Kancha Ilaiah Explained

Kancha Ilaiah
Birth Date:1952 10, df=yes
Birth Place:Papaiahpet, Warangal, Hyderabad State, India (now in Telangana, India)
Occupation:Retired Director, Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and InclusivePolicy (CSSEIP) at Maulana Azad National Urdu University,Hyderabad
Known For:Writer and speaker on Indian political thought
Awards:Mahatma Jyotirao Phule AwardNehru Fellow 1994-97Manyawar Kanshiram Smriti Mahanayak Puraskar

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd (born 5 October 1952) is an Indian political theorist, writer and a Dalit rights activist. He writes in both English and Telugu languages. His main domain of study and activism is the annihilation of caste.[1]

Early life

Kancha Ilaiah was born in the village of Papaiahpet of Chennaraopet mandal, Warangal district in present-day Telangana.[2] He belongs to the Kuruma golla (Yadav) caste,[3] a community of goatherds designated as an Other Backward Class.[4] Ilaiah's father Kancha Komuraiah was always away from home while grazing sheep.[5] The dominant figure in the family was his mother. Ilaiah credited his mother, Kancha Kattamma, as pivotal in shaping his political thought.[6]

Ilaaih suffixed 'Shepherd' to his name symbolically, as he comes from a shepherding family.[7]

Professional life

Ilaiah received an M.A. degree in political science and an M.Phil., awarded for his study of land reform in undivided Andhra Pradesh.[2] He has been a recipient of the Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Award and was a Nehru Fellow between 1994 and 1997.[2]

Ilaiah earned a Ph.D on the basis of his work exploring the political dimension of Buddhism, culminating in God as Political Philosopher - Buddha's Challenge to Brahminism.[8] He later elaborated several of its key themes in his best-known book. Why I Am Not a Hindu: A Sudra critique of Hindutva philosophy, culture and political economy (1996). A chapter of the book, Hindu Death and Our Death has been reprinted in the book The Hunger of the Republic: Our Present in Retrospect, part of the India Since the 90s series published by Tulika Books.

Ilaiah has encouraged proficiency in the English language for Dalits, arguing that it would allow Dalits in India to intellectually engage the world outside India without non-Dalits speaking "for them".[9] [10] [11] In May 2016, in protest against "Brahmanic hegemony" he says continues to persist in India, Ilaiah appended "Shepherd" to his name. Ilaiah identified in this choice recognition and reaffirmation of his family origins. As an English-language proper noun rather than its equivalent in an Indian language, "Shepherd" is meant to demonstrate a symbolic break with the cultural norms Ilaiah believed Brahmins sought to "impose" on Indian society. Ilaiah characterises his name change as a tool to break these norms and to value the work of what he terms "productive classes:" including Scheduled Castes and OBCs.[12]

Kancha Ilaiah is an Ambedkarite.[13] [14] [15] As an anti-caste activist, Ilaiah is often misidentified by the media as being a Dalit himself.[16] Ilaiah identifies himself as a Sudra intellectual.[17]

In November 2015, Ilaiah stated that if Vallabhbhai Patel, the first Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of India credited with accession of a princely states into India amidst the intense violence and bloodletting that followed the creation of Pakistan, had been Prime Minister of India, India "would have become Pakistan".[18]

Criticism

While working as an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Osmania University, several of Ilaiah's colleagues as well as academics affiliated with the university expressed, in an open-letter, their concern with respect to certain articles and opinions that Ilaiah had contributed to a local newspaper and advised him against writing material that could inflame sectarian discontent or prejudice.[2]

In April 2016, Ilaiah gave a controversial remark that vegetarianism is anti-nationalism.[19] On 18 September 2017, T. G. Venkatesh, a member of Indian Parliament representing the Telugu Desam Party and a prominent leader of the Arya Vysya said at a press conference that Ilaiah was a traitor and should be hanged because his writings were "intended to divide society."[20] Ilaiah alleged that the members of Arya Vysya community had tried to kill him and lodged a police complaint when Arya Vysya community members attacked his car in 2017.[21] [22]

In September 2017, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu banned Ilaiah's book on Vyshas for hurting the sentiments of the community after Vysyas community members protested and demanded a ban on the book.[23] [24]

Appointments

Among Ilaiah's official appointments have been:[25]

Selected publications

English language publications:

Telugu language publications:

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Taking aim at the messenger: on the attack on Kancha Ilaiah. Kalpana. Kannabiran. The Hindu . 5 October 2017. www.thehindu.com.
  2. News: The attempt to censor my writings is part of a larger game plan . Rediff . 24 May 2000 . 16 December 2014.
  3. Event occurs from 2:25 to 2:32
  4. Web site: How a caste reference in his 2009 book has come back to haunt Kancha Ilaiah. 16 October 2017. Hindustan Times.
  5. Web site: 2020-09-16. How anti-caste activist Kancha Ilaiah's mother was an inspiration for his rebellion. 2021-03-10. The News Minute. en.
  6. News: How cow protection laws brutalise our culture. The Economic Times. 14 August 2016 .
  7. Web site: Shepherd. Kancha Ilaiah. The violence of caste: Why I have changed my name to Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd. 2021-05-13. Scroll.in. 27 May 2016 . en-US.
  8. News: "Modi should ask sadhus to clean the streets". . The Hindu . 10 July 2016. www.thehindu.com.
  9. Web site: Introduce English in all schools, says Kancha Ilaiah. 2020-10-31. The New Indian Express. 8 August 2016 .
  10. Web site: Swati. Mathur. 2013-02-15. Kancha Ilaiah: Even if 10% dalit children got English education, India would change . 2022-02-09. The Times of India. en.
  11. Web site: In defence of English: Blame the Indian education system, not the language. Akshat. Jain. Scroll.in. 5 June 2016 .
  12. News: Good Shepherd: Dalit thinker Kancha Ilaiah on name, caste . Hindustan Times . 2016-05-27 . 2016-07-18.
  13. Web site: Threats to Kancha Ilaiah show India has learnt nothing from Gauri Lankesh's death. www.dailyo.in.
  14. Web site: The Ethereal Realist | Outlook India Magazine. www.outlookindia.com/.
  15. Web site: Gandhi was not a caste abolitionist: Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd. The Week.
  16. News: India's President Ram Nath Kovind takes oath. www.aljazeera.com.
  17. News: Mondal . Sudipto . Good Shepherd: Dalit thinker Kancha Ilaiah on name, caste . 21 January 2020 . Hindustan Times . 27 May 2016 . en.
  18. News: If Sardar Patel was PM, India would've become Pakistan: Kancha Ilaiah . Hindustan Times . 2015-11-30 . 2016-07-18.
  19. Web site: Vegetarianism is anti-nationalism: Kancha Ilaiah on Ambedkar's food democracy. 14 April 2016. Firstpost.
  20. Web site: TD MP TG Venkatesh says 'Hang ilaiah' for his book. 18 September 2017 . The Deccan Chronicle. 2018-01-04.
  21. Web site: After vehicle pelted with stones, Kancha Ilaiah files plaint, says death threats against him. The New Indian Express. 24 September 2017 .
  22. Web site: Writer Kancha Ilaiah says his car was attacked with stones in Telangana. Scroll Staff. Scroll.in. 24 September 2017 .
  23. Web site: Pawan Kalyan's tweet, comments by MPs make CM see red . Deccan Chronicle . 2017-10-07 . 2022-04-12.
  24. Web site: Sharda . Ratan . TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu slams Kancha Ilaiah for provocative writing . NewsBharati . 2017-09-27 . 2022-04-12.
  25. Web site: 3rd Cycle of Accreditation – NAAC, Self – Study Report, 2013. 48. 2013. Osmania University. 7 August 2016. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160314190854/http://www.osmania.ac.in/Naac%20Dept%20Evoluation/Social%20Sciences.pdf. 14 March 2016. dmy-all.

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