Hyderabad: Literature is a tool for the oppressed to protest and make their voices heard, observed Dalit writers at a panel discussion at the Hyderabad Literary Festival-2014 on Sunday.
Bama, a prominent Dalit writer, said, “The word liberation is not just confined to Dalits but is for all those who are oppressed. Being born in the community and having experienced the atrocities since my younger days, expressing my views through writing proved to be a therapy. Later I started using it as weapon for freedom.”
“We (Dalits) don’t need sympathy but need our basic right to live as humans,” she added. The need of the hour is for Dalits to accept that their culture is as good as others and celebrate it. Only then can they stand up against the atrocities being committed against them in the name of caste.
Another writer, Sivakami, who is also into politics, wanted Dalits to speak out about sectors like agriculture and the public distribution system among others. “We are confined only to fighting for our own rights.
But in the political circles Dalit voices need to be given space in other important sectors like agriculture, PDS, etc. that are linked to survival of a person,” she said. Sivakami has four critically acclaimed novels, all of them centred on Dalit and feminist themes.
