In the early evening of April 14, 1990, the Dalit Panthers convened a public ceremony in K. Pudur, a large Dalit colony in northeast Madurai, to unveil their new movement flag. Photographs of the event depict activists seated on metal folding chairs behind a wooden table. A portrait of Ambedkar adorns the thatched hut behind them. Beneath the portrait, a hand-drawn banner reads: “Liberation is attained through war. New horizons are borne through blood.” As was typical of DPI events, this was a family affair. Children milled about the speakers’ table as activists explained the design features of their flag. Its background, composed of broad red and blue stripes, symbolized their commitment to revolutionary politics and Ambedkarite principles, while the five-pointed star at its center signified their primary objectives, namely to annihilate caste, dismantle the class structure, attain women's rights, foster Tamil nationalism, and vehemently resist imperialism. To achieve these goals, they pledged to upend “the parliamentary democratic system,” which they insisted had hitherto failed to emancipate Dalits and, instead, reduced their community to “listless puppets that raise their hands and nod their heads” at the time of elections. DPI leaders reaffirmed their commitment to boycott elections and pledged to follow an extra-electoral path to promote Dalit development and realize their democratic rights. As exemplified by the snarling cat at the center of the white star, they vowed to pursue these objectives with “the fury of a panther.”

From the early 1990s, DPI leaders embraced bellicose rhetoric and cultivated a militant public disposition. They saw a revolutionary potential in Dalit politics and sought to transform Dalit into a radical political subjectivity.