On September 18–19, 1982, the Dalit Panther Iyakkam (DPI; Dalit Panther Movement) convened its inaugural symposium in Madurai. In preparation, DPI chairman A. Malaichamy, a spindly twenty-eight-year-old law student, publicized the meeting among Dalit public sector employees, educators, lawyers, students, and activists, addressing them as “the spark that will ignite tomorrow's fire.” On a printed invitation circulated ahead of the symposium, he bemoaned that despite thirty-five years of independence, Dalit socio-economic development remained stagnant and the community languished as an exploited “toiling class.” Pledging that Dalits would no longer be offered up as a “ritual sacrifice” to the economy, he characterized their plight as a betrayal of India's democracy and disparaged politicians for capitalizing on their misery for electoral gains. In particular, Malaichamy charged the state government with undermining Dalit development by seeking to fob off their community with piecemeal concessions instead of enforcing existing laws and upholding their democratic rights. He declared: “Rather than providing a means for us to live in this country, they are offering us percentage-wise quotas. Our rights are being refused in the name of concessions. This is detrimental to our economic condition.” Although Malaichamy described the DPI as a “revolutionary organization,” he promised to act “on a legal basis” to pressure state authorities to enforce existing laws and fulfill their commitments to Dalit citizens.

This vignette from the archives of DPI politics contrasts with conventional accounts of lower caste assertion, which frequently depict collective forms of protest that, by design, generate a visible, and often disruptive, public presence.