When the oppressed fail to understand the oppressed
VB Editorial | August 18, 2025
“Who else but the ones who have suffered can truly understand the pain of the suffering?” asked Akka Mahadevi in one of her vachanas. Her words carry a timeless truth: only those who have tasted pain can truly recognise it in others. Gandhi and Ambedkar are often compared through this lens. Gandhi, despite his compassion, could never feel the sting of untouchability the way Ambedkar did, because Ambedkar lived it, carried it, and fought it from within.
But the same truth now shows us its bitter side. The demand for internal reservation within the Scheduled Castes has revealed an uncomfortable reality, sometimes, even the oppressed fail to understand the pain of the oppressed.
In Karnataka, instead of building a united struggle for meaningful implementation of reservation, Dalit communities are fighting each other. Suspicion and mistrust are being fuelled. Instead of seeing the real adversaries, Dalits are searching for enemies within. In this, the upper castes have already won half the battle. By making Dalits clash among themselves in the name of reservation, they have diverted attention away from the real fight, the fight against the caste system itself.
And what has become of reservation today? Across the country, dominant castes that already enjoy wealth and power now demand their share of it. The so-called “poor” among the upper castes managed to secure 10% reservation for themselves, without waging any long struggle, without facing the humiliation that Dalits endured for centuries. This single act has weakened the very spirit of reservation. It is like handing the keys of the henhouse to the fox. What chance then do the hens have? That is exactly the situation Dalits find themselves in.
Upper-caste politics has grown shrewder. Knowing that reservation cannot be scrapped openly, the strategy now is to dilute it step by step. And it is working. Dominant castes keep inching into the fold of reservation, cornering opportunities. Meanwhile, Dalits despite having reservation on paper, remain underrepresented in the judiciary, in the executive, and across positions of real power.
The Madiga community complains that the Holeyas take more than their share. It may be true that Holeyas got relatively more benefits. But the larger question is being ignored: how much has reservation as a whole really transformed even the Holeyas’ lives? How many educated Dalit youth today, despite having degrees, are still unemployed? These questions cut deeper than internal rivalries.
When the upper castes secured their 10% quota, Madigas and Holeyas should have stood shoulder to shoulder and protested. But no such united struggle came. Protests, if any, were scattered, symbolic. Meanwhile, the Modi government is pushing privatisation year after year. With fewer government jobs left, reservation itself is losing meaning. If it is to survive, it must extend into the private sector. Yet, no serious mass movement has been waged for this demand.
During the announcement of internal reservation, the Supreme Court revived the “creamy layer” debate. But why is it that only the cream of the Dalit pot is visible to our judiciary? When it is clear who is snatching away their share of reservation, is it not the greatest irony that Dalits are now dividing themselves into left and right factions, searching for enemies within? Madigas paint Holeyas as oppressors; Holeyas see Madigas as rivals. But do Dalit leaders really not know who has truly grabbed their rights? Or are they being dangled as mere bait, fish caught in the nets of upper-caste political strategies?
After Justice Nagamohan Das submitted his report, insecurities deepened further. Holeya leaders expressed fear that their community would face injustice, sparking anxiety within Madiga groups. Instead of calming these fears with facts, many leaders fanned them, acting less like protectors of their people and more like pawns of upper-caste politics. If Dalits are split in two and internal reservation is pushed through, the results will not strengthen them. It will weaken them. Socially, Dalits will be pushed to the margins. Politically, their representation will shrink. And that political shrinking will bring harsher consequences for their social and economic future.
Akka Mahadevi’s words remind us that those who have lived through pain must be the first to embrace others’ pain as their own. But today, Dalits in Karnataka risk forgetting this wisdom. By allowing division, they risk falling into the very trap set by the caste system itself.
The time has come to see clearly who the real adversary is. Dalits must stop mistaking each other for enemies. They must unite with their grassroots brethren, not fight them. Otherwise, history will record this moment as a tragedy: when the oppressed failed to understand the oppressed.
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Rupee falls 9 paise to all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): Rupee depreciated 9 paise to an all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade on Monday, weighed down by uncertainty over an India-US trade deal and persistent foreign fund outflows.
Forex traders said rupee is trading with a negative bias as investors are in wait and watch mode and awaiting cues from the India-US trade deal front.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.53 against the US dollar, then fell further to an all-time intraday low of 90.58 against the greenback, registering a fall of 9 paise over its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee had slipped 17 paise to close at an all-time low of 90.49 against the American currency.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05 per cent lower at 98.35.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 0.52 per cent at USD 61.44 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex was trading 298.86 points lower at 84,968.80, while the Nifty was down 121.40 points at 25,925.55.
Foreign Institutional Investors sold equities worth Rs 1,114.22 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
"FPIs continue to be in selling mode in equity and debt while RBI has been selling dollars to fund their long positions," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
