Marquis de
Lafayette [1757-1834] is a name the two great revolutions - American
War of Independence [1775-1783] and the Great French Revolution
[1789-1793], remember and revere. Lafayette
was a French, but joined George Washington's army to liberate America
from the British. Back home, he joined the French Revolution to unleash
the era of democracy and capitalism.
Of the five
famous leaders (Mao Tse Tung, Chou-En-Lai, Deng-Xiao-Ping, Liu
Shao-Chi, and Chu-Te) of the Chinese revolution (1949), the latter four
had studied abroad. Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov (1856-1918),
arguably, the Russian Marxism, developed his ideas in Europe
while in exile. Of the twenty 25 first presidents of the Indian
National Congress, 14 of them had either studied in England,
or been there. The philosopher of Dalits' emancipation Dr Ambedkar
himself, was educated in US and Europe.
Ever since the
post-Ambedkar India
has been dreaming of similar foreign hands, to unleash the Dalit
revolution-phase two. That dream came true when Dr Laxmi Berwa fired
the first shot - on the very land
of Lincoln. Born
in Revari district of Haryana, the Washington DC based Dalit doctor had
walked on the streets of the US capital protesting visit of Smt Indira
Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, over the neglect of Dalits back home.
That single act
of Dr Berwa, a la Dalit Rosa Parks, fired imaginations of Dalit NRIs in
the US
- "we must do something for our brethren back home." With the
result the Dalit NRIs begun celebrating birth anniversary of Dr
Ambedkar in a more organised fashions. A movement was thus born. No
wonder then, the first Dalit website www.ambedkar.org/ was launched in
the US.
Sashikanth Chandrasekharan, an IT professional may have turned
multimillionaire had he opened an IT firm. Instead, he launched the
website, admired and viewed by thousands of Dalits each day. The Dalit
NRIs in the US and Canada, hosted the first Dalit
conference with a clear cut agenda in Vancouver in the year 2003. Needless
to add, most Dalit NRIs fund schools meant for Dalit children back
home.
Dalit NRIs are on
move, creating a variety of movements. That collective churning amongst
them has thrown up leaders like Sashikanth, Dr KP Singh, and Benjamin
Kaila, each with agendas of their own, mutually complementing. The list
is endless. Benjamin along with Rama Krishna Bhupati, both California based
software engineers have started the Ambedkar Fellowship Movement since
2003. Under this programme, dozens of deserving Dalit school children
are selected from Andhra Pradesh, who awarded Rs 5000 each or, Rs 500 a
month in a ten month academic calendar. Students are selected from
Government run Welfare Hostels meant for poor Dalit.
The very process
of selecting students and awarding fellowships costs a considerable
amount of money. This year, the award function was held on January 13,
in the Capital city of Hyderabad.
Thirty six students were given fellowships, along with a copy of Dr.
Ambedkar's biography. When Benjamin started this movement in 2003, he
could organise only two fellowships - from his own pocket. Setting an
example himself, he appealed to the Dalit NRIs, and the year 2004 saw
20 recipients. The fellowship movement has now got an institutional
framework-a website, ambedkarscholarship@yahoo.com/
a transparent system of selection of the awardees, and a committee to
monitor funds received.
"I want to
introduce giving as an integral element in Dalit personality", he
told me over phone from California.
"Mine is a small endeavour every affluent Dalit must fund
education of at least one needy Dalit child", he added. There are
thousands of non-Dalit IT professional earning billions in California, who
may spend millions on cow shelters, but not on Ambedkar Fellowships.
This is what India's
caste system is all about - social segregation as its very basis of
existence.
The modern Dalits
too must understand the caste system in its entirety. It is not
billionaires Narayana Murthy or Nandan Nilkerni who would institute
Ambedkar Fellowships, but, it would require a Benjamin and Bhupati to
do that. Forced to make a choice - either award Rs. 5000 to a needy
Dalit student, or throw that amount in the deep sea, the Infosys duo
would rather opt for the latter. This validates Dr KP Singh's resolve
even more. "Create a Dalit Capitalism which will take care of
Dalits." Hats off to Dalit NRIs on the move.
