working for social change. And after meeting you, I think I reached the top. The problems of low caste Hindus here are the same as you face. RSS is growing here. I have talked to many friends here about DV, all of whom evinced interest as it fully reflects our feelings.
C. Madhavan, Trivandrum: “The Agony of Being a Muslim” (DV Jan. 15) is not the one felt by Muslims alone. It is the position of all dalits also. In fact I felt very strongly after witnessing the recent anti-Muslim riots here.
N. Elangovan, Cuddalore, TN: “Devadasi System (DV Dec. 16) was a fantastic piece. You have rightly exposed how Hinduism is exploiting the dalit women. Will Dalit Kural bring out all these in Tamil?
V. Munivenkatappa, BDO, Siddapur, NK dt., Karnataka: The Pejawara Swamy who promised to do something to revoke my suspension ordered by the ex-CM Gundu Rao, has also changed his mind. The Pejawara Swamy’s drama was to pre- vent my threatened conversion to Islam. Dalit Sangharsha Samiti is doing its best to help me. Will the new Karnataka Govt. do something ?
Prof Abul Qasem, Calcutta : Indira Gandhi has no time to go to Meerut, 50 KMs awamy from Delhi, but she had time to go to Breznev’s funeral in Moscow. From there she dashed to Paunar to be present at the funeral of Vinoba Bhave, the “Sarkarai Sant”, who was more concerned with the holy cow than the but chering of human beings at Moradabad, Meerut etc.
Mansoor Quereshi, Toronto, Canada: Your editorial on the Devadasis provoked me to write this. This inhuman practice is the outcome of the basic structures of the Hinduism. How can we perceive of a god who divides humans into graded castes and the rest condemned as Untouchables ? The editorial quotes Mrs. Suniti Pungaliya saying that the Muslim “‘invaders” should be thanked for destroying this beastly Devadasi system. But she indeed has to thank Islam for that job.
Dr. Velu Annamalai, Texas, USA: Thanks for publishing (DV Jan. 16) the speech of the US delegate at the UNO, Mrs. Jeane Kirkpatrick, telling the Indian delegation to shut up and take care of the Untouchables and their problems. It is indeed a great victory for us. Now there is a Human Rights organisation in Washington doing a to god job.
Krishna Kumar, Gen. Secretary, Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad, Trivandrum: I find the DV very interesting. We would like to know more about the activities of the Dalit Sahitya Akademy.
Lalit Patel & Babubhai Parmar, Bombay: We find DV very useful. We will introduce it to our friends. We are publishing Man than, a cyclostyled bimonthly in Gujarati. Glad to inform more and more dalit commades are coming under the influence of Ambedkar.
S. V. Goudar, Bijapur : As a college lecturer I get lot of opportunities to visit villages under the NSS camp. We find no change in the conditions of dalits even after 35 years of “independence”.
Dr. Aruna Rajgopal, Madurai: I was deputed to Zambia where I had an opportunity to meet our Black counterparts. We have to establish close links with them and seek international help to liberate the dalits. I congratulate DV for taking up this noble mission.
Dr M. Vasu, Trivandrum: We are all set to form a DV Readers Forum and also taking steps to bring out a Malayalam edition of DV. I will stand by you in your struggle.
G. D. Chamber, Urapar, Jullundar dt. : We are ready to render any service to DV.
A. Naranaswamy, Bharat Electronics, Bangalore : There are 4 major public sector units here employing 70,000 people of which 9,000 are dalits. But they are divided between 4 trade unions – INTUC, AITUC, CITU, HMS. These , unions use our people as servants without giving them any key position in the unions. I lost my increment for participating in a strike in which I led the procession as directed by the union. But the union did not stand by me. Dalits are badly let down by the unions also because these unions are also headed by high caste men. In discriminating against dalits both the management and unions are one. Many a time it is this union office-bearers who instigate the management to take action against dalits. In HAL, Meshram had to suffer at the hands of both the management and union. He is now transferred to the Kanpur unit. I call upon dalits in all industries to form their own trade unions.
Asgharali Enoineer, Bombay : We are reproducing your editorial, “Agony of Being A Muslim’, in our Bohra Chronicle. Mrs Stella Faria, Bar galore : DV deserves all praise for its bold editorials. “The Agony of Being a Muslim,” and “Three Cheers to Andhra and Karnataka”‘, are very striking and bring to view the self-perpetuating dynastic attitude of the Ruling Class under the shallow guise of up- lifting the downtrodden.
