Vontibettu Thimmappa Rajshekar Shetty (1932 – 20 November 2024) was an Indian journalist who was the founder and editor of the '' Dalit Voice'', which has been described by

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

as "India's most widely circulated

Dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...

journal".Human Rights Watch Article
Hrw.org. Retrieved on 7 July 2011. Rajshekar was a journalist for the

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language India, Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the Indian Express Limited, ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnat ...

, where he worked for 25 years. He founded 'Dalit Voice' organisation a radical wing of the broader movement for Dalit interests.

Positions and ''Dalit Voice''

Started in 1981, ''Dalit Voice'' is a periodical launched by Rajshekhar. Under Rajshekhar's the Dalit Voice organisation formulated an Indian variant of

afrocentrism Afrocentrism is a worldview that is centered on the history of people of African descent or a view that favors it over non-African civilizations. It is in some respects a response to Eurocentric attitudes about African people and their hist ...

similar to that of the

Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A centralized and hierarchical organization, the NOI is committed to black nationalism and focuses its attention on the Afr ...

in the USA but it is different from other magazines in many aspects. It is notable for promoting radical

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

borrowed from Western sources and also its link to Afrocentrist ideologies. The book declares the Indian castes as nations within the nation of India. It argues for the strengthening of each caste.

Controversy and criticism

''Dalit Voice'' harshly criticizes Israel and

Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

, which at times crosses the line into antisemitism. It has published articles about 'Zionist conspiracies' regarding

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

and the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

. They have also supported the Iranian government and

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (born Mahmoud Sabbaghian on 28 October 1956) is an Iranian Iranian principlists, principlist and Iranian nationalism, nationalist politician who served as the sixth president of Iran from 2005 to 2013. He is currently a mem ...

's denial of the Holocaust.

Passport confiscation

In 1986 Rajshekar's passport was confiscated because of " anti-Hinduism writings outside of India". The same year, he was arrested in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

under India's Terrorism and Anti-Disruptive Activities Act. Rajshekar told

that this arrest was for an editorial he had written in ''Dalit Voice'', that another writer who republished the editorial was also arrested, and that he was eventually released with an apology. Rajshekar had also been arrested under the Sedition Act and under the Indian Penal Code for creating disaffection between communities.

Death

Rajshekar died on 20 November 2024, at the age of 92.

Books and pamphlets

* '' Dalit Movement in Karnataka'' * ''How Marx Died In Hindu India'' * ''Why Godse Killed Gandhi'' * ''Hindu Serpent And Muslim Mongoose'' * ''Dialogue Of The Bhoodevatas'' * ''Bhoodevtavon Ki Batchit'' in

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

* ''Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar: Clash of Two Values: The Verdict of History''. Bangalore: Dalit Sahitya Akademy, 1989 * ''Dalit: The Black Untouchables of India'' (foreword by Y.N. Kly). Atlanta; Ottawa: Clarity Press, c1987 (Originally published under title: ''Apartheid in India''. Bangalore: Dalit Action Committee, 1979) * ''Apartheid in India: An International Problem'', 2nd rev. ed. Publisher: Bangalore: Dalit Sahitya Akademy, 1983 * ''Ambedkar and His Conversion: a critique''. Bangalore: Dalit Action Committee, Karnataka, 1980 * ''Judicial Terrorism'' * ''India As A Failed State'' * ''Aggression On Indian Culture'' * ''Development Redefined'' * ''Caste – A Nation within the Nation'' * ''India's Intellectual Desert'' * ''The

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

Arthashastra ''Kautilya's Arthashastra'' (, ; ) is an Ancient Indian Sanskrit treatise on statecraft, politics, economic policy and military strategy. The text is likely the work of several authors over centuries, starting as a compilation of ''Arthashas ...

(

Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated text purporting to detail a Jewish plot for global domination. Largely plagiarized from several earlier sources, it was first published in Imperial Russia in 1903, translated into multipl ...

)'' * ''Brahminism In India And Zionism In West'' * ''India's Muslim Problem'' * ''India On The Path To Islamisation'' * ''Dalit Voice – A New Experiment in Journalism'' * ''Brahminism'' * ''Weopons To Fight Counter Revolution'' * '' Riddles in Hinduism'' by

Babasaheb Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Bhīmrāo Rāmjī Āmbēḍkar; 14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who chaired the committee that drafted the Constitution of India based on t ...

* ''Know The Hindu Mind''

Awards

* In 2005 Rajshekar received the London Institute of South Asia (LISA) Book of the Year Award. * In 2018 Rajshekar received the Mukundan C Menon Award instituted by the National Confederation of Human Rights Organization's ( NCHRO).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajshekar, V. T. 1932 births 2024 deaths 20th-century Indian journalists Indian newspaper journalists Pseudohistorians Dalit writers People from Dakshina Kannada district Journalists from Karnataka Indian political journalists