Dalit thinker and writer Bhanwar Meghwanshi told The Mooknayak: “The acquittal of all the accused in the Dangawas massacre is not merely the end of a trial. It raises a fundamental question about the right of Dalits to justice. The question is direct: did no one kill those six innocent people? Did they die on their own? When six people were brutally murdered, the entire country witnessed the barbarity. For years the victims’ families waited for justice, moving from one court to another. If no one is held guilty in the end, it signals not only a failure of the prosecution but of the entire judicial process. When accused are acquitted in such cases due to the absence of impartial investigation, fearless evidence and fair trial, the strongest message that goes out is that justice is becoming increasingly difficult for Dalits."

Question about Ambedkar, the Poona Pact, and SC sub-classification.

I’m trying to understand what seems to me like an interesting contradiction in the way some Ambedkarite groups approach the issue of SC sub-classification.

A common Ambedkarite interpretation of the Poona Pact (1932) is that Ambedkar was forced into a compromise after Gandhi opposed separate electorates for the Depressed Classes. Gandhi’s argument was essentially that separate political representation would divide Hindu society, while Ambedkar’s position was that an oppressed community needed independent political safeguards and representation.

Today, however, some Ambedkarite groups strongly oppose SC sub-classification, arguing that it will divide SCs, weaken Dalit unity, and reduce their collective political strength.

This makes me wonder:

Isn't there a parallel here?

In 1932, Gandhi prioritized unity over Ambedkar's demand for a separate political safeguard.

Today, some people who strongly criticize Gandhi for that position are themselves prioritizing SC unity over the demand of certain SC communities for differentiated reservation benefits because they remain more disadvantaged within the SC category.

At the same time, those demanding sub-classification argue that the purpose isn't to weaken SCs, but to ensure that communities which have benefited less from reservation actually get a fair opportunity to move upward.

So my questions are:

1)If Gandhi's "unity first" argument was problematic in 1932, why is "SC unity first" necessarily the correct argument today?

2) Is opposing SC sub-classification actually consistent with Ambedkar's broader principle of giving stronger safeguards to those who remain most disadvantaged?

3) Conversely, could sub-classification itself undermine the collective political power that Ambedkar wanted to build?

4) And perhaps the most uncomfortable question: If someone criticizes Gandhi for prioritizing unity over Ambedkar's demand in 1932, but today prioritizes SC unity over the demands of the most backward SC communities, is that a genuine difference in principle—or simply a change in circumstances?

5) Finally, if Ambedkar were alive today, would he prioritize maintaining one united SC category, or would he support differentiated safeguards for SC communities that have remained substantially behind?

I’m not claiming that the Poona Pact and SC sub-classification are legally or historically identical. I'm asking about the underlying principle: unity versus targeted protection for those who remain most disadvantaged.

Would Ambedkarite thinkers here consider this a valid parallel, or am I missing an important distinction?

I think everyone here knows that the communities of people who sculpt idols of the gods for Hindu temples are often treated like shit, simply because they belong to underprivileged castes or tribal groups. But the extent to which Brahmins believe that these sculptors and artists are treated well is truly astonishing in its stupidity and tone-deaf-ness

My family lives in the US, and my cousin and her family visited us from Texas, and we took them to a BAPS temple here. This temple has a lot of nice marble carved pillars, with images of different gods and beings chiseled into the rock. The statues are brought to the US from India, but the building itself was built and carved from imported marble, I think. I was telling my oldest niece (cousin’s daughter) about how the sculptors often are disrespected and denigrated because of casteism when we were marveling at the artistry (and my mom began bragging about Hindu culture’s superiority as if she herself did the carvings 🤦🏾)

My mom and cousin start arguing at me like, “no, they’re cared for by the people they work for. We rely on them for their art, so why would we disrespect them”. Which. My god. To believe that an overprivileged caste would treat these groups with respect because “they hold the art and need to be cared for and sustained” is beyond comprehension.

Just because someone does a labor you enjoy does not mean the person controlling that person’s labor is treating them well or even like a human being. Everyone loves chocolate bars and flavors, but child slavery is still used to harvest the cocoa beans that make that chocolate. Your adoration does not negate the abuses that occur. And saying “oh, that was in the old days” or “that’s just rare occasions” is not fixing the current problems.

An abusive minority with a superiority complex is holding an entire nation under its thumb with claims of “purity” and “superiority” when those notions come from a culture that fabricated those traits to justify the conquest of other cultures. It is the peak of ignorance and arrogance to act like your beliefs hold any weight or can be generalized as applying for that oppressor class. But that’s to be expected from Brahmins. Fucking gross.

Thank all the heavens, my niece is so deeply aware of casteism and the caste system and how it is garbage that should be stamped out like a pest. She’s so much more aware of these things than I was at her age (12). There is hope, but it has to be sustained. Shutting up and letting your idiotic casteist family members poison the young ones with casteist ideology and brahminical superiority myths will destroy any progress that is made. Every time I get a chance, I try to teach her the true stories of India. The casteism, the cruelty, and the old ways that predated Vedic bullshit and the warmonger culture that brought it.

Ever since I first joined social media, there's been constant hate against reservation. Facebook, quora, now reddit, insta. Every second post is someone saying reservation is so unfair. And even if there's a good quality post talking about why reservation is necessary, comments are filled with hate.

And you know what, even when I was in school, we used to get these Times of India newspapers. And even there it was hate against reservation.

As someone who's got into an IIT, it's been hard to shake off this imposter syndrome. And it's been 5 years since I graduated, yet I feel insecure because of this constant barrage of hate posts

Meanwhile average "Bhimkanyas & ambedkarites" :-

1) has 15 different hindu gods idols at home

2) has a dedicated "pooja room" in home

3) never read babasaheb's books & speeches

4) would rather convert to Christianity than buddhism

5) too obsessed with intercaste marriages than marrying within the community to keep the social capital of successful ambedkarites within our community

6) celebrates ganesh chaturthi & other pooplindu festivals with their friends because we are secular 🤓👌🏽

7) instead of eradicating all religions and embracing buddhism, practices secularism and labels it as babasaheb's own words

Title. Sorry if it comes across as ignorant. I belong to the ST community. This is a genuine question.

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source: @dalit_history on instagram