Dalit History Month 2023

When Assertion Challenges Erasure

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), whose books are followed across the country in thousands of schools, continues to erase caste-related content including poems on Dalit movements, excerpts from Dalit writers and sections highlighting caste discrimination from their textbooks.

This reminds me of an article I had written for The Print in 2018 titled “Dalit History Threatens the Powerful. That is Why They Want to Erase, Destroy and Jail it”.

Having studied in Kendriya Vidyalaya (where I spent the first ten years of my education) which predominantly follows the NCERT textbooks, I struggled to identify myself or my community with the history taught in the school. As a person born and raised in a household that followed the teachings of Ambedkar and the Buddha, I felt uncomfortable with the complete erasure of the struggles and resistance of our ancestors against thousands of years of oppression.

Being a researcher and a trainer, my journey has been to constantly look for and unearth stories that have not been written down in books. This journey took shape and a direction when a group of us young Dalit women initiated Dalit History Month inspired by Black History Month to celebrate, reclaim and own our stories of resistance and resilience.

Dalit History stands too tall and long for anyone to erase. Watching more individuals, groups, institutions and universities join in every year to honour Dalit History Month across the globe gives us hope and strength that-

No matter how hard you try to erase our history and glorify your oppression, we’ll be here to tell our stories of resilience even more loudly and with greater intensity.

Wishing all community members, Ambedkarites, anti-caste individuals, groups, movements and campaigns a very Happy Dalit History Month!