Dalit Panther: The Truth Underlined

About the Book

Formed in 1972 and inspired by the Black Panther movement, the Dalit Panther emerged as one of the most radical and influential movements in post-Ambedkarite India. A wave of brutal caste violence across Maharashtra in the 1970s had turned simmering resentment into mass fury, the Dalit Panther transformed this fury into a militant movement for dignity, justice and social change. Led by powerful writer-activists such as Namdev Dhasal, J. V. Pawar, Raja Dhale, Bhai Sangare, Avinash Mahatekar and Arjun Dangle, the Panther mounted a fierce challenge to the casteist political and literary establishment of Maharashtra, while sharing solidarity with the struggles of workers, women and farmers. In documenting this history, Dangle also revisits the enduring debate on the relationship between the Dalit movement and the Left, and between Ambedkarism and Marxism. Much of the history of the Dalit Panther has remained fragmented and partial, and largely unavailable in English. Dangle provides an insider's account replete with detail, documents, analysis and insight. He illuminates the radical literary culture that shaped the movement, its poetry, journals, little magazines and debates, the influence of figures such as Dr. Ambedkar and Baburao Bagul, and highlights Dalit literature as a powerful medium of protest and identity. He also candidly examines the tensions between leaders like Dhasal and Dhale that eventually fractured the organisation. This is a compelling, honest, first-hand account of the extraordinary energies, idealism and contradictions that shaped the Dalit Panther's brief but transformative journey, and Dangle's own role in it. Maya Pandit's scholarly, meticulously annotated translation brings an essential chapter of modern India to a wider readership for the first time. A vital read for scholars of Dalit Studies, Dalit literature, politics and social movements.