“Cut through the system instead of cutting ourselves…”

​Githa Hariharan ​spoke to ​Tamil writer ​Bama on her ​groundbreaking ​work​ as a dalit feminist, and the difficulties she faced after the publication of her ​autobiography Karukku ​in 1992. ​Bama spoke of the lot of dalit women​, ​vulnerable on the ​three levels of caste​, gender ​and class​. They must build, she said, on the collective strength of “community living” to resist exploitation. In the light of the suicide of Rohith Vemula at Hyderabad Central University, Bama had a strong call: “Cut through the system instead of cutting ourselves.”​