Ms. Eva Maria Hardtmann, Stockolm: We get our DV on time and follow your writings. I am sending an article which was published in the prestigious Niasnytt, 1992/2, The News of Nordic Institute for Asian Studies, a periodical read by most scholars interested in Asia, in the Nordic countries. Any comments from you will be valuable to me.
Runoko Rashidi, 4140-Buckingham Rd, Suite D, Los Angeles, CA 90008, USA: During the summer, I edited two books and then I went to Egypt where I lectured on the Dalits. Since the Los Angeles rebellion I have been extremely active both writing and lecturing. My book, “A Guide to the Study of African Classical Civilization” (which contains an appendix by you) is to be published in Nov. 1992. I have worked on this book off and on for three years now, so it should be good. During the last six months, I have made major presentation in more than a dozen US cities on the African presence in Asia, with particular emphasis on the Dalits. At some point, I hope, to write a long delayed commentary on the Los Angeles Uprising and an overview of my trip to Egypt.
Myriam Scheiber, President, International Movement Against All forms of Discrimination and Racism, 3- 5-11, Roppong Minato-Ku, Tokyo-106, Japan: We present our update kit on the UN World Conference on Human Rights and its preparatory process. The UN General Assembly decided in 1990 to convene the World Conference on Human Rights to discuss crucial issues with regard to UN human rights activities. The conference will be held in June 1993 at Vienna, Austria, for two weeks.
Conan Lee, 32-Dumont Rd. Stoke Newington, London N16 ONS: I am interested in Dalit Voice and any information on Dalit movement. One of my areas of interest is the African presence throughout Asia. I was advised by Gordon Boller of Naataangeh Association to write. I wrote to Runoko Rashidi but no reply.
Shigekiyo Matsunaga, Fukuoka-India Educational Exchange Organisation, 522-227, Shimotukikuma, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, 816-Japan: Your Thamate concert held on the Sept. 20 to 27 ’92 really impressed the Japanese people. They gave us indescribable excitement, joy and courage. We could also make out the plight of the Dalit people living in India and got a feeling of solidarity with them. We are happy that the visit fulfilled our work. (DV Oct. 16, ’92 p.11: “Dalit team returns from Japan”).
Miss Florence Eppie Lam and Roberto Ricci, Asian Center for the Progress of Peoples (ACPP) 48- Princess Margaret Road, Kowloon, Hongkong: This letter is to thank you for receiving us during our stay in India. We have learnt much during our trip about Dalits and their oppression.
M.M.S. Salahuddin, Doha: I made photocopies of important articles from DV (“Spanish Experiment”,” In Defence of Sulaiman Sait” etc) and distributed it to some Kerala Muslims. Happy to inform that every Kerala Muslim knows DV after your visit to Abdul Nasser Madani at the Trivandrum Hospital. But you are not popular among Tamil Muslims. That is the reason for the absence of Muslims at the PMK Marina Beach meeting you addressed.
Mallam Shuaibu Dele Oladepo, Dir.Gen ., Centre for Islamic Culture, 13-Kola-Balogun Crescent, PO Box 985, Osogbo, Nigeria: This is a non-profit making centre to propagate Islamic tenets. We need your support.
Lavy Thomas, Long Island University, New York,camp Bangalore: I learnt about you from Dalit Voice, I want more information concerning the Buddhist movement in India. I am a student of the Friends World Program which has its S. Asian Centre here. My school places emphasis on experimental education, the students obtain credits mostly through internships and direct field participation with organisations of their interest. I want to study Buddhist movement among Dr. Ambedkar’s followers. I will be here till May.
Haridas, C-41, ONGC colony, Nazira, Assam-785 685: Dalits in this part are imitating Hindus and getting enslaved. Instead of following Buddha and Babasaheb, they are going behind our enemies. I am giving one example: Some time back the Hindus celebrated Karwa Chauth festival when all Hindu women worship their husbands. A day earlier | collected all my Dalit friends with their wives and raised the topic of the forthcoming Karwa Chauth and took the view of each woman present there. Except two, all of them said they would observe the ceremony. I tried my best to impress them that this festival is a Brahmin custom to keep their women as slaves. But they won’t listen. Some women said their husbands liked this puja. Even the Dalit husbands refused to convince their wives. Next day, I saw all these women doing Karwa chauth going to temples, praising Hindu gods and busy performing the puja of their husbands who sit like stone statue enjoying the worship. I am fed up.
M.G. Bhima Rao, Sattenapalli, AP – 522 403: I admit the Dalits are made slaves by upper castes using liquor as a weapon. This liquor was originally brought to India by the Aryan invaders as history reveals. Babasaheb Ambedkar said the Aryans were a race of drunkards. Aryan gods Rama, Krishna, Arjuna were all liquor addicts (soma). Liquor contractors are all the upper caste people even today. Hence there is certainly an urgent need to combat this Aryan culture of liquor as part of our struggle against upper castes. The AP Dalit Maha Sabha has formulated a strategy to combat this Aryan menace.
Convener, DV Readers Circle, C/o Harish Mandal, Agapura, New Barrackpore, WB-743 2276: We are ready to call a meeting of DV readers provided no individual tries to use it. It will be a workshop to collect new talents with the motto to create an atmosphere of mutual respect to each others so that the talent of each individual is honored. It must lead the way to Dalit-Muslim unity which is an urgent need of the hour.
Gorakh Prasad, Dr. Ambedkar Mission of Purvanchal, 542-Jungle Tulsi Ram, Bichhiya, Gorakhpur-273 014: On the “Poona Pact day” (24.9.92) we had a symposium here. Inaugurating it, Molhoo Baudh, ex- MP, said the govt. is trying to dismantle “service associations of SC/ST. Economic criteria in reservation is a conspiracy against us”. Chief guest Gaya Prasad said the present Ayodhya is the ancient Saket of Buddhists.
R.U. Rangari, Executive Engineer, MSEB colony, Vasal Road, – 401 202: Dr. P.K. Sukumaran, Trichur, Kerala (DV Aug.16), says SC/ST/BC/Muslims must get united at any cost. Close cooperation in all fields must start. An economic blockade of savarnas will give definitely a fantastic result. DV is the only one magazine of SC/ST/BC/Muslim. If the money going from the pockets of SC/ST/BC/Muslims to other English papers and magazines is stopped and diverted to the Dalit Voice then only fantastic results can be achieved. Dr. Sukumaran should explain how to stop this flow of money and divert it to Dalit Voice.
Dalit Vishwanath, Manjeswar, Kerala: Dalit and Muslim Youth League leader, AP Unnikrishnan, recently criticised the growing Hindu nazi activities in this northern end of Kerala. Hindu nazis are threatening to kill him and they announced this on Oct.3. The Dalit Liberation Front of Manjeswar has decided to fight the nazis.
Bhayya Maheshkumar, Chitguppa, Bidar-585 412: Some upper caste youths put a garland of chappals on Dr. Ambedkar statue at Vidyanagar, Gulbarga. But our people suspect the Muslims. In almost all the localities of Gulbarga, there is no good relation between Dalits and Muslims. Tukkaram Bhavidoddi, your representative, has opened a bookshop to sell Dr. Ambedkar literature. DV circulation is shooting up. We have decided to burn the Aryan god Ram’s photo in Kohinoor village.
S.H. Gondane, C-3, Swagat, off Mahakali Caves Rd. Andheri (E) Bombay – 400 093: I want to become a life member of Dalit Voice which has impressed me so much. One cassette on Babasaheb is made at a cost of about Rs. 4.5 lakhs. I will send one to you. We need to spread Babasaheb’s true message to those who cannot read and write. Audio visual is the best medium. I am an engineering graduate (32) from Nagpur working as flight purser in Air-India. I am guided by Yogesh Varhade of Canada.
Vardhini Dalit, Tumkur, Karnataka: On Oct. 24, TV showed the closing ceremony of “Festival of SAARC member countries”. A Kerala minister, T.M. Jacob, insulted our Karnataka Dalit Governor, Rachaiah, by not even mentioning his name. Jacob’s act was not a slip, it was deliberate. He used appreciative words lavishly on all other guests on the stage except Rachaiah who swallowed the insult.
Rachaiah is our good old friend and a well-known stooge of the upper castes. Hegde selected him for this useless post of Governor as he is a time- tested loyal dog. Such fellows use their community name only when they are in trouble. When they are happy they are in the company of Aryans. It is a waste of time to bother about such Rachaiahs. EDITOR.
C. Madhavan, Trivandrum: I am very much moved by M.A. Siraj article and your comment (DV Nov.1-15, 92): “Warning to Muslims on Media”. From its very inception in 1981, DV declared its policy and frame of mind. How many persecuted Muslims feel like- wise? This is really a tragedy. Look at Punjab, Kashmir, Tamil Nadu. Even the affected parties are not quick to realise their own plight. The fact is that the Muslim elites do not want to go with the Untouchables.
Mrs. Prem Shila Ambedkar, Mata Rajpati Home Library, Bahorwa, Parari Bazar, Deoria-274701: Few days back at 11 pm the “Best national award” film Bagh Bahadur was shown on TV. In this film there is not any objectionable point or sex. Why then it was chosen for a late night show? Because the film criticises brahminism, and the people will make out that brahminism is our Enemy No.1.
B.K. Nag, Jeypore, Orissa: Some upper caste nazis are writing “Letters to the editor” to destroy the unity between the sufferers (SC/ST/BC) and co-sufferers (Christians/Muslims/Sikhs). This is because you publish such “letters” even if it is critical of you. I appreciate your idea to face healthy criticism, but unhealthy criticism should not be entertained as it may harm the interest of the 85% Bahujan Samaj.
N.K. Sonare, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar National Association of Engineers, Tushar, 19th Road, Khar, Bombay- 400 052: Thank you for publishing my letter on revision of post-matric scholarship for SC/ST. I have received a letter from the Welfare Ministry saying the revision is being examined. This reply is contrary to the statement made by Ram Vilas Paswan, then Welfare Minister, in his speech at the Staff Selection Commission Programme in July 1990 where he announced the decision of the Govt. of India to revise the post-matric scholarship linked with DA and disburse it on monthly basis. DV readers and SC/ST/BC associations must send telegrams to Sitaram Kesri, Welfare Minister, Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi-1 urging upward revision of post-matric scholarship linked with dearness index and monthly disbursement of the same.
Dr. S.P. Suman Akshar, Bhartiya Dalit Sahitya Academy, Model Town, 233-Tagore Park, Delhi-9: We are holding the 8th national conference of Dalit writers here on Dec.6-7. Dr. Ambedkar National and International Awards will be distributed then.
Gangadhar Naik, Bhubaneswar: On reading your newly-started column, “DV 10 years Ago”, and comparing it with your writings today, one thing has become clear. To put it in your language, “our upper caste rulers have learnt nothing, forgotten nothing”. I find no “change of heart” on their part. Rather they are getting more criminalized.
Dr. Santosh K. Duria, Sharda Niwas, Mohi, Kankroli, Rajasamond dt ., Raj – 313 338: I have just read few issues of DV and some DSA books. We are having a SC/ST/BC organisation. On Jan. 12 last, we organized a State-level convention attended by 1,400 students. A State cabinet minister presided. I came to know you from your “Letter” in the Hindustan Times (Sept.26) titled “PMK clarifies”. Till then I was in dark about the PMK. I think PMK will be a good party. I am a post- graduate student of Raj. College of Agriculture, Udaipur. Dalits of Rajasthan may contact me.
Binod Biplabi, Bargarh, Orissa: The CM and the Tribal Minister of Orissa have admitted that the SC/ STs are being treated as second-class citizens even now. They said this at the SC/ST reservation conference at Bhubaneswar on Oct. 22. The CM said “something” should be done to bring the SC/STs on par with the savamas but he did not know what the “something” should be. The head of the State does not know what should be done to liberate the SCs/STs. How funny? The conference could not arrive at any decision as the upper caste students did not allow the Dalit leaders to speak out.
M.A. Chavada, Editor, “Daulat”, Junadeesa-385 540: I regularly read Dalit Voice and also your books. I am now able to identify that brahminism is the cause of India’s all-round violence. Your pen is very mighty. Your foresight remark able. You are the architect of the Dalit-Muslim unity. We must start the “Indian Minorities Conference” with you as president. For this, a conference of some leading luminaries of all six minorities selected from every State must be invited. I and my friend, K.G. Pathan, Advocate, at Radhanpur will come to Bangalore to finalise the proposal.
We are not “minorities”. We are the majority. How can those who constitute over 85% of the population be a minority? This “minority” tag was given by the Aryans. Hate what Aryans love and love what the Aryans hate – EDITOR.
Dr. Anees Ahmed, Press Secretary, SIM of India, 151-C, Zakir Nagar, New Delhi-25: Press reports have maligned the SIM and alleged that SIM is involved in terrorist activities. This allegation is a blatant falsehood. Tahir Jamal and Saqib Nachan have been arrested under TADA. Both the arrested are ex-members of SIM. But they are being depicted as members to malign the SIM. SIM can’t be held responsible for its ex-members (SIM has an age-limit and those crossing 30 years leave SIM). Baseless and absurd charges have been labelled against these people. If there is a substance in the charges, why they are not presented in the open court? They are being detained under TADA, which is a most inhuman and anti-democratic law. A section of the press has been making a lot of noise about their visits to Pakistan. There was nothing clandestine about these visits. They had travelled on valid passports and visas. If there was anything shady about these visits, why were these visits allowed? Is it a crime for a Muslim to visit Pakistan or to meet relatives while in Pakistan? The charges of terrorism against SIM is absurd. Those who know SIM are very well aware of the fact that SIM is a student body working openly. There is nothing secret about its activities. (DV Nov.1 ’92, p.18: “Damaging report on SIMI”).
Faheemuddin, 322-cross Rd. 14 – Jawaharnagar, Mango, Jamshedpur-832 110: I did not know what our Dalit brethern think until your fortnightly opened my eyes. Whole of India is declaring Muslims as aliens and enemies. It is only the Dalit Voice which expressed warm sympathy and brotherhood towards Muslims. I wish your Voice becomes louder and louder and becomes a death-knell to the anti-national Hindu nazis who are anti-Muslims too.
Aytul Haque, “The News”, Magazine and books corner, Tatarpur, Bhagalpur-2: We keep Dalit Voice. Most of the people who are interested in your magazine demand the Hindi and Urdu version of Dalit Voice.
A.Q. Malik, Ast. Editor, “Kashmiriat-weekly” Momin Abad, Anantnag, Kashmir -192 101: I am highly impressed by your writings and ideas. I want to dedicate rest of my life for the noble cause of social justice and awakening of the Dalits. Maqbool Ahmed V. Ray, our Editor, is a staunch supporter of Dalits and has succeeded in forging Dalit-Muslim unity. He intends to set up a medical college at Anantnag exclusively for Dalits and Muslims.
Muslim Students Organisation of India, AMU Branch, Anwar Manzil, Purani Changi, Aligarh-202 002: We are enriched by reading your literature. Dalit movement is gathering force and liberating the oppressed Dalits. We declare our solidarity and unity with Dalits and in all your efforts. We will support your movement in the matters relating with Dalit oppression and fighting Hindu nazi crimes.
Md. Ibrahim Ali, VPO Loti Bari, dt. Bangaigaon, Assam-783 384: I am not a regular reader of DV but your views have some similarities with mine. I think all political crisis is born out of economic crisis. But you disagree.
Brother Ali, like all those brainwashed by “marxists”, talks of economic determinism. How can he say that the Babri Masjid “political crisis” is caused by economic crisis? Muslims and Dalits can overcome their persecution if they become economically well- off has proved false. Hindu nazis will not bother about the poverty-stricken Muslims and Dalits. Only when they acquire some economic strength they are attacked. How to save innocents like Ali is worrying us. EDITOR.
J. Fareed Ahmed, Madras: With ref. to reports in the “national” toilet papers that the ISS is “dying” in Kerala due to the counter-attack of the Muslim League, it is a fact the Muslim League has done nothing for Muslims from past 42 years except saving their parliament seats. The ISS brought a hope among the Muslim masses and Dalits. But it is sad that the Muslim League has fallen to the evil designs of the nazis and divided the Muslims for personel benefits. Request the ISS not to lose heart but carry out this task more fiercely and organise ISS units all over India.
Kamran Y Khan, Post Box, No.421, Lucknow-226 001: Your literature which informs Dalits about their roots, without of course attacking their faith i.e. Hinduism, and books which cost a rupee or two, might sell here. Because here due to high prices, large families and lack of education, the Dalits and Muslims are only busy in how to earn a dime and thus are socially unaware of the day to day happenings except what happens inside their families. So to coax them into the mainstream, it will be necessary to sell them cheap books on their origin, Babasaheb etc. plus distributing some free literature with every purchase.
R.K. Yadav, 237- Emerald Hostel, ISM, Dhanbad-826 004: I read your letter in the Hindustan Times of Sept. 21. You have appreciated VP Singh who fooled BCs and blocked the progress by apprising the bureaucrats of impending danger. A Dalit woman was raped by a Thakur family in his constituency in 1990.
M. Sakthivel, 66-Kuppusamipuram, Il street, Tirupur – 638 604: My friend, a former Periarist and now a DV reader, tells that ‘armed struggle is nothing but rowdism”. The same gentleman secretly welcomes the LTTE. What a contradiction.
S. Gian Singh, EA-58, SFS, Maya Enclave, New Delhi-64: We are overwhelmed after going through your letter in the Hindustan Times. The fact remains that 4% Brahmins are ruthlessly ruling and enjoying all the fruits absolutely depriving the shares of the rest of the people who really contribute to the might of the country. Time has come that SC/ST/BCs assert and fight out the aggressors.
S.P. Singh, Takiapar, Patna-12: I have read your book, Who is ruling India? I want to translate it into Hindi. I have read the Annihilation of Caste. It is unique. I have grown wiser. Your Foreword to this book is a piece of literature and is to be appreciated as such (especially para 2). Please publish it in DV. Caste system cannot be destroyed unless the BCs admit they belong to the same race of SC/ST one Dravidian race. As the Indian music was replaced by Western music, Indian masses replaced all their tribal customs, language, mode of worship etc. Calling a brahman for puja is just a change of customs – the original customs are relegated to the women. Though a BC, I would like to put Babasaheb’s ideas into practice. I have one more ally. He is Dr. Ramnath of Kanpur. Some rich BCs are the real hurdle. They are of mixed breed. On this point, I recommend study of Puranas, especially the Mahabharat. When Parasuram killed a large number of Kshatriyas, the widows engaged Brahmins for a progeny. They obliged the widows and subsequently became their family priests. This was one reason of mixture of blood. You shall be remembered in Indian history as one who has kept the spirit of Babasaheb alive. Toilet papers never gave any coverage to Babasaheb. We did not know much about Babasaheb. In these 12 years Dalit Voice has brought in a real revolution in the country. Why the Socialist Party failed? Why the SSP failed? Why the PSP failed? They were all headed by upper castes who wanted to use the BCs keeping them under their leadership.
V.B. Rawat, 7/29, Nehru Nagar, New Delhi-65: Kudos for your wonderful editorial, “VP warned not to dilute the Mandal Commission report”.
Gokuldas V. Bhandary, R.T. Nagar, Bangalore – 32: Unless all Dravidian forces unite we cannot achieve anything. Brahmins are playing the divide and rule game very effectively. Following the brahminic traditions is a fashion with our Dravidas, Intellectuals like you should conduct seminars in different parts of India about our Dravida culture.
Nani Gopal Das, 17-Dattabad Road, Salt Lake, Calcutta-700 064: Nagarajuna of the Regional Engineering College, Calicut, (DV May 16, 92) wanted to know if the kumkum mark (pottu) used by the Hindu women on their forehead was introduced by the Dravidas or the Aryans. In the primitive age, when there was no law and order the strong would prevail over the weak. The strong would snatch away pretty women from the weak. In case of protest, the strong would seek a duel in which the weak is killed with his weapon, crush the liver of the dead and the blood coming out would be put on the forehead of the conquered woman. Then he would tie up her hands with a creeper and drag her to his residence. As the time passed, the blood has turned to kumkum or vermilion and the creeper to bangles in the hands of the woman. Another version is, on way to Dandakaranya, Ram, Lakshman and Sita took shelter in the ashram of sage Bharadwaj for a few days. As they were leaving the wife of Bharadwaj smeared some red powder on the forehead of Sita and henceforth that became a custom among the Hindu women. As the first paint of bloodstain is more ancient the Dravidian custom should be taken into account. Congratulations on your report on Gandhi’s racism (DV Oct. 16, p.6: Brahminical bid to name street after Gandhi defeated” The Amrita Bazar Patrika (Sept.6) also published this report. I like to send a copy of my book, Was Gandhi a Mahatma? to the great leaders of this agitation at Atlanta.
Sunder Babu, Hyderabad:
I learn that you have written a superb foreword to Babasaheb’s masterpiece, Annihilation of Caste, when it was reprinted by the Dalit Sahitya Academy in 1987. Though the book, your office says, is long out of stock people who have read your Foreword say it is great like the book itself. As our friends are hungering to read this Foreword, will you please reproduce it in DV?
Principal Gurdial Singh, 179-Model Gram, Ludhiana: Know the Hindu Mind has been translated into Punjabi. On receipt of authority from you to publish it, steps may be taken.
Suresh Mane, Lecturer in Law, Bombay University, Bombay – 32: I am sorry for not becoming a subscriber of DV though I am its regular reader since 5 years and have found that DV is, in its true sense, the Voice of the Persecuted Nationalities Denied Human Rights.
Raju Thomas, Madras: Bhante Sasal has to be congratulated for his war of liberation. We must invite Buddhists all over the world, especially the Chinese Buddhists, to throw out the Aryan Hindu nazis from all our Buddhist viharas in India. All the aryanised Hindu temples were once Buddhist temples. Buddhist viharas means parliaments of wisdom. Once this task is achieved then the nazis will run away having lost their business in temples. All the “Hindu temples” in India were Buddhist temples. Ayodhya temple also was once a Buddhist vihar. The Mandal war got defeated only because of the BCs. Ezhavas are the single largest community in Kerala (27%). But what is the use of this number? The Muslims are less in number (24%) but they have got five ministers. Why the BC Ezhavas are zero because they obey the BSO and practice brahminism.
Katti Padma Rao, Gen. Secretary, AP Dalit Mahasabha, Ponnur, AP-5222 124: We opened our Madras unit on 6.9.92. Adi Andhras numbering about a million have been living in Madras for over a century serving the Madras Corporation and others in road cleaning and scavenging etc. They clean others but live on the banks of drainage canals where not even animals are allowed to be kept.
Manohar Prasad, Pune: Your analysis, your predictions, your presentations, your interpretations are first class. There is no doubt that DV is “tomorrow’s history today” (DV Nov. 16, p.3: “DV enters trubulent 12th year”). But what is the use? The brahminical social order has kept the 85% of the Bahujan Samaj (BS), which is the target of DV, illiterate. They can’t read DV. They have not even heard of DV. Since you say the BSO wins by its sheer strategy and tactics, you have to formulate one for DV so that the “gems” that you produce reach the BS. DV has the right philosophy and the right ideology to liberate the BS. You find fault with the BS for its lack of strategies and tactics, but you yourself don’t have one. Your great but poor DV is limping. Will the DV readers advice the Editor?
Arshad Kalllath Trivandrum – 13: “Education which submerges group consciousness and kills one’s individuality is not worth having”. This is what Shyam Sundar of Bheem Sena had said some three decades back. The same sounds so significant in the context of the so-called “cap controversy” which engaged the Hindu nazis in Kerala for over a month now.Some Muslim students at St. Joseph’s High School, Pavaratty, Trichur, had started wearing the traditional skull caps as a mark of religious respect. So what ? But, the anti-Muslim management of the school, guided by the nazis, had different ideas. They threatened the students and later, failing in their strong arm tactics, closed down the school. The nazis even fabricated a letter claiming to have been written from the “Physical training center” of the Islamic Sevak Sangh (ISS) at Pavaratty (there is no such ‘center’ there) threatening the school authorities with their lives. Reams after reams of “toilet papers” were used to print front – page stories. Hindu readers were quick to react. They wrote about the “lack of discipline” shown by the Muslims – some even hinting that in future the Muslim students would be looked at with suspicion only – as if now they are all so candid in their dealings with the Muslims. Anyway, things stand more or less the same even after an agreement was signed at Trivandrum with the State Govt. acting as the mediator. But, it seems that the management is backtracking now, realising its mistake. Whether the nazi papers would let the opportunity go by, is the question.
B.K. Nag, Jeypore – 1: It is true that Congress is the original brahminical party and India is not a “nation” but a country of several “nations”. Nehru says the same in his Discovery of India (8th edition): “Mr. Jinnah said that this could only be done after we recognised publicly that Moslem League was the sole representative organisation of the Moslems of India and the Congress should consider itself a purely Hindu organisation “(p.391). “Mr. Jinnah’s demand was based on a new theory he had recently propounded that India consisted of only two nations, Hindu and Moslem. Why only two I do not know, for it nationality was based on religion, then there were many nations in India. Of two brothers one may be a Hindu, another a Moslem, they would belong to two different nations. These two nations existed in varying proportion in most of the villages of India. They were nations which had no boundaries, they overlapped”. (p.392). “Jinnah’s family, it is interesting to note, was originally Hindu (p.390).
R. Arul, E. 122/6, Urja Nagar, Chandrapur, MS-442 404: T.K.S. Iyengar wrote (DV Nov. 1 92) “Vanniyars are daily attacking and abusing Dalits in every village” – This is a very old story. Dalits are attacked by BCs in TNs southern districts only not northern districts because Vanniyars are in majority in North and Thevars (BCs) in South. Dr. Ramadoss is educating the BCs but the Thevar leaders are corrupting their followers. Because of Dr. Ramadoss, Vanniyars are learning that the Dalits are brothers. Only Aryans are our enemies. (not individual Aryans) In the last election Vetriveeran, a Dalit youth contested Assembly seat from my native place on Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) ticket but he was defeated because of Rajiv Gandhi murder. Today, he is a leader in my native union Kumaratchi in South Arcot dt. Dalits are represented from bottom to top in PMK. Some Dalit leaders are trying to spoil the SC/BC/Muslim unity being forged by Dr. Ramadoss. llaya Perumal is one such “Dalit leader” planted by the papans. Earlier, he was with Dr. Ramadoss. He went over to Bangalore Papatti and won two MLA seats in the last election. His two MLAs later joined the ADMK. Ilaya Perumal is left (with no MLA) high and dry. Now, he is going with that Tanjore lyer, a Kanchi-zionist agent, because he wants to take revenge against the Bangalore papatti for stealing his two MLAs. Some Dalit leaders are getting corrupted. The PMK is urging all TN Dalits to come under it. Vanniyars are prepared to apologise for past sins. Dr. Ramadoss once said “Vanniyars and Dalits are like that rail track, one side Dalits and the other side Vanniyars. The rail engine is the upper castes and papans who are riding on us. They live on our sweat and blood”. How beautiful. My appeal to Dalits and Vanniyars is don’t surrender to brahminical brainwash. Let us not fight each other because both belong to the depressed classes – Dravidians and Adi-Dravidas. If we (Vanniyars and Dalits) and others (BCs, Muslims, Christians) join hands under the PMK, we can recover our lost human rights. So please join hands – to defeat the papans to secure self-determination, to recover our lost rights. Dr. Ramadoss once said “My total life is devoted only to Dalit-Vanniyar unity. This is my no.1 job”. He added: “If the Vanniyar Sangam or PMK takes anti-Dalit stand, I will not be with Vanniyars and PMK. I will go with Dalits and fight the Vanniyars! must unite Dalits and Vanniyars before I die”. Today, Dr.S. Ramadoss is nearing his goal.
Dr.Ambedkar Human Rights Federation, Kalaikkoodam, Melakkal Village, Madurai dt. TN – 624 234: Some Dalit leaders of South India met on Oct. 18 at Madurai and discussed the topic “Which religion gives social liberation to Dalits?” Rev. Koilpillai of the Christian Theological College and Prof. Maria Joseph Xavier advocated Christianity. But they accepted that Christianity was polluted by the caste system. Republican Party leader Sakthi Dasan and Prof. Muthia advocated Buddhism. However, they agreed that Buddhism could not defeat the caste system. When the Federation chairman, Melakkal Veerapatran, asked “Dalit Muslims” to speak, Abdullah Adiyar said that there were no Untouchables among Muslims. Dr. Seppan, a Buddhist, admitted that Islam was the only religion for the salvation of Untouchables. Even T.M. Mani, a Hindu, said Islam was the only way to stop atrocities on Untouchables. Later, Veerapatran announced that Islam was the only religion for equality and brotherhood that assured liberation of Dalits. He also announced that he was embracing Islam on Dec. 6 with his followers. Veerapatran (born 1919) was a school teacher. There was objection from Hindus that he should not put on shoes. But he resisted. He joined the army during the World War. Il and that reinforced his courage to stoutly oppose the hierarchical tyranny of Hindus. The writings of Babasaheb Ambedkar gave him courage and strength. He upheld the final verdict of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar that a Dalit could not attain freedom with in Hinduism.
