Sixty years of independence, more than a decade of heady economic growth and a rich cultural heritage dating hundreds of years. This is India’s stature as she enters 2007 amidst boisterous celebrations. Unfortunately, the cheers have drowned the pathos and voices of one of the most oppressed classes in India, the Dalits.

We as Indians love to talk about the giant strides made in the IT sector, our rich culture and traditions. But,
what about the shadows lurking in the background? These are either ignored or forgotten after receiving
a few furtive glances.

The past year was a good one for India, what with the wide acclaim at the international arena. But in the same year, our country has also witnessed some gruesome crimes against humanity in the form of atrocities committed against the Dalits.

The alarming fact is that the incidents of Dalit oppression are not confined to a particular region. They have a pan Indian presence.

In West Bengal, 18 houses belonging to Musahar community were torched following a dispute over the right to fish in a government pond. Bihar, famous for its caste politics is also not untouched. The fingers of a ten year old Dalit girl were chopped off by an upper caste man here for plucking spinach from his field. Even the elected representative, a village head, did not protest when a Dalit woman was pervaded half-naked and tortured for stealing merely a bunch of bananas on the orders of the village head’s husband.

Such atrocities on Dalits are regular and occur every other day not only in Bihar and West Bengal but in almost all states of India. The narrow-mindedness of people become further evident when religion is involved. Recently, when 200 Dalits barged into Jagannath temple in a village of Orissa, the ruckus created spoke for itself. The upper caste Hindus condemned the Dalit act while the priests of the temple talked about performing purification rituals. The meanness of even confining god is something that crosses all limits. These incidents happen evenwhen the constitution has given the guaranteed right to equality to one and all irrespective of their caste and religion.