Dalits hit the streets in Bengal to protest Manu smriti Hegemony and
demand #justicetorohit ! The Phoenix rises from the ashes! Bengal is
historically very reluctant to change but once decided, Bengal always opts for
change and in recent past, Bengal struck down the Left Regime for thirty-five
years. If Bengal is awakened, Manu smriti may not continue, I am afraid to
warn!
Palash Biswas
It is happening! Dalits in Bengal do cry #justicetorohit! The Phoenix
rises from the ashes!
As Manu smriti invoked Devi Durga to kill the Asuras, the asuras
decided to rise from the dust like Agnipakhi! What if irrelevant Minister of
foreign affairs follows suit the Manu smriti and some bajrangi Sipahsalar cries
foul against the nation-wide Dalit Upsurge!
I know the Dalit face of the RSS Hindutva agenda, Dr. Udit Raj since his undergraduate days in Allahabad University and may ensure that if he wants not to be irrelevant, he has to explode sooner or later to expose the antinational regime of fascism unbound!
What if Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday reportedly said that
the University of Hyderabad PhD scholar Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide,
was not a member of the Dalit community?
As Bajrang Bihari Tiwari pointed out very correctly in his article
published in Jansatta today, Dalits never react in the same way as Dalits do in
rest of India. It is just because of the continuity of Buddhist legacy. Dalit
movement as well as Dalit literature in Bengal have to be different, not just
impulsive or identity affair, it is rather deep rooted and always certain to
make a change.
Thus, #justicetorohit movement in
is bound to strike the Bull`s eye as Chandal movement in Bengal abolished untouchability
in Bengal even before Babasaheb emerged in Indian scenario, as Matua movement
led by Hari Chand Thakur elected Babasaheb Dr.BR Ambedkar to draft not only the
constitution of India, but also the idea of India which is economic, social and
political equality via the destination of Annihilation of caste.
Tiwari is absolutely correct that Dalit literature roots in Matua
movement led by Hari Chand Guru Chand Thakur and the emergence of Mahapran
Jogendra Nath Mandal. But Mr. Tiwari should better know that none of them
were writers in any way. I am sorry to say Tiwari missed the leading names of
Titas writer Adwait Mall barman and the eminent Dalit poet Anil Sarkar from
Tripura. He just named Manohar Mauli Biswas and Manoranjan Byapari, both of
them have done excellent work and both of them happen my most dear friends. But
Bengali Dalit literature roots back in Charya Pada, Buddhist literature written
during Pala regime, Chandidas and Jaidev.Jaidev used desi aesthetics and Lok
folk departing from the classical Sanskrit Mahakavy dhara in his Geet Govindam
which created the Boul movement intermingled with Sufi music and songs. The
result was Geetanjali which is nothing but Dalit autobiography by Tagore who
was a Brahmo, outcaste Brahmin converted to Brahmo Samaj!
In fact, in Bengal it might not be said that Dalit literature or Dalit
movement either is subaltern as Shekhar Bandyopadhyay and Ashish Nandi always
tried to prove.
It is rather the mainstream until the British raj and Permanent land
settlement which created Zamindary and the ruling class in Bengal which
dominate every sphere of life after partition and it is rather very hard to
identify the tradition or the individual in false identity. The apartheid in
Bengal is more brute which divided India and Bengal. The mainstream literature
and culture and even mass movement still being led by the out caste excluded
agrarian communities in the other part of Bengal, Bangladesh. Without having
any idea of Bangladeshi literature, music and different forms of art, Bengali
legacy inflicted with political partition is quite incomplete.
Bengal is historically very reluctant to change but once decided,
Bengal always opts for change and in recent past, Bengal struck down the Left
Regime for thirty-five years. If Bengal is awakened, Manu smriti may not
continue, I am afraid to warn! News agency ANI quoting Swaraj reported that the
foreign minister said, "The facts have come out in the case and as per as
my complete knowledge, that student (Rohith) was not a Dalit. By calling him a
Dalit student, this whole case has been raised as a communal incident by some
people."
Earlier on Thursday, in a secret intelligence report forwarded to
national security adviser Ajit Doval, agencies cited the statement of Rohith's
grandmother Raghavamma claiming that both her son (Rohith's father V Mani
Kumar) and daughter-in-law (Rohith's mother V Radhika) belong to the Vaddera
community, which is a backward caste and not Dalit. Rohith and five other
students were suspended by the university in August 2015 in connection with an alleged
attack on an ABVP leader.
The HCU has already revoked suspension of the four students, following uproar over Vemula's suicide. Procession cholche.....
