YELLAPUR: “Hum bhi Insaan hai.” The 67-year-old Dieog Siddi of Tottalgundi village uttered the phrase — which means “we are humans too” — at least seven times when he described the struggles his community had to face over the years. From writing a letter to the late South African President Nelson Mandela after his release from Robben Island prison in 1990 to celebrating the victory of Barack Obama, the first African American President of the US, in 2009, Dieog had done everything in his powers to attract the attention towards the Siddis.
The 19 years between the two incidents witnessed a slight, if not massive, change in the way Siddis lived. Induction of Siddi children into the Special Area Games Programme in 1988 and the Scheduled Tribe status in 2003 after two decades of struggle were the watershed moments.
Rallying for Mandela’s release was one of the first public acts the Siddis did after registering the Akhil Karnatak Siddi Vikas Sangh in 1984. The organisation was formed in 1980 by a group of Siddi community leaders. Dieog recalled the crux of the letter they sent to Mandela. “Dear Mr Mandela, we look at you with pride. Our situation is not good. We request you to hold talks with our government to uplift us,” Dieog said. He claimed that there was a reply from South Africa’s first black head of the State, a claim verified by a 2008 report in The East African Magazine.
Every Siddi village has a community leader selected by means of oral consensus among the villagers. While their African ethnicity is apparent from their appearance, the Siddis of Karnataka are divided on religious lines. There are Christian, Muslim and Hindu Siddis and they have taken to the local customs. While they had traditionally married within the community, of late, people have started to marry outside the community too, said Paulo Posto Siddi, a community leader in Mainhalli.
Mainhalli is a predominantly Christian village in Mundgod taluk, while Uginkere has Muslims. Most of the elders work as farmhands or do menial labour. However, children now have started to go to school and are starting to move out of Uttara Kannada in search of greener pastures. The outside world is not so welcoming, confusing them to be Africans and it usually takes a round of conversation and a lecture on history to prove that they are as much citizens of India as those who question them are. For 40 years, Dieog has been travelling across Siddi villages, creating awareness about rights. Dieog remembers an incident in particular. “The local MLA had asked us how we can organise a function for Obama when politicians are present here?” He retorted, saying, “America has made an African American their president. You people are not recognising us as humans.”
“For generations, we worked in the same households. If we ask for money for our work, they will tell the police and keep us in fear,” said Dieog, who has four children, including two daughters. One of his daughters is practising at the Bengaluru High Court. “Our situation will change. Children are going to school. If not today, may be tomorrow,” Dieog said confidently. His parting words, “Hum bhi Insaan hai.”
Shackles of fear
The Siddis speaking up for themselves is the first step towards their liberation. For decades, they were afraid of interacting with people. “Police used to beat us. When people like you come, we used to run into the forests out of fear,” Dieog Siddi said