Saturday, June 4, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Fwd: A legal attack on a Dalit leader, writer and a publisher of Kancha Iliaiah's Why I am not a Hindu?

 

This is the publisher's announcement of an important book, writing for which a court in Tamilnadu sent notices to the publisher, writer and the translator. Even those who differ with some elements of politics of Mr. Thirumavalan, the most powerful Dalit politician in Tamilnadu and the author of this book, cannot deny the force and sense in this book. The translator Meena Kandasamy is our foremost Dalit woman writer in English. Samya is the publisher of Why I am Not A Hindu by Kancha Iliaiah, a book which dramatically changed the political discourse of this country. 
Now some crazy people dragged all three of them to court. It is time for us to close ranks and stand by the author, translator and the publisher. One way of showing our solidarity is to buy this book, send congratulations to the publisher and express solidarity or whatever. 
This is not only an occasion for expressing and showing our solidarity but also to participate fully into a discussion on how dalit, tribal and other lower caste deities have been appropriated and brahminsed by Hindu imperialist machinery, for making which claim now some crazy idiots trying to cause problems for them.
  
Yours 
Chittibabu Padavala
  



Cultural Studies/History/Sociology/Politics/Philosophy/Asian Studies

Uproot Hindutva: The Fiery Voice of the Liberation Panthers
Thirumaavalavan

Translated from the Tamil by Meena Kandasamy

We are living through times where politics masquerades in the garb of religion. Nationally and globally this seems to be true. While nationally politics has been dominated by Hindutva, globally politics has been laced in the language of jihad and crusade. So it is with pleasure that one welcomes a book that presents the absorbing and stimulating perception of an activist and a mass leader who speaks of the impact of Hindutva on our society. Thirumaavalavan, in a true style of a committed mass leader and analyst, probes the impact of this retrograde politics as it affects the lives of Dalits, women and other downtrodden sections of society. ( Foreword, Ram Puniyani)

From BJP Does Not Rule India but RSS DOES!

... If the CPI-ML has taken up a campaign against communalism in such a situation, it displays the organization's love for this land and people, for democracy and communal harmony. On a national level, the democratic forces might be few in number. But, only those few forces are today protecting democracy, and to an extent, keeping it alive.

A lot of people think that if one becomes a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), they can speak about these topics in the Legislative Assembly. A few comrades here called me as an MLA. But I do not have that feeling, I do not have that idea, I do not have that belief. The Legislative Assembly is not a field for lay people. Today, this is what I say all over the state. What I said in the time when I did not enter the electoral fray, I say the same things after having entered electoral politics. The Legislative Assembly—parliamentary democracy—is useless to the lay people. It is not the field for the last man. ~ Thirumaavalavan (pp23-24)


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