DALITS MOVEMENT’S IN INDIA

Dalit is a Sanskrit term derived from DAL which means to split, break, crack and soon.
JYOTIBA PHULE coined the term Dalit, he used the term to refer the outcastes and
untouchables as the victims of caste based social divisions of Indian society. Dalit includes all
those people of different caste and sub –caste among the depressed classes who were
traditionally subjected to invidious discrimination on grounds of untouchability and categorized
as untouchable downtrodden, exterior classes, depressed classes or scheduled caste.

“The organizational or institutional efforts made by Dalit leaders for the liberation of the
downtrodden masses could be termed as Dalit movement. It is a movement of protest against
untouchability, casteism and superstitions. It aims at the uplift of Dalit to the levels of non-dalit.
Dalit movement is the result of the consciousness of Dalit of their own identity as human equally
equipped with physical and mental capacities entitled to enjoy all human rights without any
infringement abridgment or limitation.”

The main issues around which most of Dalit movements have been centered in colonial and post-
colonial period are confined to the problem of untouchability. They launched movements for
maintaining or increasing reservations in political offices, government’s jobs and welfare
programmers. It is a movement of the masses that craves for justice through their speeches,
literary works, dramas, songs, cultural organizations and all other possible measures, so it was
called as a movement which has been led by a Dalit to seek equality with all other castes of
Hindu society. The main objective of the Dalit movement was to establish a society in Indian
based on social equality.

The word Dalit:

Dalit’s, the group of people who constitute the last category of castes in the Varnasrama Theory.
According to the Indian Constitution the Dalit’s are the people coming under the category
‘Scheduled castes’. A Dalit does not believe in God, religion as propagated by the Hindu
scriptures and religious texts, because it is this tradition only that has made them slaves. A Dalit
is the person who has the realization of the sorrows and struggles of those in the lowest stratum
of the society. The Dalit person is as called by different names like Dasyu, Dasa, Atisudra,
Panchama, Tirukulattar, Adikarnataka, Adi Dravida, are actually the depressed classes of Indian
society.

A Historical Critique, Brahmanism as the Root Cause of Dalit Movement

Tracing back to the historical period, it was found that the root cause is the formation of the caste
system. It was during when the ARYANS entered the country from Middle East and settled in
the fertile lands of the Ganges after a fight with the indigenous people of the civilization. The
minority Aryans defeated the majority Dalit’s by the use of their tactics of divide and rule,
because without doing this they won’t be able to defeat the majority. The Brahmins had retained
the same tactics even today.

Later in Vedic period the formation of the rig Veda laid to the foundation of the oppression of
the people in their own land, with the purusha shukta in its tenth book. It was later in the 5 th
century that people of shudra varna were transformed into untouchables. And this lead to the
beginning of the Brahmin domination accompanied by dalit explotation. Caste the creation of
man and not God is now rooted firmly in the Indian society through the religion of Hinduism.

The myth:
 Firstly, the Dalits should accept the exploitation done against them as the result of their
own deeds of past birth. They should consider that they committed some bad deeds due to
which they are facing such kind of oppression.
 Secondly, even if they are exploited in this birth, they should not protest, which will
provide them a good life in the next birth after re-birth. That is the desire to get happiness
in the next birth, they should cry. Because it is believed that, God will help them to come
out of distress, and that the Brahmins being Go ds are the only solution for their distress.

Causes of Dalit Movement

 The Dalit Movement is the result of the constant hatred being generated from centuries
from the barbaric activities of the upper castes of India. Since Dalits were assigned the
duties of serving the other three Varnas, that is all the non– Dalit, they were deprived of
higher training of mind and were denied social-economic and political status.
 With the introduction of western language, and with the influence of the Christian
missionaries, the Dalits began to come across the ideals of equality and liberty and thus
began the Dalit Movement in modern times. The frustrated Dalit minds when mixed with
reason began confrontation against the atrocities of Brahmanism.

Typology

Since very little attempt has been made to analyse dalit movements at the national level, no
efforts have been made to evolve a typology of the movements. Ghanshyam Shah (1980)
however classifies them into (1) reformative; and (2) alternative movements. The former tries to
reform the caste system to solve the problem of untouchability. The alternative movement
attempts to create an alternative socio-cultural structure by conversion to some other religion or
by acquiring education, economic status and political power. Both types of movements use
political means to attain their objectives. The reformative movements are further divided into: (1)
Bhakti movements; (2) neo-Vedantik movements; and (3) Sanskritisation movements. The
alternative movements are divided into: (1) the conversion movement; and (2) the religious or
secular movement. The latter includes the movement related to economic issues. In the context
of dalit identity and ideology Shah has recently classified dalit movements into (1) movements
within cultural consensus; (2) competing ideology and non-Hindu identity; (3) Buddhist dalits;
and (4) counter ideology and dalit identity. The first three are based around religious ideologies
whereas the last is based on class. Patankar and Omvedt classify the dalit movements into (1)
caste-based; and (2) class-based movements. In the 1990s, with the increased political
participation in elections and somewhat political success of the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar
Pradesh, some scholars consider their mobilisation as a ‘new political movement’ of the Dalit’s.

Collective mobilization

Only when collective action is somewhat sustained and is able to create an interest and
awakening in a sufficiently large number of people, it take the form of a protest movement. The
process of social mobilization includes meetings, campaigns, demonstrations, conferences,
literature all expressive of interests and beliefs.

 At a time, when there was no means of communication to support the Dalits, pen was the
only solution. The media, newspapers were all under the control of the powerful class –
the Brahmins. Given that the Brahmins would never allow the Dalits voice to be
expressed, as it would be a threat for their own survival, the Dalits began their own
magazine and began to express their own experiences.
 Dalit literature, produced by the Dalit consciousness, emerged initially during the Mukti
movement.
 Later, with the formation of the Dalit Panthers, there began to flourish a series of Dalit
poetry and stories depicting the miseries of the Dalits the roots of which lies in the rules
and laws of Vedas and Smritis. All these literature argued that Dalit Movement fights not
only against the Brahmins but all those people whoever practices exploitation, and those
can be the Brahmins or even the Dalits themselves.
 New revolutionary songs, poems , stories , autobiographies were written by Dalit writers.
All their feelings were bursting out in the form of writings.
  Educated Dalit and intellectuals begin to talk about the problems without any hesitation
and tried to explain to the other illiterate brothers about the required change in the
society.
 Dalit literature tried to compare the past situation of Dalits to the present and future
generation not to create hatred, but to make them aware of their pitiable condition.
 Radhey Lal Boudh of the Dalit Panthers argued in the 1980s that by installing
Ambedkar’s statue dalits could propagate an Ambedkarite
iconography.The statues and photos of Dr. Ambedkar are an expression of dalit
consciousness and their assertion for identity. The image is always clad in a western suit,
white shirt, red tie, pen in pocket, and book in hand. The image usually represents
Ambedkar with an upraised arm, teaching or, declaring the message of courage and equality.

Goal

The basic goal of Dalit movement is ending of exploitation and oppression, the achievement of
equality, liberty, social justice. It strives to establish "social democracy". It aims to eradicate
untouchability.

Ideology

Interest, which is immediate in terms of motivation and demands, is rooted in a more

fundamental belief system which is called ideology. Ideology helps the concerned section gain
self- respect, honour and worth. The shared ideology forms the basis of the identity of the group
in a movement. While an ideology directs the course of events, the results of the events
themselves have a crucial influence on the character of the ideology, changing the pattern of
communication with different symbols and codes. Different ideology gave rise to various
dynamics of dalit movement.

 Sanstrization
Some Dalit leaders followed the process of ’Sanskritization’ to elevate themselves to
the higher position in caste hierarchy. They adopted Brahman manners, including
vegetarianism, putting sandalwood paste on forehead, wearing sacred thread, etc. Thus
Dalit leaders like Swami Thykkad (Kerala), Pandi Sunder Lai Sagar (UP), Muldas
Vaishya (Gujarat), Moon Vithoba Raoji Pande (Maharashtra) and others tried to adopt
established cultural norms and practices of the higher castes.Imitation of the high caste
manners by Dalits was an assertion of their right to equality.
 Anti- Hindu movement
 Treating Dalits as outside the fourfold Varna system, and describing them as ‘outcastes’
or ‘Panchama’ gave rise to a movement called Adi-Hindu movement. Thus, certain
section of Dalit leadership believed that Dalits were the original inhabitants of India and
they were not Hindus. That Aryans or Brahmins who invaded this country forcibly
imposed untouchability on the original inhabitants of this land. They believed that if
Hinduism was discarded, untouchability would automatically come to an end.That Dalits
began to call themselves Adi-Andhras in Andhra, Adi- Karnataka in Karnataka, Adi-
Dravidas in Tamil Nadu, Adi-Hindus in Uttar Pradesh and Adi-Dharmis in Punjab. Dalits
also followed the route of conversion with a purpose of getting rid of untouchability and
to develop their moral and financial conditions.
 Conversions
A good number of Dalits were converted to Christianity, especially in Kerala. Some of
the Dalits, especially in Punjab were converted to Sikhism. They are known
asMazhabis, Namdharis, Kabir Panthis etc. Dalits also got converted to Buddhism.
Dr. Ambedkar converted to Buddhism along with his millions of followers at Nagpur in
1956.
 Finding Sects
As a protest against Hinduism some of the Dalit leaders founded their own sects or
religions. Guru Ghasi Das (MP) founded Satnami Sect. Gurtichand Thakur (Bengal)
founded Matua Sect. Ayyan Kali (kerala) founded SJPY (Sadha Jana Paripalan Yogam)
and Mangu Ram (Panjab) founded Adi Dharam.

Leadership and organization

United by an ideology, the leaders of the movement create organizational devices to fight against
the evils and redress grievances. A protest movement must thus evince a minimum degree of
organization, yet it is not organized like clubs and other associations. Some kind of organization
enables certain persons to act as authorized spokesmen and representatives.

A major anti-untouchability movement was launched by Dr. Ambedkar in the 1920s in

Maharashtra. Ambedkar organised the Independent Labour Party (ILP) on secular lines
forprotecting the interests of the labouring classes. Though the party’ was open to the labourers
belonging to all the castes, it was dominated by the Mahars. Their political movement overrode
efforts to claim religious rights, failed in its attempts to represent class or labour, and took on
much of the nature of a caste association functioning in the political arena.
Later, Ambedkar formed the Scheduled Castes Federation (SCF) in 1954, to fight elections and
look after the interests of the SCs. The dalits demanded a separate electorate in the 1930s which
led to a conflict between Ambedkar and Gandhi. The early 1930s, Ambedkar concluded that the
only way of improving the status of the untouchables was to renounce the Hindu religion. He
appealed to his caste brothers, ‘you have nothing to loose but your religion’. In the early 1950s,
he found that Buddhism was appropriate as an alternative religion for the untouchables. It was
their only salvation. Ambedkar and a large number of his followers mainly Mahar were
converted to Buddhism in 1956. The dalits of Maharashtra launched the Dalit Panther Movement
in the early 1970s. At a number of places in Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Bihar,
Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, harijan agricultural labourers participated in the land grab
movements of the late 1960s. Some organisation include the efforts of various voluntary
organisations such as the Rural Community Development Association (RCDA), Tamil Nadu, the
Harijan Labourers Association, the Agricultural Workers’ Movements in Tamil Nadu, the Rural
Harijan Agricultural Development Association (RHADA) in Andhra, and the Association of
Rural Poor (ARP) in West Bengal, to organise and mobilise agricultural labourers during the
1970s and early 1980s, invited special attention. During the various struggles which took place
between 1974 and 1978 in Tamil Nadu, the activists realised that their concentration only on the
harijans was detrimental to the unity of the masses of agricultural labourers as a whole. They,
therefore, have formed various organisations of agricultural labourers and small and marginal
farmers belonging to the harijan and non-harijan castes and launched their movements.
Today dalit movement has attained transnational attention. However untouchability is abolished
but injustice practices are not. Today to wear good clothes is not forbidden, but to get good job
is. In the name of reforms and social uplift, today's political and social systems are pitting one
group against the other, sowing hatred and perpetuating a sense of rejection from the past.
Education is the only remedy for such discrimination. Thus the Movement for social change will
succeed only when all the Dalits unite together to fight for equality. Social change would mean
to get rid of discriminatory practices and get rights, necessary for the upliftment of the Dalits.
Identity

“The history of the Dalit identity is traced back to the history of India and the work of Ambedkar
in converting the group to Buddhism”

2007 was the important landmark in Dalit history to witness a new assertion of Dalit identity in
the spheres of politics and religion. The victory of Mayawati’s BSP in UP established Dalit
politics in national politics and same year’s celebration of 50th anniversary of Ambedkar’s
conversion to Buddhism saw many Dalit communities converting to Buddhism. These actually
shows the goals of a dignified social and political identity of Dalit rejecting the ‘given identities’
based on parochialism, militant Hinduism and Hindu concept of caste based hierarchy. The Dalit
is a constructed identity, it is not a caste. Many subaltern communities are subjected to
discrimination by having the identity on ‘Dalit’. The term ‘Dalit’ means those who are victims of
exploitation and discrimination; both in political and social and religious ways. The Dalit also
implies to those who are crushed and broken by those above them in the Hindu social hierarchy,
in a deliberate and active way. According to Nandu Ram, the term Dalit represents a broader
social category of people; that it has become a national phenomenon and is used as a symbol of
social identity and asserting unity.

There are different connotations of the word ‘Dalit’

 Who constitute last categories of caste in varanasrama theory

 Indian constitution- looks at Dalit in the Category of ‘Scheduled Caste’
 Who is exploited economically, socially, politically, religiously and from all spheres of
life
 Brahmanical Indian tradition- Dalit doesn’t believe in God, religion as propagated by the
Hindu scriptures and religious text
 Who has the realization of the sorrows and struggle of those in the lowest stratum of the
society
 Dalit are called in different names- Dasyu, Dasa, Atisudra, Panchama, Tirukulattar,
Adikarnataka, Adi Dravida, actually they are known as ‘Depressed Classes’ of Indian
society.
 Brahmanism on the root cause of Dalit: a historical critique
 Dalits- human or animals – (in the light of socio-economic background)
 Dalits women- forced into prostitution

Strategies

According Professor Christophe Jaffrelot identifies four different strategies that Ambedkar used
in his struggle.
1. He tried to write an alternative history of the untouchables and gave them a new identity
of being “sons of the soil”.
2. He experimented with electoral politics to gain representation for “his people”.
3. He worked with those in power and tried to articulate the voice of India’s Dalit masses.
He worked both with colonial rulers and with the Congress Party with a single minded
purpose of representing the Dalit case.
4. And final strategy of Ambedkar discussed by Professor Jaffrelot for Dalit liberation was
conversion to Buddhism.
Course of Dalit Movement

The criteria of successful course of Dalit movement, or how the Dalit awakening which existed
in post-rebellion era was qualitatively different from that of pre-rebellion era. In this respect
following three tests should be applied- namely

 Whether the protest was against the social system as a whole

 Whether the response of Dalits was ubiquitous in the country
 Whether the Hindu society and the existing authorities could take sufficient cognizance
of it

It seems that only the post-rebellion period fulfills these tests of the successful course of the Dalit
movement. In other words the Dalit Liberation movement could attain momentum after the
mutiny of 1857.

Outcomes and consequences of Dalit movement

The notion of Dalit is not same as ‘Harijans or the Scheduled Castes’. These two are connote
‘socio-cultural’ and ‘legal’ meaning respectively. The word ‘Dalit’ symbolizes ‘knowledge’ and
‘power’ of the oppressed people particularly belonging to the untouchable cases communities. It
refers to the genesis and expression of their consciousness. ‘Identity’ of the ‘oppressed people’ is
central to the term ‘Dalit’. The emergence of the identity of Dalit has created a new social
language, a language of protest and struggle, of deconstruction and reconstruction of meanings
of social situations, contexts and status parameters. It is an ‘oppositional’ side in the creation of
new cognitive structures. Dalitism sets a new agenda for an equalitarian social order, and a new
process of distributive justice. “Equality of outcome result” is the most concrete and measurable
yardstick of the envisaged new social order.

Dalitism is a historical phenomenon. Dalits as a class can be seen only in terms of human
relationships, and not as a category, a thing or as a fixed “structure” at a given point of time.
Dalitism implies ideological and political militancy of the Dalits. They could be referred to as a
consciousness community. Acquisition and control of knowledge and power is treated as the
most potent resource by the Dalits. Thus an Ambedkarian discourse on the Dalits and
untouchability is said to be an alternative perspective to the Gandhian view about Harijans.

Dalit movement may be seen in terms of:

 The sociology of knowledge and communication paradigms

 New Marxist view emphasizing class-caste approach
In the first case, the social context of Ambedkarism is highlighted, whereas in the second
approach emphasis is on the understanding of the broad situation of the underdog mainly in class
terms without losing the sight of the specific caste situation in India. As such, the Dalit
movement is an anti-systemic movement. Both manifest and latent consequences of the Dalit
movement are observable in socio-cultural, political and economic spheres of life. Dalitism
implies an “ideology of protest”, but of varying degrees and intensities.

Finally, ‘caste’ is the central phenomenon in the discourse on ‘Dalitism’, but ‘class’ is also
inherently present in it. Caste is used as an idiom for waging a “class war” against the established
and entrenched hierarchies of power and domination. However, Dalits are not just a constellation
of the untouchable castes; they are seen also as the actual exploited workers, peasants and
agricultural labourers in all parts of India. Emphasis is laid on their emancipation from economic
bondage by way of “economic radicalism” (socialism). Despite all these elements, which we
have put together, the notion of ‘Dalit’ is a new arrival; it is an ad hoc concept; it is a culture-
bound construction; it is a reactive and not a generative concept. Squeezing it between caste and
class reduces its ‘atomistic’ existence as a concept. It has more emotional and affectual appeal
than rational and logical message. Lastly, it is a concept in making.

Social Change

Some of the examples of Dalit movement in India which has brought social change and gave
them a real identity and dignity of life to live dignified life in society.

1. Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana Movement

This movement was based on the approach of reinterpreting Hindu religion in search of
self-determination. The Sri Narayana Dharam Paripalana Movement was the movement
for the propagation of Sri Narayana Guru Swamy's philosophy among the Izhavas (toddy
tappars) of Kerala. Until 1935 the Izhavas belonged to the SC category. They were
considered to be unapproachable by the clean castes. Izhavas that formed about 26% of
the Kerala's total population suffered from many religious, political and economic
disabilities. Around the turn of the century a charismatic leader Sri Narayan Guru Swamy
gave them a new religion of one God and one caste which transformed their life styles
and outlook. He established a set of religious institutions parallel to that of the variety of
Brahmanical Hinduism. This helped Izhavas both to gain self-respect and to adopt a
protest ideology to challenge the religious, economic, educational and political
supremacy of the upper castes.

2. Dravida Kazhagam Movement

 Another variety of protest ideology was based on the rejection of the Brahmanical Aryan
religion and culture. The DK movement in Tamil Nadu idealized the Dravidian culture
and religion and attacked the Aryan culture and religion. The self-respect movement
started by Ramaswamy Naickar advocated that his followers should have their own
priests. The movement drew its support from low castes. Its leaders worked hard to
escape the tyranny of the Brahmins and to extol the virtues of the Dravidian culture. This
New identity provided the basis for establishing self-determination, respect on the one
hand and for protesting against the domination of the upper castes on the other.

3. Dalit Sangarsh Samiti

Dalit educated employees and students started an organization in 1974 called Karnataka
Dalit Sangarsh Samiti. In the early days it organized protest marches and arranged
conventions of Dalit students and Dalit writers. It started a weekly Panchama which
focused attention on the problems of the Dalits and gave publicity to the activities of the
Dalit Sangarsh Samiti. Many social problems and land disputes were taken on top
priority. They also did dharnas in front of Dalit MLAs and MPs against their inaction to
stop atrocities on Dalits. It is a broad based, mass based and cadre based organization. In
1982 the Dalit Sangarsh Samiti workers actively participated in the campaign and worked
for the defeat of some prominent Dalit leaders.Dalit Action Committee is an offshoot of
the Dalit Sangarsh Samiti. A new daily was launched 'Sangathi' by the breakaway group.

4. Mahar Dalit Movement

Dr Ambedkar was indisputably one of the greatest leaders of the SCs in India. In his
quest to emancipate them from the oppression of Hinduism, he considered conversion to
Islam, Christianity and Sikhism. These were eventually rejected in favour of Buddhism.
He led a mass movement in Nagpur where many people converted to Buddhism. This
neo-Buddhist movement was a conversion movement primarily of the Mahars of
Maharashtra. They are one of the major SC groups in Maharashtra. They were
numerically the largest scheduled caste group before their conversion to Buddhism in
1956. The socio-economic status of the Mahars was extremely low. They were made to
do various menial jobs like cutting wood for villagers, taking wood to cremation ground,
removing dead cattle from houses and cleaning wells. The neo-Buddhist movement was
not only a conversion movement. It goes beyond the arena of religion and assumes
enormous political dimensions. It resulted in an important impact on confronting,
challenging and to some extent, changing the received belief in the mind of the Mahar
that he is less mortal than that of the higher castes.Mahars have used political means most
consistently and unitedly in their attempt to better their condition.