The dalit community’s search for an identity got a fillip with the coming of the colonial rule. This cannot bequestioned as the western education and economic opportunities based on merit and not on caste gave the dalits an opportunity to rise up in society as never before. Many dalit leaders believed that the British rule was better for the dalits and refused to join the freedom struggle as they believed that it meant a return to the hierarchised society of pre-colonial India. The colonial policy of regarding the dalits as the ‘Other’ in respect of the Hindus also gave the dalits a sense of identity and a sense of oppression by the upper castes. Even though in Bengal it did not give rise to any violent uprisal by the dalits against the caste structure, other parts of the country had to face it.
The dalits in Bengal struggled a lot to gain a foothold of respect in the society but ultimately failed in the face of national politics which partitioned India. Their home was taken away and they joined India as refugees and had to start a new struggle for the same foothold that they had been fighting for. The dalit leaders also lost sight of the dalit peasantry and the masses during this struggle. They began to emphasize more on institutional concessions and a share in political power. This was to help only a small portion of the dalit population in Bengal. The most affected were the Namasudras as their whole region of habitation went over to East Pakistan and they formed the largest group that migrated into West Bengal. There is no single reason that can explain the rise and fall of the dalit movement in Bengal. It took different pathways and assumed different identities and encompassed diverse levels of consciousness in its struggle to make a foothold in Hindu society and grab a position of respect in the caste structure.
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