[Reader-list] Third Posting - Caste Violence in Urban Maharashtra: A Study of Worli Riots of Mumbai 1974 - A Breaking Point in Dalit Panthers Movement

[Arvind Kumar]

Third Posting - Caste Violence in Urban Maharashtra: A Study of Worli
Riots of Mumbai 1974 -  A Breaking Point in Dalit Panthers Movement

Kala Swatantradin by Raja Dhale (Published in 1972)

It was 15th August 1972, the twenty-fifth anniversary of Indian
Independence and coincidentally the founding year of the Dalit Panther
Party. In the backdrop of the atrocities on Dalits all over the
country in general and Maharashtra in particular, Raja Dhale, one of
the founding members of Dalit Panther Party wrote an article titled
'Kala Swatantradin' (literally meaning Black Independence Day) in
Sadhna – A Marathi daily. This article highlighted the deliberate
stripping and raping of Dalit woman by upper caste Hindus.

Raja Dhale's central theme of the argument in his article was, that
the dignity of a woman is superior than dignity of a nation –
particularly than a nation where woman is not safe. This piece of
writing brought Dalit Panther Party as a first page news constituent
which not only attracted the attention of mainstream media,
intellectuals, academicians in Maharashtra but throughout the nation.

I have a copy of the original article by Raja Dhale. This piece is in
Marathi language and I've got the transcript in English ready for it.
This would form a part of my final paper and presentation for SARAI
and I hope that the original Marathi text in the form of Dhale's
archtype article would enrich the SARAI Archives.