Harish Rao, Harried AP Bhavan

A Dalit employee of the AP Bhavan at Delhi was manhandled by the Telangana Leader Mr. Harish Rao today. It is all over the television channels.

Mr. Chandra Rao, was beaten up even as TV cameras captured the footage. Later the employees of the AP Bhavan joined together in a Dharna calling for justice . The employee’s wife ,slipper in hand, dared Harish Rao to face her family wrath.

Harish Rao’s behaviour is nothing if not political and caste arrogance. For Harish Rao this seemed like a long awaited opportunity to flex his muscles. The restraint required by the political movement over the last two years has been very frustrating for Harish Rao and his ilk. When he tried to join the million-march on the Tank Bund a couple of months ago, using a mechanized boat to cross the lake, he was quite excited with the heroics. But certainly, it wasn’t as exciting as this chance to physically assault someone. The adrenaline pumping when you deliver a knockout punch, the thrill of throwing a foam pie at someone, the sharp swing of the arm as a tight slap is about to be administered, the sheer animal pleasure of seeing blood gushing out—ah! That is different!! Political correctness prevented Harish Rao all these months, but today was different. The chance at last, was too good to miss. One can almost hear him roar like a tiger appreciating its kill.

But questions are being asked: if this is the fate of a dalit before a solution to the Telangana imbroglio is found, what would be the condition of dalits in an upper-caste ruled Telangana?

Hypothetical, feels Harish Rao. After all, WE are born to rule! If someone misbehaves, we have the right to give corporal punishment. Can Dalits do these things… kick open doors, beat up an old man, break glass-panes…? Basically, damn it, one must know how to Rule with an iron hand!

But questions are being asked…

If this episode can become a review and rallying point for Dalits in Telangana, then Professor Kancha Ilaiah’s repeated demand for defining the status of dalits, and for an unconditional commitment NOW, that a Dalit leader will be Chief Minister of a new Telangana State, has much power and justification. Indeed, if AP is carved out into two or three new States, Prof. Ilaiah and Manda Krishna Madiga’s MRPS group will be fully justified in demanding that Dalit leaders should become the chief ministers of all the ‘new’ states.

I am the invisible and undefined man. I have reasonable assurance that I was born in Calcutta in 1955, in a Telugu Brahmin family; that I was brought to Hyderabad in 1957 when my grandfather’s joint family moved to the city; most of my education was in Hyderabad at various schools and then Badruka College, then Arts College, then Hyderabad University. I taught at Osmania University for 30 years from 1980 to 2010 before taking voluntary retirement. I know that the contestations are perfectly right in their contexts and that a solution should come sooner than later. Hopefully it will be reasonably satisfactory to all and it has to be a peaceful solution, not one that leads to violence.

If Harish Rao’s behavior is indicative of anything, my hope has no chance at all.