Yogesh Maitreya, TwoCircles.net
Pune: An editorial written by editor and chairman of Lokmat Vijay Darda has come under severe criticism from Dalit activists.
The editorial published on August 31, 20015 titled “Jaitiya arakshan aampayala havey” argued that caste-based reservation must come to an end.
Dalit activists raised questions over Darda’s ability to understand the constitutional legal arrangements to benefit the marginalised sections of the society. Many Ambedkarite activists and scholars have expressed their contempt for Darda’s prejudiced views, expressed in his editorial.
To elaborate the gravity of the issue, Yashwant Manohar, an eminent Ambedkarite writer, poet and critic told TwoCircles.net:
“Reservation came to existence to annihilate the system of caste, to destroy the social, economical, caste-based inequalities from India and to make India an egalitarian nation. But these objectives have not been achieved so far. While these inequalities are still persistent, then, expressing views to end caste-based reservation is to express the rage not only against Ambedkarite people but Constitution itself. We would have liked to end reservation, by our own initiative, had these inequalities been destroyed.”
‘Samrat’, an Ambedkarite Marathi newspaper, have published an article on September 3, 2015 titled, ‘Darda rang badalnar sarda,’ roughly translates as ‘Darda, a lizard who changes its colours’.
A protest rally was also organized outside the Lokmat newspaper office in Nagpur which was attended by about a hundred people.