Thirumavalavan vows to oppose Sangh Parivar

“We are not Hindus, we belong to ancient Buddhism,” he says during the 50th anniversary of Dalit Panthers of India.

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi founder Thol. Thirumavalavan has reaffirmed his commitment to fight ‘Sangh Parivar’ forces.

Participating in the 50 th year celebrations of Dalit Panthers of India, a radical Ambedkarite organisation, in Aurangabad in Maharashtra, on Saturday, he said it was erroneous to consider Dalits as Hindus when they didn’t even fall under the four ‘varnas’ classified in the Hindu system.

“We are not Hindus, we belong to ancient Buddhism. Pandit Iyotheethass declared that we are not Hindus, but Buddhists before Dr. Ambedkar,” he said in his speech, a video of which he shared on social media.

Mr. Thirumavalavan also criticised the Dalit leaders who had compromised with BJP and Sangh Parivar. “Dalit leaders are directly or indirectly supporting BJP and RSS. It is nothing but committing [political] suicide. At any cost, an Ambedkarite will not support RSS/Sangh Parivar. At any cost, we won’t follow them, support them or ally with them. Babasaheb gave us the great Constitution and we have to save it now. I can say that BJP, RSS and Sangh Parivar want to throw away the Constitution and replace it with Manu Smriti,” he claimed.

Before he founded the VCK, Mr. Thirumavalavan said he was also a Dalit Panther in Tamil Nadu in the 1980s. “I came to know about Dalit Panthers in Madurai through advocate Malaichamy who was the president of the Tamil Nadu unit in the 1980s. After a few months, he died and I had an opportunity to lead the Dalit Panthers movement,” he said.

According to him, Dalit Panthers, like Black Panthers in the United States and South Africa, made a great impact on the mainstream politics. “Though I changed the name from Dalit Panthers to VCK, everybody knows the party as Dalit Panthers. Dalits in Karnataka, Kerala and other south Indian States, they call themselves Dalit Panthers and I am still known as president of Dalit Panthers,” he said.

Mr. Thirumavalavan said Ambedkar had become the centrepiece and was unavoidable in Indian politics today. It was important to understand ideological enemies of Dalits through Ambedkarism.