Chairman of the Dalit Human Rights Movement (DHRM) Anilkumar N.S., is no more. He was 48.

The Hindu

DHRM chairman is dead

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/dhrm-chairman-is-dead/article7445983.ece

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Chairman of the Dalit Human Rights Movement (DHRM)

 Anilkumar N.S., is no more. He was 48.

Mr. Anilkumar, popularly known as Thathu Annan, passed away around 6 p.m. on Saturday, after he was admitted to Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital. The body was kept for public viewing at the Ayyankali Smriti Mandapam at Venganoor from 10 a.m. on Monday, after which it was taken to the DHRM South Zone office near Thonnakkal. The funeral was held as per Buddhist traditions at 5 p.m.

Born on April 30, 1968 to Sukumaran and Thulasi in Nandancode, Anilkumar completed his education in the Nandancode Lower Primary School, the Salvation Army School, Vengannoor Boys High School, and Government Arts College here. He was then involved with the activities of the Dalit Cultural Force (DCF), the Ambedkar Cultural Centre, and the BSP among others. He was an active presence during the recent Adivasi struggle in front of the Secretariat.

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Mr. Anilkumar, who had contested the 2014 Parliament elections on a DHRM-BSP ticket from Attingal, took over as the chairman of the movement earlier this year. Known as a painter, writer, poet and also for his research into folk arts, Mr. Anilkumar was behind 'Uyirunarvu', an audio album based on the life of Ayyankali, which was released by Kanshi Ram in Thiruvananthapuram. He had also launched a home school project for imparting English education to Dalit children in 2012, apart from setting up the Native Buddhist Trust in 2014. He was the 15{+t}{+h}accused in the Varkala murder case of September 2009 as well, along with several other DHRM leaders. — Special Correspondent

 You were not an 'intellectual',

 hence you will not have a farewell by the intelligentsia

by Vijayan M J

Thathu

You were not an 'intellectual', hence you will not have a farewell by the intelligentsia; 

You were no 'artist', so none will mourn your death by poetry or paintings;

You were not an 'activist' for movements or a leader for political parties, hence none expressed shock nor did anyone flood the social media with news of your eternal journey, your demise; 

You were neither a super star nor a celebrity, so not even page3 will see a mention;

But at a time when being an 'ordinary man' is fashion, your extra ordinary life will keep you away from front pages!

What were you, who were you?

A criminal, a dacoit, an anti-social? 

Didn't the police, prosecutor, political leaders and media call you that? 

Interesting as your life, with the news of your death spreading, as life goes on as usual for many others, some of us are beginning to feel a vogue, a vacuum, a silence, a shooting pain in our hearts... A pain that's mixed with the fun of not having 'known' you, which way to pronounce your name, a pain that is going to take a long time to subside; probably a space that can be filled only with the rise of the dream that you initiated, the movement of the unspoken! Let your voice, thoughts and actions inspire the uncounted multitudes to rise up and rejoice in resistance...

Good bye and never rest in peace, Thathu; thats not what you are known for... 

Make the heavens and hells restless Thathu...

As the world lives on, let your world wake up; to life!

(Thathu was among the founding initiators of an interesting and inspiring Dalit movement in Kerala, the Dalit Human Rights Movement, if you have not heard about this in the past, don't confuse this with any NGO, it's one of the iconic movements Kerala has seen in recent times, from the prism of intellectual mobilisation of critical mass!)

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