HVK Archives: Dhasal gets enigmatic with new-found friendship with Sena
Dhasal gets enigmatic with new-found friendship with Sena - The Times of India
Vidyadhar Date
()
December 11, 1997
Title: Dhasal gets enigmatic with new-found friendship with Sena
Author: Vidyadhar Date
Publication: The Times of India
Date: December 11, 1997
The decision of Namdeo Dhasal, the once-radical Dalit Panther
leader and gifted poet, to join hands with the Shiv Sena has come
'!m a surprise to observers. He has invited Sena leader Uddhav
Thackeray to attend a function in Pune on Friday to mark the 25
years of the Dalit Panther organisation.
No two organisations have been more antagonistic and
ideologically opposed to each other than the Dalit Panther and
Shiv Sena. It used to be said that the panther and tiger (the Sena's
symbol) could never get along. The organisations have had a
long-standing feud, right since the 1974 BDD chawls riots in Worli,
Mumbai.
In the last few years, Mr Dhasal had been marginalised in the
Republican Party of India, the Dalit political party. So he stands to
gain from his association with the Sena. The Shiv Sena too will
benefit from the alliance since Mr Dhasal belongs to the Mahar
community, which has always been stubbornly hostile to the Sena.
The Mahars were also angry with the Sena chief for certain
disparaging remarks passed by him in 1993 against Babasaheb
Ambedkar. The Sena also virulently opposed Dalits during the
controversy over the government's publishing of the Riddles of
Ram and Krishna in the collected works of Mr Ambedkar.
The Sena now has a chance of gaining followers among the
Mahars, who are mostly Buddhists. The Shiv Sena's following
among Dalits is now confined to non-Buddhist Dalits like Matang
and Chambhar, whom the party calls Hindu Dalits.
In the initial years, Mr Dhasal showed strong left-wing leanings. He
wrote a poem on veteran Communist S.A. Dange and poet Pablo
Neruda, was inspired by Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro, was a
frequent visitor to the Soviet information centre at Bhulabhai Desai
Road and called himself a comrade. He married Mallika, the
daughter of Maharashtra's foremost Communist folk singer Amar
Shaikh. Ms Mallika later in her autobiography detailed her stormy
marriage and the treatment she received at the hands of her
aggressive husband.
Mr Dhasal has always been something of an enigma, changing
his political alliances. He stormed the literary scene in the
seventies with his collection of poems Golpith, on life in the red
light district where he grew up. The poetry introduced a new
vocabulary which impressed as well as stumped Vijay Tendulkar
who wrote a foreword for the book. A special issue on Mr Dhasal
was brought out recently by the noted literary magazine
Anushtubh. Such is his standing in the world of literature.
Mr Namdeo Dhasal figures prominently in VS. Naipaul's book A
Million Mutinies and he gave a lot of insights to the novelist into
Mumbai and its life. He is also close to poet Dilip Chitre.
Arun Kamble, noted Dalit writer and Dalit Panther leader, said Mr
Dhasal is without doubt a highly talented poet and speaker. "But
something has gone wrong somewhere. He has been a rebel but
without a consistent philosophy of rebellion. He is more of an
emotional person."
Mr Kamble said, "On the one hand one loves Dhasal for his
poetry. On the other one feels dismayed by his actions. He was
also seriously ill sometime ago. The action in allying with the Sena
shows the crisis in the Dalit movement."
However, Mr Kamble was confident that the Dalit movement would
surge ahead and the stagnation would end soon. Raja Dhale, who
founded Dalit Panther with Mr Dhasal and later formed a separate
organisation called Mass Movement, said "Dhasal has never
been stable. He was never militant in the real sense. I do not think
he would get response from Dalits in this venture." Mr Dhasal has
spelt out his views on the Dalit movement in the issue of Sena
daily Saamna of December 6, Babasaheb's death anniversary.
Most of the points made in the article are considered relevant
though his political shift has convinced few Dalits.
Mr Dhasal has argued that the Republican Party leadership has
remained confined to one Dalit community, Mahars. By excluding
other Dalit communities because they are Hindu, the party has
alienated itself from the mainstream. In the process the Mahars
are on the verge of becoming fundamentalists, Mr Dhasal said.
This, he added, was contrary to the philosophy of Babasaheb
Ambedkar, who wanted to forge an alliance of people of different
communities to ultimately break the caste system. However, the
Mahars have reduced him to a leader of only one community
Observers point out that the once radical Dalit movement has lost
its militancy and anti-establishment character. Ramdas Athavale
has been a Congress ally for quite some time.
and now Prakash Ambedkar, Babasaheb's grandson, has
announced hg decision to go along with the Congress. And now
Namdeo Dhasal is going along with the Shiv Sena.
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