Speaking truth to power and still a big influence today: VT Rajshekhar remembered

Aakar Patel, writer and thinker lauded Rajshekar’s work throughout the years, and claimed that only he can bring in something of that stature.

NT Bengaluru

Friends, family members and well wishers of scribe and founder of political magazine The Dalit Voice, VT Rajshekar recalled moments with him and the ideals that are still imbibed upon in the present here on Saturday. On November 20, Rajshekar, 93 passed away in his sleep at his home in Mangaluru. Starting off as a journalist in The Indian Express, Rajshekar started the magazine in 1981 and published articles which vehemently opposed Brahmanism and caste politics in India. Rajshekar also orchestrated afrocentrism in India and across the globe, too. However, the magazine and the website shut down in 2011. His ideas however, have been well used by his son and Former General Secretary of Amnesty International Shalil Shetty. Aakar Patel, writer and thinker lauded Rajshekar’s work throughout the years, and claimed that only he can bring in something of that stature. “Today’s journalism may be stale tomorrow but not of Rajshekar’s work.

His articles are still being read today and empowers the Dalits of today,” he said. He also heaped praise on Shalil, for carrying the values imbibed by his father. “His commendable work in Amnesty is a tribute to what Rajshekar did,” Patel added. Ruth Manorama, a Dalit social activist, recalled her conversations with Rajshekar, just before the advent of the magazine. “I recall how Rajshekar felt that Dalits needed an identity to empower themselves from the fear of acaste atrocities,” she recalled. Manorama, whose family converted to Christianity in the fear of the same, had championed the cause of domestic workers, women and the unorganised sector. “He continues to influence a lot of activists and deserves credit for bringing the word “Dalit” to the fore, in postindependent India.

Jasbir Singh, with whom Rajshekar studied with, also recalled how he changed his views on Dalits, amongst the Sikh community. “The Ulsoor Gurudwara hired a Dalit Sikh named Hanuman Singh to lead the Gurudwara, which led to objections. With Rajshekar’s intervention, he helped the Sikh community here defeat the idea and the mindset of caste,” he said.