Do you see Dalit repression and discrimination in your daily life?

4 Comments

  • Nat G - 8 years ago

    How about an option for 'It exists but not around me/anyone I have ever known.'

  • IndianMillennial - 8 years ago

    There is no option for a real answer. This is a leading poll. There are issues, but the way media handles it is awful. It's not constructive. It's as if it's done to shame India rather than solve n nurture progress n change minds.

  • Rajiv - 8 years ago

    The rabid hatred of BJP in the media backed by Congress and AAP is hilarious. For a decade they bashed Modi for being anti-Muslim but when Muslims are continuing to live happily in the Modi government, you media wallahs pick stray incidents to create an impression that Dalits are under threat. We would progress so much more as a country if media played a constructive role.

  • Chandrabhan Paswan - 8 years ago

    The problem in our country is the complete absence of perspective and context. As Akhlaq was killed for possessing beef, the media makes it looks like millions are being killed daily over beef. Similarly with Dalits too - because of one incident in Una media starts talking like millions of Dalits are being tortured daily.

    As a Dalit, I find this approach nauseating. One needs to have a positive outlook. Yes, there was a time when our forefathers were discriminated against by my Brahmin neighbour's - and their comminities would be living miles apart. Reality today is that I live next to a Brahmin in a large apartment complex. Should I go and attack him for what his forefathers did to mine? Or should I expect him to have great sympathy and pity on me for the sufferings of my family? I do not want the Brahmin's pity or apology - for it would belittle the effort that my family and me have put in to rise to the same level as him. I want him to treat me like a neighbour, and that is how I will treat him. In fact that would infuriate me more than the pity of a Brahmin (or anyone else for that matter).

    Today, we live in the same apartments, we drive the same cars, we go to the same temples and we have similar salaries. It may be true that I have had to put in more effort than he did. But if I keep going back to my past (and the atrocities thereof), then the progress I have made will lose its meaning. I traveled this far so I could live well, live happily and remain optimistic. Why would I want to travel so far if all I was supposed to was to cry over the past - albeit in an air-conditioned apartment instead of a jhopad patti, in a suit and tie instead of dhoti, in English instead of khariboli.

    The media, politicians and our intellectual thekedars should let us Dalits be. Please stop talking for us, or crying for us. Its warm outside - we want to melt and mingle with the world. Don't push us in the freezer and force us to be cubes, just because you like your scotch on the rocks. We dont want to remain frozen, we want to melt, we want to mix, we want to flow.

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