The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `Cabinet expansion proof of upper caste dominance'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 27, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Cabinet expansion proof of upper caste dominance'

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: The recent Cabinet expansion in Karnataka is proof of how the upper castes continue to have a firm grip on the seat of power in the State, said well-known Dalit intellectual and editor of "Dalit Voice", V.T. Rajashekhar.

Speaking at a seminar on "The Indian Constitution, Separatism and Discrimination in the Light of Hindu Samajotsava" here on Friday, he said even within the upper castes only some powerful sub-sects tended to grab all power. The "nexus of upper castes" had deepened with the JD(S)-BJP combine coming to power, he said.

Dalit activist from Mangalore Lolaksha said that protecting the Constitution from forces trying to defeat its spirit was the greatest need of the day.

The framing of the Constitution, which guarantees "equality of status and opportunity", was a triumph of the disempowered people of this country.

It marked the defeat of a system that had honoured "inequality as a social value" for centuries.

Mr. Lolaksha argued that the "defeated retrograde forces" were now trying to reassert their superiority by taking the Dalits into their fold through "acts of deception" such as Virat Hindu Samajotsavas of the Sangh Parivar. Propping up the minorities as "artificial enemies" was also part of the same design, he added.

Mavalli Shankar of Dalit Sangharsha Samiti (Ambedkarvada) called upon Dalits to thwart attempts of a small minority to "take the Bahujan population into its fold".

Referring to the Samajotsava's demand for ban on conversion, he said it was a matter of an individual's fundamental right. Kannada writer Kamala Hampana termed Samajotsava organisers using pictures of B.R. Ambedkar, Basaveshwara and others who fought for social equality in their banner as "ridiculous".

H.V. Vasu of Komu Sauharda Vedike said that Samajotsavas, despite claiming to be attempts at accommodating the lower strata of society, did not make an attempt to even address their problems.

On the occasion of the 57th Republic Day, the conference adopted a resolution to take the principles of the Constitution to the people through a series of programmes.

The seminar was attended by M. Venkataswamy of Samata Sainik Dal, Hassan Mansoor of People's Union for Civil Liberties-Karnataka, N.V. Narasimhiah of Ahinda and Basavaraj Kautal of Human Rights Forum for Dalit Liberation-Karnataka.

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