'Dalits must learn from Africans'

Progressive writer Siddalingaiah said Dalits should take inspiration and learn from Africans and urged them to stop considering themselves as people belonging to a lower caste.

Siddalingaiah, who is also director at Bangalore University (BU) Centre for Ambedkar Studies, was speaking at the release of his autobiography ‘A Word With You, World’ translated into English by journalist S R Ramakrishna on Tuesday.

Citing the examples of Africans, he said, “They have made immense progress in the fields of music and sports. This is because they never lost their sense of existence. In fact, Africans who were enslaved can still cook and serve food, something that Dalits here still cannot do. This is because Dalits have submitted themselves to an inferiority complex.”

He said Dalits should join people from various sections of the society who are working towards bringing an end to the atrocities faced by them.

Arts dean D Jeevan Kumar said ‘A Word With You, World’ is the first combined work of Siddalingaiah’s two volumes of Ooru Keri. “The English title is a derivative of his poem Mataadbeku,” Prof Kumar said.

Vice-Chancellor B Thimme Gowda, who released the book, lauded the social concern reflected in Siddalingaiah’s works.