June 08, 2012

Prejudice runs both ways?

In response to the piece
Humour is by no means exempt from prejudice in The Hindu on June 8, 2012, about Controversial Ambedkar cartoon
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article3501903.ece

The most convincing piece in the entire article was the statement -‘The whip is inseparable from violence…’ After reading that sentence, the outlook towards the article changed completely. One can not but agree and sympathize with the emotion in that idea. However, one point still remains unsolved, which is, - Why should dalits take the whip in Nehru’s hand to be falling on Ambedkar? The cartoon actually shows the whip aimed at the snail which is used as a symbol of very slow movement. Ambedkar too is helping the whole process by goading the snail to move faster. Why is Ambedkar invariably seen by Dalits as being responsible for the sluggish pace. Dalits need to offload the psychological baggage which almost borders on paranoia, and see things with a bit more balanced judgment. With such a balance, one can realize that Ambedkar and Nehru together worked for faster progress of the Constitution.



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