Breaking India: Western Interventions in Dravidian and Dalit Faultlines by Rajiv Malhotra & Neelakandan Aravindan

Author:Rajiv Malhotra & Neelakandan, Aravindan [Neelakandan, Aravindan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Infinity Foundation
Published: 2011-04-11T22:00:00+00:00

Affiliates of Dalit Dissent in India

The Dalit movement, which intends to oppose racism, at times ends up promoting racist theories of its own. Some of its ideas support a stye of separatist politics that easily turns violent. As we have seen before, a complex network of mostly well-meaning academics, churches, and government institutions end up legitimizing violent insurgency. The following section traces some of these links.

National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR)

Paul Divakar, the Convener of National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) in Delhi, is also the co-convener of IDSN.50 Another co-convener of NCDHR is Martin Macwan, an activist trained in a Jesuit seminary, who runs organizations in Gujarat claiming to speak for Dalits, but which the local Dalits accuse of politicizing issues for his own selfish interests.51 In 2003, Martin Macwan was featured in a National Geographic story on India’s untouchables, and projected as ‘one of the most visible untouchable organizers since Ambedkar’. The article concluded that in order to solve caste problems, Hinduism should ‘cease playing a central role in politics and law enforcement’.52 In other words, Christianity should take over the civic society.

In 2009, Macwan conducted a survey of the Dalit situation in Gujarat and reported widespread discrimination against them. This report was publicized in the media, directly positioning it against the economic prosperity of Gujarat.53 Macwan’s organization was backed by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Kroc Institute is a centre conducting research on ‘war, genocide, terrorism, ethnic and religious conflict, and violation of human rights’ and whose mission is integral to Notre Dame, an international Catholic research university. The center bases itself on the ‘rich tradition’ that Church has ‘of teaching on war, peace, justice, and human rights’.54

NCDHR is very aggressive internationally in urging all nations to exert pressure on India. Its ‘Dalit caucus’ lobbied against India at Durban in 2001.55 In an interview with Radio National of Australia, Paul Divakar stated:

I feel that all this will necessitate a greater campaign across the globe, and specifically focusing on the UN mechanisms—multilateral and bilateral bodies like European Union and World Bank, you know—all these bodies are going to be focused to ensure whether it is human rights, or whether it is development corporation, or trade, that we take a responsibility to address the issue of this heinous crime that is being committed against humankind.56

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