Internal caste-politics, power struggles, and issues of leadership have affected the once-influential Dalit movement in the State to just a multitude of disjointed fractions, said M. Devdas, senior activist of the Karnataka Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (Prof. B. Krishnappa unit) here on Sunday.
He was addressing a programme to celebrate the 76 birth anniversary of activist B. Krishnappa, who founded the Karnataka Dalit Sangharsh Samiti nearly four decades ago to strengthen the Dalit empowerment movement in the State.
The programme discussed the dismantling of the Dalit moment, leading to the birth of 12 factions.
Influential“Till Krishnappa was the State convenor of the samiti, the organisation was very influential. Its protests in the 1970s and 1980s saw the government taking action against those propagating ‘bettala seva’ (nude workship); or ordering for a CoD (Corps of Detectives) after the rape and murder of a lower-caste girl,” said Mr. Devdas.
However, he said, the organisation soon fell apart in the mid-1990s when health reasons forced Krishnappa to relinquish the post to writer Devanoor Mahadeva, who, according to Mr. Devdas, couldn’t control the dissidence. “Cracks started to appear in the mid-1980s when KDSS — against the wishes of Krishnappa — decided to support the Janata Party in the 1984 polls. When the Janata Party won, many members of the KDSS started seeking positions of power,” he said.
Small differences led to leaders breaking away and the KDSS started to split based on sub-castes.
“There are numerous sub-castes among Dalits and the factions started to represent that. With more than 10 factions, even the government is confused and none of these factions are now taken seriously. It is nearly impossible to reunite them,” said Mr. Devdas.
Dalit as CMMr. Devdas recalled that Krishnappa wanted to see a Dalit as a Chief Minister. “In his speeches, he would say that Chief Ministers have come from the Brahmin community, which represents 3.5 per cent of the population, Lingayat community (14 per cent), Devadiga community (0.84 per cent), whereas, the Dalit community that represents 23 per cent of the population has had not one leader,” said Mr. Devdas.
The unsuccessful foray of Krishnappa into politics showed that regional parties tried to sideline Dalits, he said.