Why Dalits in Karnataka are joining forces under Dalith Sangarsha Samithi again

After a Dalit woman drank water from a community water tank in the Heggotara village in Karnataka’s Chamarajnagar, ‘upper caste’ residents of the village are reported to have drained out the tank and washed it with gomutra (cow urine) in order to ‘purify’ the tank.

The only thing more unfortunate than the event is that it is just one among a series of incidents that show that untouchability is rampant and leading to a rise in violence against the Dalit community in Karnataka’s hinterlands.

In the recent past, Karnataka has seen a sharp rise in the number of atrocities against Dalits. In February this year, a Dalit youth was attacked for selling sugarcane juice by the roadside in Hassan district. In March, Sunil Kumar, a Dalit youth was beaten up for staring at a caste Hindu at Malenahalli in Belur taluk of Hassan.

In the records of the National Crime Records Bureau, the incidents stand just as crime statistics. But on the ground, each incident represents the reality of a systematic and daily subversion of basic rights of the Dalit community which leads to their exclusion from the mainstream and makes violence against them routine.

The rising incidents of crimes against Dalit people are, however, also helping their mobilisation. Dalit organisations, which were a force to reckon with in Karnataka in the 1970s before fizzling out because of internal conflicts, are reorganising and taking centre stage in Karnataka politics once again.

According to insiders of the Dalith Sangarsha Samithi (DSS), the election of senior Dalit leader Mallikarjun Kharge as the president of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) could be one of the reasons for the splinter groups of DSS to join hands again by sinking their differences. The DSS, which imploded with the mushrooming of different splinter groups, appears to have understood the strength of unity and the perils of staying divided.

Come December 6 and the 12 like-minded major factions of DSS that broke away over two decades ago from the parent body because of increasing internal heterogeneity, complexity, and inter-sectionality, will reunite.

Incidentally, December 6 marks Mahaparinirvan Diwas (death anniversary) of Dr BR Ambedkar and the day the demolition of the Babri Mosque by Hindutva forces took place.

The motivation for the major factions joining hands, sinking all their ideological differences, is to contain the rise of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) both at the Centre and state, and its ideological arm, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Both the BJP and the RSS are set to undermine Indian Constitution and restructure is around Manusmriti, besides weakening democracy in the country.

To oppose this, the Dalita Sangharsha Samithi Gala Aikya Horata Chalana Samithi, the steering committee to unite DSS factions, is holding Dalitara Samskruthika Virodh (Dalit’s Cultural Opposition) on December 6 at the National College Grounds in Bengaluru.

The event, organisers said, is to present a joint opposition to the BJP and RSS’ agenda of dismantling principles of freedom, equality, brotherhood, and social justice and knocking down the primary intention of reservation extended by the Constitution of India. “Dalits are congregating in large numbers on December 6 to show solidarity in protecting democracy and the Constitution,” senior DSS leader Mavalli Shankar told The Federal.

The decision to exhibit unity among all major factions of DSS on Mahaparinirvan Diwas was taken at the core committee meeting of DSS in Mysuru recently. Leaders of all the 12 factions, including Mavalli Shankar, Guruprasad Keragodu, Annayya, N Venkatesh, V Nagaraj, N Muniswamy, Bettayya Kote and Algodu Shivakumar, came together to chalk out a plan to reorganise.

Describing the development as historic, Karnataka Dalit Sangharsh Samithi state secretary Mavalli Shankar said, “A six-member committee has been formed to take important decisions on the future course of action. Senior leaders who are instrumental in founding DSS including noted writer and thinker, Devanuru Mahadeva, S Mariswamy, Kotaganahalli Ramaiah, journalist, and writer Ramadeva Rake, noted theatre personality C Basavalingaiah will be present at the unification convention and guide the movement.”

DSS in the 1970s

DSS is one of the three major movements Karnataka witnessed in the 1970s along with the farmers’ movement led by Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Language Movement. In the early 1970s, DSS emerged as one of the first and most organised forms of Dalit rights movement in Karnataka.

The Dalit Panthers, an Ambedkarite social organisation that seeks to combat caste discrimination, founded by Namdeo Dhasal, Arjun Dangle, and others, and the New Afrikan Black Panther Party inspired the formation of DSS in 1976.

The organisation came into existence with the active involvement of educated Dalit individual including Devanuru Mahadeva, prof Siddalingaiah, Devaiah Harave, Kotiganahalli Ramaiah, Indudhara Honnapura, Govindaiah, among other prominent activists. These leaders joined hands and played leading roles in establishing DSS as an unshakable socio-political force of that era.

According to Ramadeva Rake, founding editor of Panchama, a magazine brought out by Dalit writers and founding member of DSS, one of the notable reasons for the formation of the organisation was an incident that took place during a function arranged by Dr Ambedkar Vichara Vedike and Backward Classes Student forum in Mysuru.

“Dr Ambedkar Vichara Vedike and Backward Classes Student Forum organised Hosa Ale [new wave programme to felicitate B Basavalingappa, minister for municipal administration, as he was instrumental in abolishing the system of carrying night soil and consistently opposed discrimination against Dalits. This programme was organised by NC Sanjeevan an advocate, brother of NC Biligirirangaiah, an Ambedkarite, influenced by the Periyar movement. When Biligirirangaiah started his welcome speech in English, because his Kannada was not standard textual, some Kannada activists opposed it and forced him to speak in Kannada. Minister Basavalingappa, intervened and sought to know, what was the greatness of Kannada, which did not bother to reflect on the life of the oppressed and suppressed class, Dalits and just said mainstream Kannada literature is ‘Boosa’(cattle fodder) dominated by voices of upper-caste. I was sitting in the front row and watching the drama on the dais. But vice-chancellor of Mysuru University Devegowda Javaregowda did not take it lightly and termed the critical reference of B Basavalingappa as anti-Kannada. This resulted in a major controversy and Basavalingappa was forced to resign from Devaraj Urs’ ministry, because of political pressure,” Ramadeva Rake recounts.

“Dalit activists and writers decided to oppose the decision of Devaraj Urs and decided to launch a movement to protect the self-esteem of Dalits and that’s how DSS came into existence,” Ramadeva added.

Another notable reason for the formation of DSS in the early 1970s was the first conference of Dalitha Lekakara Kalavidara Yuva Balaga, a group of Dalit youth writers and artists, organised in Bhadravathi. Prof B Krishnappa, the brain behind DSS, was a pioneer of the Dalit literacy movement and the founder and president of DSS. The event helped in organising support for the organisation.

In Contribution of B Krishnappa towards Dalit Movement: A sociological study, a paper presented by professors Chandrakantha and NL Rajendra Prasad observes that “a social revolutionary Krishnappa’s presence is felt in most of the landmark Dalit struggles of Karnataka, especially those aimed at getting land for Dalits and fighting for Dalit women’s self-respect. The DSS when it emerged during the 70s began to avow a society based not on caste but on human values. It almost used a language akin to that of Karl Marx with the caption ‘Casteless Society’.”

DSS gave a call for all activists to join forces to bring down the caste system. DSS not only attempted to organise Dalits but also gave them the required moral support in a variety of ways. It was with them to concertedly fight oppression and denial of rights.

Any confrontation between Dalit communities and caste Hindus almost always resulted in loot, rapes, and Dalit massacres. DSS reportedly galvanised forces to ensure the voice of the oppressed was heard in about 280 such incidents.

DSS was not just instrumental in being a voice for Dalits facing injustice but also paved the way for an alternative life away from codified Hindu rules that were discriminatory in nature. A departure from priestly temple rituals helped the DSS define Dalit identity in secular terms away from the mythical, superstitious, and dogmatic ways propagated under Brahminism.

The road, however, was not easy. When they tried to define and mark their own space in terms of rituals and celebrations within the Hindu framework, Dalits were punished cruelly and were socially ostracised. The DSS stood by those at the receiving end by ensuring punishment for the culprits by organising strikes, dharnas and awakening programmes.

In order to realise the vision of social transformation and justice, the DSS engaged itself in grassroot-level activities, organising as well as educating Dalit communities on social issues simultaneously. This led to a rapid growth for DSS.

Besides working for social justice, the DSS was engaged in agitational politics in a big way. It protested against all kinds of excesses against the Dalits by non-Dalits on the one hand. and by state agencies, especially the police, on the other.

DSS took up issues like hostel facilities for SC/ST students, land disputes, atrocities, discrimination in promotion and grading of Dalit employees, the bonded labour issue, issues related to unemployment, and protests against failure in implementing constitutional provisions.

Prominent issues taken up by the DSS were protests against Bettale Seve (nude worship by women at Chandragutti in Shivamogga district), fight against bonded labour in Kolar district, caste atrocities, education of Dalits, effective implementation of reservation and land reforms, have brought relief to scores of Dalits who are victims of caste Hindus.

Why DSS split

There has been a consolidation of the sub-caste identity within the larger Dalit politics. “This resulted in the first split in 1995 with Venkataswamy leaving DSS and founding his own organisation Samata Sainika Dala and later DSS split further into smaller groups because of the ideological differences between leaders or personal reasons,” says Ramadeva Rake.

Many leaders, who were at the forefront of DSS, were disillusioned with the later developments. Prof Siddalingaiah, who passed away in 2021, had written in The Hindu, “The DSS is no longer a pressure group of the 70s kind, because of lack of leadership and underlined the urgent need for all groups merging under one umbrella organisation to fight for right and just cause of Dalits.”

He attributed factionalism in DSS to inadequate ideological awareness.

In the 1980s, DSS had thousands of activists in Karnataka. As the organisation split into smaller groups in the following years, it led to a situation where lakhs of activists dedicated to Dalit rights remained dedicated to the cause but could not get results as their forces were divided.

The DSS movement thus decided to overcome the internal conflicts and contradictions.

Academician Chandrakant Yatanoor, wrote an article in 2010 for the Voice of Dalit, noting that: “The lakhs of Dalit people of Karnataka would be ever grateful to the DSS splinter groups if they become united and forget their rivalries and differences.”

Dalit leaders took his advice and decided to come together for the greater Dalit good.

Talking about the rationale of coming together, Indudhara Honnapura, one of the prominent leaders of DSS, observes: “The RSS and the BJP are destroying liberty, equality, fraternity, social justice, and reservation. The constitutional and democratic values are being floored. Youth in the country, especially Dalits, are disillusioned with the growing unemployment and communal politics being practised by the BJP and its mentor the RSS. Communal champions are occupying Buddha, Basava, and Ambedkar’s space. It is a tragedy that all progressive movements, which earlier fought against the sectarian ideology of RSS and BJP, have become weak and as a result, farmers, Dalits, labourers, and women are experiencing unexplainable, unspeakable oppression from the Hindutva forces. Castes and sub-castes are getting fragmented because of the communal forces in the name of Hindutva.”

“The recent reservation policy of the Centre [EWS quota] is a testimony to it. Understanding the gravity of the situation for the society, especially Dalits, 12 major groups have decided to fight these divisive elements under one banner, that is DSS,” Honnapura said.

“Our basic intention is to come together physically, mentally, morally and ideologically,” Honnapura said.

Interestingly, Karnataka Dalita Chaluvali Nava Nirmana Vedike (KDCNNV), a major group headed by one of the stalwarts of the DSS movement, Govindaiah, has refused to join the regrouping effort. “What we dreamt of was faction-less, corruption-less, inter-caste-less [among Dalit communities, nepotism-less democratic forum. Frustrated with problem-ridden DSS, we formed KDCNNV to realise our dreams. In fact, other factions should have joined their hands with us,” Govindaiah said.

Despite KDCNNV deciding to stay away, journalist, writer, and filmmaker, NS Shankar, who has been a witness to the growth and breaking up of DSS, welcomed the unification move. “Had DSS not split up and remained strong like the way it was in the 1970s, BJP would not have come to power in Karnataka. The failure of DSS resulted in the growth of communal politics in Karnataka. It looks like all the major groups are physically unifying. But the need of the hour is ‘mental and emotional unification’, and moral overhauling of DSS,” Shankar said.