ABSTRACT
In the modern world of unequal opportunities, class has been seen as synonymous with caste. This has been especially true for the state of West Bengal, situated in the east of India, where under the influence of its decades-long Communist rule, class has been repeatedly privileged over caste identity. Perhaps the single-most powerful factor responsible for the very late entry of Bengali Dalit literature into the Dalit canon is the severe consequences suffered by the Dalits during the Partition of Bengal, which occurred in 1947. Along with the Partition of India into Pakistan and India in 1947, the province of Bengal was also partitioned along religious lines: a part of Pakistan and a part of India. Bengali Dalit literature too, both in Bangla and in its associated dialects, is 'marked by revolt and negativism, since it is closely associated with the hopes of freedom of a group of people, who as untouchables, are victims of social, economic and cultural inequality'.
