An account of the observance of B R Ambedkar's death anniversary on 6 December 2013 reveals the caste prejudices still at work, albeit muted or disguised, when dalits seek to lay claim to public space to observe public holidays of special signifi cance to their community in the midst of the city's everyday life.
A critical question that needs to be posed in the current context of intolerance is: are we prepared to defend acts of violence perpetrated in the name of our identity, our beliefs and finally, our sentiments?
Response Piece ANANYA VAJPEYI In a recent piece on the social sciences published in these columns (EPW, March 22, 2003), Ramachandra Guha has written:
Communalism has so far been an ideology that anti-communal forces have tried to address in the informal sectors of pedagogy. What are the issues involved in building a formal syllabus for university students that systematically deals with communalism with a view to encouraging a principled rejection of its ideas and practices?
Life at the Bottom The Untouchables: Subordination, Poverty and the State in Modern India by Oliver Mendelsohn and Marika Vicziany; Cambridge University Press, published in India by Foundation Books, New Delhi; Indian paperback edition, 2000.
