The Asian Independent 16 - 30 Nov. 2019

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
He was the only son of his landless
parents in a village named as Udaypura
in district Deoria. When the brick kiln
season is off, most of the people from
Mushahar community who live on the
river bank are engaged in fishing as
they have no other source of food.. This
time, with so much of rain, all communities
on river bank are enjoying a good
fish. But October 28th i.e. Diwali day
came as a devastation for Chhotu who
was just 27 years old when he refused
to share his fish catch with a local
Brahmin who was determined for the
same. The altercation happened
between Chhotu and the local bully
who happened to be Brahmin as he was
thrashed, beaten up mercilessly and
thrown in the river.
When he did not turn home,
Chhotu’s pregnant wife Rinku and
mother got worried about. They started
looking for him but did not find. They
went to the police but was of no help.
Nobody was willing to speak that time.
He has three small children and his wife
is due for delivery again. The family
live in a small house granted by the
government under Indira Aawas Yojna.
Chhotu was barely literate. He had
passed fifth exam and like many others
he was at home as there was no much of
work hence fish remain the main source
of their livelihood. Mushahars just fish
to feed themselves.
Two days later, Chhotu’s body was
recovered from the river Gandak. Well
built Chhotu had lost to the brahmanical
arrogance. Mushahars are the most
exploited community, a thoroughly
landless, they are political unrepresented
and have no space in the popular
movements so far.
The literacy rate is very low. People
d id not reach them and those who go
now just for the sake of ‘social work’,
too treat them shabbily. It is not that the
Iconic statue of EVR Periyar at the
Periyar Thidal. His powerful presence
in the Dravidian land ensured that the
hate-mongering caste supremacists
remain out of the power game in
Tamilnadu but now the Tamil land is
being targeted by the Hindutva forces
and their agenda is to finish the
Dravidian movement in the state. I
asked this question to Dr K Veeramani,
founder DK, whether the Dravidian
politicians who swore in the name of
Thanthi Periyar, not compromised by
the Hindutva. I also felt that after the
demise of towering leaders of the movement,
both J. Jailalitha and Kaliangar
Karnunandhi, there is a great risk of the
powerful lobby of Hindutva through
their money and muscle power,
Why is Periyar’s life not taught in the
schools and colleges of Tamilnadu and
rest of the country. Is his achievements
and sayings not important ? I feel the
powerful symbolism of Black is not
merely beautiful but powerful too is
reflected in Periyar’s action more than
any one else. Where do you find the
Black shirt and white pant / Sarong /
Lungi combination. In the cinema, in
popular culture it is always black pant
white shirt, but Periyar’s idea provided
Black superiority over white and that is
why his symbolism is much more powerful
than anyone else but I dont know
whether the African American know
about Periyar’s work. I asked this question
to Dr K Veeramani and he said that
fight would have been for ‘fish’ alone.
The Hippocratic thing is that the
Brahmins and other of their social order
dont ‘eat’ meat or non vegetarian things
NEWS
Dalit killed for not
selling FISH to
dominant caste men
people are now reading to Dr Ambedkar
as his writings were in English,
Periyar’s work is in Tamil and need to
be translated into English but DK is
very careful of it as a lot of ideas may be
misinterpreted by the translators but
they are now on the process.
Periyar was a thinker, an intellectual
and I call him the most powerful public
intellectual. Many people feel ‘Public
Intellectual’ is a term for serious ‘academics’
but I think it should not be their
monopoly. Periyar was the most influential
man in our public life as far as
Tamilnadu is concern. He had the
courage to call a spade a spade. His
writings on women are unmatched even
today and he can also be termed as one
of the greatest feminists of our time
whose work most of our elite feminists
may not even know.
Periyar spoke against all forms of
social evils and attacked the root of it.
At the time when people say that in
India, nothing can move without religion
and we should ‘respect’ people’s
‘sentiments’, we must remember
Periyar and his success story. Periyar
thrashed brahmanism in Tamilnadu,
made the dravidian people aware of the
exploitative nature of Brahmanism and
provided his own cultural alternative
like self respect marriages. Tamilnadu
still remain a fascinating state though
Dravidian parties compromised with
Hindutva and that is why Periyar always
maintained that we must not be part of
during this festive season. It shows the
absolute thuggish character that you
want to snatch his catch which poor
Chhotu was having for his family. The
the power politics. Social movements
must remain devoted to the cause of the
people and must not become political
parties as then they will compromise the
interest of the people. Dr Veeramani
says, that
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
DK remain
social and human rights activist
committed
to Periyar’s vision of strong social
movements and our cadres dont aspire
to become MPs and MLAs even when
their cadres do work and spread the
message of Periyar all over the state
which only benefited the Dravidian
fact is Mushahars are maltreated and
looked down upon in contempt. The
powerful and dominant communities of
all varieties hate to see any person with
political parties. Periyar must go international
and his thoughts should spread
worldwide to promote
humanism, rational
thinking and powerful
message of black identity.
Periyar is more
important because it is
also essential to know
that you can bend the power without
being in power. Periyar’s power came
from his commitment to the cause of
people that is why they were ready to
listen and follow him despite his strong
16-11-2019 to 30-11-2019
5
marginalised sections ‘rejecting’ their
‘order’. Chhotu paid a price for his
‘rejection’ as Mushahars dont sale fish
but are depended on it for their survival.
Most of the government schemes are
trap in deep corruption and rarely reach
them.
But in the last one decade because of
various initiatives Mushahars are
standing and speaking up. They are
demanding their rights and are uniting
too. When the police did not file the
FIR, the villagers went to the District
Headquarter and lodged a protest with
the district magistrate.
The police officers, though, were
supportive yet, had their hand tied for
the two days ‘Chhuth Festival’ when
people worship Sun. The rivers will be
crowded tomorrow with devotees.
Chhotu’s father had actually given a
written complain against the two persons
of the village but the police did not
act. After much effort of local activist
Sangeeta Kushwaha the administration
promised to act after the festive season
is over.
Most of the time, our administration
and police are busy in arranging the
things in the name of ‘festivities’ and
hence the lives of human being, particularly
those who are not even considered
human, does not matter.
We hope the administration will act
on the complain and bring justice to the
family of Chhotu. His family must be
duely compensated . We will be steadily
monitoring the case so that the criminals
are punished.
By Vidya Bhushan
Rawat
social and human rights
activist
Tamilnadu will always reject Hindutva project to eliminate
Dravidian identity work of EVR Periyar – Dr K Veeramani
words against religious belief. He spoke
powerful against superstition. Periyar
was not merely a rationalist and atheist
but openly propagated that. Despite not
in politics, he defined the Dravidian
political principles and ideology that
Tamiladu saw. It is this Dravidian principles,
that despite all faults of political
leaders and their compromises,
Tamilnadu remain one of the best governed
state, better in human development
indexes where children get far better
mid day meal than any other state
and they started it on their own.
Tamilnadu still has 69% reservation and
far superior to any other state in governance.
Success of Periyar’s model in
Tamilnadu suggest that if we are true to
public cause, we can speak against false
religious beliefs and succeed. Today’s
politicians cant do it as they use religious
superstition to promote their
devotees and bhakts. Periyar want
enlightened cadres and not brainless
bhakts and that is why he succeeded.
There are attempt to finish Dravidian
principles and Periyar’s work but as Dr
Veeramani says, Hindutva forces will
try everything but Tamilnadu will reject
them as it rejected them in the past.
Vidya Bhushan Rawat is a social
and human rights activist. He blogs
at www.manukhsi.blogspot.com
twitter @freetohumanity
Email: vbrawat@gmail.com