Untouchability is still very prevalent, dalit leader

Untouchability is still very prevalent, dalit leader

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, Jan 04, 2016: According to Dalit leader Narayan Manur, untouchability continus to thrive and it is posing a threat against the very survival of Dalit communities. He was speaking at ’Sankalpa Dina’ programme organised to commemorate the success of the Bhima Koregaon struggle by Buddha Mahasabaha Udupi.

Manur said even after 70 years of independence, there is no change in approach towards Dalits in society. They continue to live under threat and an environment ensuring their safety has not created by the concerned stakeholders.

Asserting that rightist ideologies indulged in destroying the minds and essence of Dalits, the thinker said that every Dalit should be aware of the atrocities committed against them by the people who practiced rightist ideologies. Though Ambedkar struggled against Brahminism and the priestly class, he was misunderstood by his own people. Opposing blind followers of Hinduism among his community members, he said, instead of constructing knowledge houses, his community people were engaged in constructing temples of Hindu gods and goddesses. And in the process, his community people had become victims of conspiracies hatched by the priestly class.

Questioning the move of his community people, the Dalit leader said that the purpose of struggle put forth by leaders like Ambedkar to bring Dalits to the mainstream of society, had been left midway. If Dalits continued to follow Hinduism, it was impossible for them to come out of the clutches of untouchability.

He urged the Dalits to protest against Hinduism and its principles.