Caste is a conversation many would rather avoid, even today. It is just absent in dinner tables, dodged in classrooms, and rarely a subject to be addressed in corporate corridors. “I think that’s because of privilege,” says Joy, organiser with the Ambedkar Reading Circle (ARC) in Chennai. “People who have all the privileges may not speak about caste — because it feels like questioning their own position in the society.”
Our collective memory has been carefully constructed to leave caste out. “We still see Ambedkar statues locked in cages,” Joy points out. “That cage is a symbol of the society’s cage. You can’t break it with just a law. Mentally, the slavery is still there.”
This is why Joy believes in the need for sensitisation — not as a one-off event, but as a sustained act of political education. “We need things like rallies, stories, events. Otherwise, the idea of fraternity will never reach the people,” he says.
This month, ARC Chennai collaborated with Vyasai Thozhargal and Thirunangai Press LLP for the ‘March for Fraternity’. With over a thousand people joining the rally, the message was loud and clear: caste is not history, it’s the present.
Marching with ‘maatram’
“Fraternity is not just a word in the Constitution. It’s a radical concept,” Joy explains. “We still live in a caste-based society, and that discrimination goes beyond caste — it includes gender, too. When Thirunangai Press joined the rally, it became a moment of intersection — trans rights, Dalit rights, working-class resistance, all coming together for the idea of fraternity.”
ARC and Thirunangai Press share a common goal: creating space for the marginalised, in both physical and intellectual landscapes. “We wanted to understand how vulnerable Dalits are within the trans community,” Joy says. “Thirunangai Press is the first Dalit-led publishing house by trans women. They work for the trans community. Our idea was to bring all these voices together.”
The result was Ramaai — a month-long celebration that re-centres Dalit, trans, and feminist narratives. “The society we live in is built from the perspective of men. That’s why men are being labelled as the ‘first gender’, women the ‘second’, and trans persons the ‘third’,” Joy observes. “With Ramaai, we wanted to rewrite that. Ramaai is the name of Ambedkar’s wife, but it also means ‘mother’ in Marathi. It’s a voice of Dalit feminism. A voice we don’t hear enough.”
Events ranged from book reviews to film screenings and workshops. Grace Banu’s Basthi, which details the experiences of Dalit trans women, was reviewed and discussed. A session on sex education challenged urban biases and offered a rural lens on body politics. Plans are underway for a short film screening and an exclusive workshop for Dalit women leaders. “We’re extending Dalit History Month to May 15, because one month isn’t enough,” Joy says.
It’s an extension rooted in personal memory and collective aspiration. Joy recalls growing up in Neyveli, Cuddalore, where caste lines were quite literally built into the geography. “There was a Dalit habitation outside the village. The village itself was full of Brahmins. That’s India. And still, many people don’t want to talk about it.”
But change, he insists, is not impossible. ARC began with just a reading group at Anna Nagar Tower Park. “We wanted to create a space where people belong,” he says. Over time, the circle has grown, hosting Constitution Day events and advocating for the preamble to be read in schools and colleges and offices — a demand that Tamil Nadu’s CM fulfilled last year by reading it out.
Yet, the work continues. “If we take oppressed communities around the world, there’s been liberation in 100 or so years. But here, caste has existed for over 2000. Even with reservations, we still see headlines about atrocities,” Joy says. “Caste is evolving. Look at matrimonial sites — endogamy is still the norm. We need fraternity to break that.”
So, the demand is simple: Don’t relegate Dalit history to April. Keep reading. Keep listening. Keep marching.
For information on the events, visit @arc.chennai on Instagram.
A FEW RECCOMENDED POWERFUL READS
The Cracked Mirror: An Indian Debate on Experience and Theory by Gopal Guru and Sundar Sarukkai
Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development by BR Ambedkar
Karukku by Bama
My Father Baliah by YB Satyanarayana