People are celebrating Dalit History Month through social media, family gatherings, tree plantation, singing, dancing, discussions, visiting monuments, agitation and remembering the stalwarts of the movement. , Photo credit: Digital drawing: Siddhesh Gautam
There are many definitions of history but for me as an artist, dreamer, explorer and Ambedkarite, history has always been a document of (and by) the oppressor. The history I read in school was not mine, but I was led to believe that it was mine too. The writers whom I studied in schools and colleges were not my people. He did not write about my people, and if he did, he wrote with a gazing.
I was orphaned by history and forced to accept someone else as my own. Assured that our history does not matter. The history of those who built, cleaned and cremated for this country did not matter. But our history matters. It matters to us who constitutes almost a quarter of India’s population. It matters to those who have been stripped of their history. So, we started writing our history on our own.
It is not enough to dedicate a month to redress the centuries of theft of our history, but a month is a good start towards building bridges of solidarity, dignity and equality. It is a month of celebration, retrospection, and movement, which appears to be in the mainstream for a limited time. It is not to attract attention, but to project our identity and expressions into the mainstream.
Dalit History Month is an initiative started in 2015 by a group of young women from the Dalit community like Sanhapali Aruna and Thenmozhi Soundararajan. It was inspired by Black History Month, but over time and open participation, it has taken a direction of its own. The month celebrates Babasaheb Ambedkar – undoubtedly one of the architects of modern India, who was born in April – but is not limited to him. We celebrate various icons and stalwarts of the community including Ramabai Ambedkar, social reformer and educationist Savitribai Phule, reformer Jyotiba Phule, activist and writer Babitai Kamble, social reformer Shahuji Maharaj, freedom fighters Birsa Munda and Uda Devi, teacher Fatima Shaikh, activist Grace Are. Banu and many more. It is also a month of mourning for those who have lost their loved ones due to caste discrimination and hatred. And, ultimately, it is about organizing and agitating against injustice that gives us collective hope for a better and more just society.
The author is an artist and thinker from the Dalit community.