Untouchable Citizens: Ch. 7: Leaders and Leadership

With the closure of SAGE books, I am uploading the full text of Untouchable Citizens here. Unfortunately I only have individual chapter pdfs and not the whole book. This is chapter 1 looking at the DPI in 1990s - the movement that went on to become the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi.

Setting out the context of Dalit activism in Tamil Nadu and the fight against caste oppression.

Evaluating the impact of the Dalit movement in Tamil Nadu and arguing that they have challenged caste orthodoxy and created critical citizens.

This book studies Dalit movements in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, their mode of organization, engagement in politics and contribution to processes of democratization and egalitarianism. Questions discussed include: How can democracy be preserved under conditions of extra-institutional mobilization? What is the current situation of Dalits in Tamil Nadu and why and in what manner do they resort to protest? How are egalitarian and democratic ideas initiated at the local level? How are the action concepts of social movements manifested in the everyday lives of their members? and What will be the impact of the entry of the Dalit Liberation Panthers into electoral politics on democracy in Tamil Nadu as well as India? See also: Tamil Nadu's Dalit Saga: http://www.flonnet.com/fl2223/stories/20051118000407000.htm

Setting out the conceptual and contextual ground of the study. Tamil politics and social movement theory.

South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal

In 1999 the Dalit Movement known as the Dalit Panthers and then the Liberation Panthers (Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi) transformed itself into a political party. This chapter charts the debates around this contentious process.

The cultural geography of the Indian village is carefully laid out to assign to Dalit dwellings the lowliest and least desirable areasthe southern outskirts believed to be the abode of Yama, the God of death; the tail end of the irrigation systems; close to the most polluting areas; or on the fringes of deserts (P. Sainath in Devi 2000: 50). Looking at the spatial bases and practices of the DPI/VCK in Tamil Nadu.

In India, the last quarter of the 20th century has been witness to a growing recognition of the place and relevance of human rights due to pressure from various social movements. It is axiomatic that this interest in human rights is rooted in the denial of life and liberty that was a pervasive aspect of the Emergency (1975-77). The mass arrests of the leaders of the opposition and the targeted apprehension of those who could present a challenge to an authoritarian state are one of the dominant images that have survived. The involuntary disappearance of Rajan in Kerala is more than a symbol of the excesses of unbridled power. Forced evictions carried out in Delhi in what is known as ‘Turkman Gate’ conjures up visions of large scale razing of dwellings of those without economic clout, and of their displacement into what were the outlying areas of the city. The catastrophic programme of barbaric mass sterilisation is an indelible part of emergency memory. The civil liberties movement was a product of the emergency. Arbitrary detention, custodial violence, prisons and the use of the judicial process were on the agenda of the civil liberties movement. For past 3 decades, Peasant movements, tribal movements, dalit movements, backward caste movements, women's movements, working class movements, students' movements, middle class movements and environmental movements have highlighted human rights concerns.