Untouchable Citizens: Dalit Movements and Democratisation in Tamil Nadu (Volume 4)

Recent decades have witnessed the rise of Dalits as a major force in Indian democracy throughout the country. Whilst the political interventions of the Republican Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party in the north are well documented, this book focuses on the more recent rise of Dalit politics in the Southern State of Tamil Nadu. Dalit identity assertion and political mobilisation have irrevocably transformed the Indian political landscape. While the impact of the Dalit movement on the terms and definitions of political configurations in Tamil Nadu is clearly visible, behind this macro-level change is the everyday struggle against the entrenched power matrix at the grassroots. This book, the fourth in the series Cultural Subordination and the Dalit Challenge, examines the mode of organisation and engagement in politics of the Dalits in Tamil Nadu, and their contribution to the processes of democratisation and egalitarianism. Situating the Dalit movement in the context of socio-political changes in Tamil Nadu, the book covers the following issues: The current condition of the Dalits in Tamil Nadu, the reasons for their protests and the forms they take. The consequences of the extra-institutional mobilisation of the Dalits for democratic politics in Tamil Nadu. The articulation and implementation of the ideals and action concepts of the Dalit movement in everyday life at the local level. The impact of the emergence and entry into electoral politics of the Dalit liberation Panthers movement in Tamil Nadu. Overall, the book argues that it is at the local level that the relations of power are challenged, negotiated and reconfigured, and its is through these processes that the Dalit movement has brought large sections of the oppressed classes into the fold of India’s democratic polity as active participants. With its many insights and unusual methodology, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Dalit studies, sociology, political science, and history, as also to social activists and journalists.