The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) – Karnataka Chapter, is holding a talk by author and activist Bhanwar Meghwanshi on his journey as a human rights activist. The talk will be held at 6 p.m. on January 11 at the Alternative Law Forum on Infantry Road.
Meghwanshi, who is also the president of PUCL-Rajasthan chapter, published his book “I could not be Hindu: The Story of a Dalit in the RSS”, translated from Hindi to English by Nivedita Menon, in 2019.
“Bhanwarji has been talking about this book in many places throughout the country. He has also been speaking about his current work with Dalit groups as an activist on ground and as a writer. He works very closely with artist groups, cultural groups and so on,” said Aishwarya. R., general secretary, PUCL-Bangalore, to The Hindu.
“We felt that this is a time when we need to listen to these voices that are both grounded within social movements and have contributed to the intellectual space,” she added.
The transition
The talk would focus of Meghwanshi’s journey from being a young RSS worker to later becoming a Dalit rights activist, and also on the different efforts that he is invested in right now.
“His book is an extremely personal account. So, we wanted to see if he could speak about that, his realistions, disillusionment and what he stands for in a little more detail to a Kannada audience,” Aishwarya said.
“The talk would also lead up to the different kinds of efforts that he is invested in right now, because we see that in Bengaluru, there are a lot of efforts to bring together poets, artists, writers, and so on to talk about histories of syncretic cultures in Karnataka, and how we could hold on to the Constitutional values and our cultural heritage. That’s one of the main reasons we’re holding this talk in Hindi and Kannada,” she added.
Meghwanshi, who was born into a Dalit family in Rajasthan, joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the 1980s at the very young age of 13. This was also the time the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was gaining momentum pulling in thousands of people to the Sangh fold.
Meghwanshi grew through the RSS ranks, however, not without noticing that a Dalit couldn’t grow beyond a point within the organisation and the supreme positions were reserved for the upper castes, according to his book. The tipping point came when the leaders of the organisation refused to eat the food cooked at his home, he says in the book.
Disillusioned with the organisation he walked out of RSS in 1991. Meghwanshi is today an activist working for the rights of the Dalits and the marginalised.
Ear to the ground
“His biggest strength is the close relationship he has with the grassroot level movements in Rajasthan and elsewhere. He worked for more than 10 years with the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan as well. So, he’s a walking-talking example of what it means to do intellectual work and still have your ear to the ground and your feet on the ground,” Aishwarya said.
