Waging a war for Dalits

KOCHI: It was at the age of 17 when she first thought of writing ‘Gypsy Goddess’, the novel that discusses the history of Tamilians who lived in the interiors of Tamil Nadu, where neglect and oppression had become a part of their daily existence. In her book 28-year-old Meena Kandaswamy reveals the story of a revolutionary peasant movement and its people who having lost faith in the judiciary seek refuge with Naxals who come to their aid.“The novel is on the verge of completion. It is the most satisfactory of all the works I have done so far,” says the poet-essayist-columnist who has written and translated quite a number of works. The novel, inspired by the ancestral deity Kurathi Amman, is the voice of the downtrodden who are unfairly deprived of their rightful  opportunities in life.And as this young woman sits down with ‘City Express’ to reveal her life and works, Meena Kandaswamy gets all the more passionate about the issue that lies closest to her heart - fighting for the cause of the Dalits. Says Meena, who is emerging as the voice of the oppressed classes: “I am a woman waging a war against the injustice faced by the Dalits who (in spite of Ambedkar’s dream of ridding society of caste system) are still battling with the evil of caste system.” “I am not for the Western concept of liberation for them, I am speaking about the freedom at the grass-roots levels,” she adds.Meena, who had reported the Civil War in  Srilanka for a news daily, says that there are very delicate issues plaguing Indians everywhere, but there is a lot of political and judicial apathy towards such sufferings. “The worst was the slaughter of lakhs of Tamils in the battle-infested areas of Sri Lanka where illegal chemical weapons and cluster bombs were used. Our government and media kept silence. Where was the outcry that was supposed to speak for the people? Where was the rage against such genocides? Whenever I speak strongly on these issues, people call me an agent of the LTTE,” said Meena who also spoke of the threats she faced.The latest in the series was when she attended a beef-eating festival at Osmania University. She was verbally abused and threatened by some groups.“It was a time when I was already facing depression after a broken marriage. Initially, I felt threatened but then I stood firm because I realised that they were not against the individual ‘Meena’. Their feelings were purely political.”On the whole Meena is also surprised about the paradox of men who are sensitive to animal slaughter but are insensitive towards the ill-treatment meted out to women. “If you are a person who is sensitive about things around you, you tend to feel. When you feel, you tend to react. When you react, there is born in you an activist with a quest that cannot be quenched,” smiles Meena.