Reflections on Dalit and Minorities Issues: An Anthology

Dalit and Minorities representing caste and religious identities has come to occupy a central place in the socio-political discourse and academic discussions in modern India.  Curiously enough even political parties both, major and minor have started taking interest in Dalit and Minorities issues as a part of their electoral strategies to make political fortunes at the hustings.  Caste and religious identities have become so pronounced that other variables such as economy and development have assumed a secondary or supplementary role.  While caste divides the populace horizontally, religion provides a basis for vertical splits between communities in terms of their interests entailing vested interests to exploit the situation and polarize and society on communal lines. It was believed that the socio-political values of Renaissance that developed in the course of Independence Movement would usher in a secular democratic society in India.  Unfortunately, this did not happen.  On the contrary, divisive tendencies came to cannibalize on the very notions of secularism and democracy. Independent India, particularly, post-Nehruvian phase witnessed pronounced casteist hatred and antagonistic communal consciousness often manifesting into sectarian and communal frenzy.  The constantly escalating tyranny of the traditionally dominant castes and communal groups on the one hand and the growing enlightenment among the Dalits and Minorities about their legitimate rights, particularly among their new generation youth, frequently leading to rise of violence such as Khairlanji and other incidents, warrants a paradigmatic shift to address these issues and in this context Dr. K.R. Narayanan Centre for Dalit and Minorities Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia is a modest step.  This volume of essays, Reflections on Dalit and Minorities Issues: An Anthology is one such effort in the direction. It addresses several key themes concerning Dalit and Minorities issues.  Some of the papers in this volume have a comparative focus.  The themes are diverse covering a wide range of issues such as the idea of Dalit Muslims; Minority rights in South Asia; Dalit movement in Andhra Pradesh; the idea of sacred prostitute; and the contribution of Dr. Ambedkar on the education movement in India among others.