Casting out caste

After years of discrimination, it took one professor’s snide and sexist remarks for Bhagyashri Boywad to roar like a tiger.  
Bhagyashri, who ranked first in every subject in class XII, had been facing discrimination all her life.
Bhagyashri, who ranked first in every subject in class XII, had been facing discrimination all her life.

HYDERABAD:  She’s the first in her family to get a Masters degree and head a student council. She is also probably one of the very few women in her community to not get married soon after class XI, but speak up for her rights. After years of discrimination, it took one professor’s snide and sexist remarks for Bhagyashri Boywad to roar like a tiger.  

Today, the chairperson of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Hyderabad Student Council, is known for her speeches on Dalit issues. She is fearless of what lies ahead and strongly believes in her fight for equal rights. For this, she turns all challenges into opportunities.

“Life is difficult for us (Scheduled Castes) even today. Despite me being in a good position, I still face challenges. I do not come from a privileged background, my family survives on daily wages. That made me aim higher and look for windows of opportunities to live a better life and help my people,” says the Masters in Arts passout, who hails from one of Maharashtra’s backward districts, Nanded.

She and her family later moved to Mumbai in search of a living, but could not survive in the country’s financial capital, after which they made Pune their home. “Pune turned out to be affordable. After class X, I could not get admission in class XI-XII and had to start working. Finally, I completed my college and got into TISS-Hyderabad,” she says. 

But things at TISS, too, turned out to be difficult for Bhagyashri. People constantly made fun of her background, but it was only when a professor humiliated her in front of a packed classroom that she stood up for herself. “The professor was from a higher caste. He passed some sexist comments and the entire class laughed. But I did not keep quiet. When I gave it back to him, the other students fell silent. I told the professor that I would show him who I was and why I was here,” she recalls. To make things worse, she contracted TB while she was at TISS. 

Bhagyashri, who ranked first in every subject in class XII, had been facing discrimination all her life. But she remained unfazed by it and went on to become the first woman from her family to get a Masters degree. “Other girls get married soon after class XI. But I completed my studies, took part in a lot of rallies in Hyderabad and spoke about Dalit rights for students. My speeches got me a lot of support and I became the students council chairperson,” says Bhagyashri, who was put down for her poor English. 

A staunch advocate for Dalit rights, she says the community is mistreated till date. “Many of us have been killed. To fight back, we need justice and the people of the community are our only source of strength.” She feels proud leading the student council as it is not only an achievement for her, but also for the community. Bhagyashri has some strong views on the reservation system too: “It is good for the SC community, but people are blaming us for it. The system is implemented only in the educational sector, but not when it comes to jobs. Where is reservation in the private sector?” 

Sending out a strong message to the women of her community, she says they are her strength. “I feel happy when I hear their success stories. They should never give up. You have to fight for your rights. There will come a day when we will have all our rights. Today, we have them but it’s misused by the upper castes,” she says, citing the Hathras case. 

Fierce advocate of SC rights
Bhagyashri, who ranked first in every subject in class XII, has been facing discrimination all her life. But she remains unfazed by it. She  went on to become the first woman from her family to get a Masters degree and head a student council. Till date, she fights fiercely for the rights of the SC community and the apt implementation of the reservation system 

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