Two Dalit rights activists nominated to “21st Century Heroes of India”

Pippa Rann Books & Media, based in the United Kingdom, September 27 announced that Lenin Raghuvanshi and Shruti Nagvanshi, the two cofounders of the People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), have been listed.

PVCHR is a Varanasi-based NGO that works for the rights of Dalits for the last 25 years.

“I am happy to see my name in a club of veterans like Arundhati Roy, Swami Agnivesh and John Dayal along with an icon of hope Ms. Bilkis. I am earthworm to the fertile land of India for realization of universal values,” Nagvanshi told Matters India.

Upon receiving the news, Raghuvanshi said, “It creates more accountable for hard work for the elimination of fascism from South Asia. It is honour of values of pluralism, diversity and inclusiveness which are guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.”

Informing the news to both, Prabhu Guptara, board consultant, poet and publisher of Pippa Rann Books & Media, wrote in an email, “It is my honour to inform you [Raghuvanshi and Nagvanshi] that you are listed in the “Heroes of the 21st Century” at www.pipparannbooks.com.”

“With huge admiration and thanks for your enormous contributions over the decades to our nation,” said retired Professor Guptara, Cambridge, UK.

Raghuvanshi and Nagvanshi are among 77 other personalities who have made a marked difference and contribution to society and the common good.

Another person listed is John Dayal, one of India’s foremost human rights activists, a former member of the National Integration Council, and a co-founder and former Secretary-General of the All India Christian Council.

In a career spanning over half a century, Dayal has been sub-editor, crime reporter, war correspondent, foreign correspondent, CEO, editor in chief, media professor, analyst, author of celebrated books, film critic and documentary filmmaker.

When asked for his comments on his name inclusion into the list, Dayal told Matters India, “I am honoured to be in this distinguished company, even if I feel I do not deserve it.”

Explaining the further, he said that the 21st century is but two decades old, but the count begins with the dawn of Independence. Gandhi and the freedom fighters, Ambedkar and the Constitution makers, Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai and the doyens of science were the icons of the new India till the Emergency of 1975.

Post Emergency till the COVID-19 lockdown, the icons are seeking freedom of the mind, of conscience. The real icons of his struggle are dead, murdered by the forces they had challenged. The survivors are those who fight but are perhaps not seen as really of the caliber of those they killed, he said.

“But still, people like Arundhati, the Sen couple serving with the Tribals, Bunker and Aruna, Dilip Simeon – and I will include Prof Shamsul Islam in the list -, and the several Muslims who have become symbolic of the CAA-NCR Shaheen Bagh, JNU and AMU struggles are my heroes,” Dayal said.

“As are Tribals like Sori and Dalits such as Kanshi Ram fighting for dignity and rights. Their fearlessness, their courage and their voice will yet save the Constitution. I am averse to speaking for myself. It is for the people to say,” he added.

The “Heroes of the 21st Century” is a running list or overall list (https://pipparannbooks.com/21st-century-heroes-of-freedom-and-other-indian-constitutional-values/)

“We will add new people as appropriate but not take any away – a hero is a hero for all-time,” Guptara told Matters India.

The background to the list is that India seems to be locked in a battle between regressive forces that would like to subvert and replace the values of the Constitution to take people into a future that will be bad for most people in the country but good for tiny elite – as one can already see, he explained.

“The list is meant to honour those who have been eminent in the struggle for taking forward the values of the Constitution – irrespective of their sphere of work, their religion (or lack of it), their political viewpoint (if they have one), or which region or city they come from,” said Guptara.

The list is an open one – in the sense that anyone else can suggest anyone who one thinks deserves inclusion but is not included here; equally, one can write and question the inclusion of anyone who is on the list, he said.

“Such a list of Heroes of our Constitution did not exist, so we felt we ought to create one,” he added.

It was launched with the start of the imprint, Pippa Rann Books, on August 1.

Explaining the method or process of listing people into the list, Guptara said, “People come to our attention or are brought to our attention, and there is a simple assessment of what their contribution is or has been. If we feel it has been significant enough, we include them.”

“At present, we are probably being too inclusive, but we feel that it is better to recognize what people have done rather than leave them out if their contribution is at least on the border of being eminent,” he added.

Pippa Rann Books & Media is an imprint of Salt Desert Media Group Limited, which was founded in 2019. It is a member of the Independent Publishers Guild, and is dedicated to publishing material, in print as well as in other media, which nurtures humane values around the world.

Guptara started Pippa Rann Books & Media in memory of his wife, Philippa Mary Guptara (nee Rann), and out of his retirement savings, to focus entirely and exclusively on nurturing the values of democracy, liberty, equality and fraternity among Indians – as well as among others who love India.

It publishes a variety of books. Its first book was stomach-achingly funny political satire, “PolyTicks, DeMocKrazy & Mumbo Jumbo: Babus, Mantris & Netas (Un)Making Our Nation.”

Its second book, “Seeking God, Seeking Moksha: The Teachings of Shri Krishna and Jesus Christ” is unique in that it puts the two teachings on parallel pages, organised by topic, in numbered points, so that one can see the similarities for oneself.

In general, it publishes books and media by authors of Indian origin, on any subject that serves the purpose mentioned above – broadly interpreted.

Books and media by authors of non-Indian origin, on any subject connected with India or with the Indian diaspora, which serves the purpose mentioned above – again, broadly interpreted.