ABSTRACT
This chapter puts several current (2018) controversies in conversation with strategies developed by the All India Scheduled Castes Federation and the All India Women’s Conference in their attempts to redefine Indian democracy and Indian unity to recognize and respond adequately to Indian minority politics. Specifically, it considers the anti-national crisis at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Kanhaiya Kumar’s arrest on sedition charges, the suicide of Rohith Vemula and what his politics say about the place of Dalit politics today, the new designation of “Urban Naxal” as a way to tie minority politics, especially Dalit politics, to violent or terroristic actions by majority parties, and the idea of Indian familyism and feminist responses like Pinjar Tod (Break the Hostel). The chapter suggests the connection between gendered politics and caste politics (especially Dalit politics), and argues for the need to read these two political strands together. Finally, the chapter shows how current political dissent pulls on the traces of principled politics and ethical action, federated or negotiated unity, and respect for difference developed by minority political organizations, specifically by the All India Scheduled Castes Federation and the All India Women’s Conference, in the 1940s and ’50s.
