Letters from the new anti-caste abecedary

K is for Khairlanji, the massacre in which members of the Scheduled Caste Bhotmange family were tortured and hacked to death by fellow villagers for filing a police complaint over a land dispute

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L is for the Laxmanpur Bathe Massacre of 1997, in which 58 Dalits, including children and a pregnant woman, were killed, allegedly by the members of the right-wing militia Ranvir Sena, at Laxmanpur Bathe, a village in Bihar.

S is for Shahu Maharaj: This letter commemorates the pro-Dalit ruler who lived over a century ago. He became king of Kolhapur, Maharashtra, in 1894, and in 1902 became the first ruler to roll out caste-based reservation in modern India.

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T is for Thulasi Helen: She floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee and is called the Lady Muhammed Ali of India. Thulasi Helen is a former boxer from Chennai.

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Y is for the Yeola Declaration: At a conference attended by over 10,000 Dalits at Yeola, in Nashik in 1935, Ambedkar made the declaration to renounce Hinduism.

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Q is for Dalit, Queer and Proud: This letter depicts Hindustan Times staffer Dhrubo Jyoti, lawyer Akhil Kang and professor Dhiren Borisa (then a doctoral student), who held up hand-painted signs with the words Dalit.

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