Biographical Sketch





Rajshekar Shetty, V.T. 1932-



  • V.T. Rajshekar is one of India’s rare original thinkers. Hailing from India’s west coast district of South Kanara, Karnataka (India), he is a noted journalist and writer with over 50 books to his credit. Till 1979 he was the deputy chief reporter of Indian Express. Bangalore, India’s largest circulated English daily. Now he is editor of the powerful Dalit voice, the only English journal of its kind for the country’s Black untouchables and other persecuted minorities totaling over 85% of India’s 800 million population.

    He was dismissed from the Indian Express (1979) for taking up the cause of the Untouchables and minorities. He founded the Dalit Sahitya Akademy, which has international reputation for publishing books on India’s social, cultural and religious problems. Some of his books have been translated to every language inside India and to Japanese, German, French, and Arabic etc. The third revised edition of his famous  “Little Red book,” Apartheid in India, is published from USA by a prestigious Black publishing house, Clarity Press, under the title, Dalit the Black Untouchables of India. His famous book include why Godse killed Gandhi? How Marx failed in Hindu India, and Dr. Ambedkar and his conversion. His works are counted among the few revolutionary writings of the country. 

    Beginning as a Marxist, he was soon disappointed by the country’s upper caste “Marxist” leadership and found a solution in the philosophy of Dr. babasaheb Ambedkar. “Class struggle” in India will take the shape of “caste war”, he says. Widely traveled all over the world, he led two delegations to China (1980 and 1983) and represented India’s black untouchables at the World Mathaba Conference in Libya (1986). He also toured Japan to study the problem of Bruakumin. His foreign travel is now curbed as his passport was impounded in 1987. Since Brahmanism is India’s principal contradiction and even Nazi philosophers in Germany had acknowledged that they borrowed it from Brahmanism, he wants all victims of Brahmanism in India including upper caste women to join his holy war. Towards this he founded the Dalit-Muslim alliance, which has taken roots in different parts of India. A rainbow alliance of SC/ST/Bcs, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Women will be the first step towards a liberation of India, he says.

    India’s upper caste rulers amply rewarded him for his work for the persecuted Untouchables and minorities. The Karnataka Government filed a sedition case against him in 1986. For taking up the cause of Sikhs fighting for identity and dignity, he was arrested under the dreaded Terrorist Act (1986) handcuffed and dragged all the way from Bangalore and lodged in Chandigarh jail. Following a countrywide and international protest, he was released with an apology. Every effort is being made by Nazis to close down his journal and also liquidate him even as over 85% of India’s populations as well as African Blacks, hail him as a brave fighter for human rights.

    From Dalit Voice: