शीतल महाराष्ट्र से हैं लेकिन बिहार के मज़दूरों, पंजाब के किसानों से लेकर देश के हर वंचित तबके का दर्द उनकी आवाज और गायन में झलकता है। शीतल देश और दुनिया में फैली असमानता और शोषण को खत्म करने के लिए जनता को जगाने के लिए निरंतर गाती रही हैं। पुणे की एक दलित बस्ती कासेवाड़ी में जन्मी शीतल के गीतों के बोल अंधेरों को चुनौती देते हैं।  
 
शीतल और उनके साथियों का जीवन बेहद संघर्ष का रहा है इसके बावजूद इन्होंने कला, विचार और इंसानियत को लगातार समृद्ध किया है। मशहूर डॉक्यूमेंटरी फिल्ममेकर आंनद पटवर्धन का मानना है कि शीतल और उनके साथियों के आवाज की भारतीय लोकतंत्र को बेहद जरूरत है। हमारे समाज और लोकतंत्र इनके गानों और कविताओं के बिना अधूरा है। 
 
पटवर्धन की फिल्म, ‘जय भीम कॉमरेड’ से शीतल और उनके साथियों को राष्ट्रीय और अंतरराष्ट्रीय पहचान मिली थी। फिल्म को राष्ट्रीय पुरस्कार और महराष्ट्र राज्य का पुरस्कार मिला। पुरस्कार की राशि से कबीर कला मंच डिफेन्स कमेटी का गठन किया गया। शीतल और उनके पति सचिन माली और उनके 15 साथियों को नक्सली गतिविधियों का समर्थन करने के इल्जाम में 2011 में महाराष्ट्र एटीएस ने भगोड़ा घोषित कर दिया था।
 
इसके अलावा इन दोनों समेत अन्य साथियों पर गैर-कानूनी गतिविधि निवारण अधिनियम की कई अन्य धाराओं के तहत आरोप भी लगाए गए हैं। जब शीतल गिरफ्तार हुई, तब वे गर्भवती थी। बाद में शीतल को कोर्ट ने मानवीय आधार पर जमानत दी ताकि वे बच्चे को जन्म दे सकें। शीतल ने अपने बच्चे का नाम अभंग रखा है। 

शीतल ने उच्च शिक्षा की पढ़ाई पूणे के फर्ग्यूसन कॉलेज से की है लेकिन कालेज में जाने से पहले ही लोक गीतों को गाना शुरू कर दिया था। इस बीच में सचिन और कबीर कला मंच के साथियों के संपर्क में आई। शुरू-शुरू में उनका कोई वैचारिक रूझान नहीं था। वह सिर्फ संगीत की दुनिया में कुछ करना चाहती थी लेकिन सचिन और उनके मंच ने उनके व्यक्तित्व के विकास में मदद किया है। उनके गाने हजारों सुइयों की तरह चुभते हैं। वे सामंतवादी, ब्राह्मणवादी और पूंजीवादी सत्ता के लिए सहज चुनौती बन जाते हैं। उनके गाने हथियार भी है और वार भी हैं।
 

The post अत्याचार के विरुद्ध आवाज बुलंद करने वाले सचिन माली और उनके साथियों को मिली बेल appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Singing songs of ordinary people, especially Dalits, Shital Sathe has been singing of the marginalised, Dalits and others all over Maharashtra, She is one of the vibrant singer-poet of the Kabir Kala Manch. Attacked for her trenchant critique of the caste order, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) – currently behind the attacks of students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and earlier at the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) – has tried to disrupt her performances in rural Maharashtra. See https://sabrangindia.in/article/my-songs-are-my-protest-sheetal-sathe
 
On February 7, 2016 she gave a rendering of unique compositions and songs of protests at the Press Club, Delhi. Sudhanva Deshpande interviewed her for this joint production of Communalism Combat and Newsclick.
 
“These are moments of acute loneliness and struggle. My son, Abhang, is without his father. (Sachin Mali has been in jail, denied bail, for 32 months). Sachin is without his son and wife. Sachin’s parents are without Sachin. I am without Sachin. We can’t be a family, many precious moments of life have been lost,” Shital Sathe 
 
“I sing a song for Abhang anticipating the questions he may put to us. You were born in a storm, and the swing we have for you is tied to the sky,” Shital Sathe

Inssan ke liye gaana chahie, Isaan ke andar ke jaanwar ko maar dene ke liye gaana chahiye
— Shital Sathe on Wamanrav Kardav her inspiration
 
‘We are paying the pricing of not bending, not giving in, holding up our self-respect; the cost of self-respect and resistance is the ‘Anda’ (isolation cell) at Arthur Road jail, a room of 5 X 15 feet,” Shital Sathe
 
“It was the collective and invisible violence of the caste system that killed Rohith Vemula. He was a victim of caste abuse. The Brahmanism in the education sector is shameful,” Shital Sathe. Her song about the killing of Rohith is powerful: Rohith gela, Dalit mela, Meli Lokshaahi (Rohith left us, a Dalit died, It is the Death of Democracy)
 
“Kabir Kala Manch sings the songs of the lives of ordinary people, the marginalised, Dalits”, Shital Sathe
 
“It is our fundamental belief in equality, dignity and opposition to the indignities of caste and the supremacist of Hindutvawaadis that is the real reason for the opposition of the ABVP. There is nothing remotely Maowaadi or Naxalwaadi in us”, Shital Sathe
 
“Hindu Rashtra can never be acceptable in our country with people of different faiths, different thoughts, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists etc. Hindu Rashtra is against Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution”, Shital Sathe
 
“Mukta Salve, who studied in Savitribai Phule-Jotiba Phule’s school in Pune had asked, how can a religion that does not even consider us as human ever be ours,” Shital Sathe
 
“Babasaheb (Ambedkar) had said that though I was born a Hindu, I don’t want to die a Hindu,” Shital Sathe
 
“My songs talk of the newer manifestations of caste under the neo-liberal regime, our notions of patriotism is the struggle for the equality and dignity for all,” Shital Sathe
 
“Sachin Mali, my husband and comrade is the poet who’s songs we sing; I write some songs too. We are the children of the Maharashtrian Shaayri tradition. The saints of Maharashtra who questioned the caste structure, Tukaram Namdeo; this tradition carried forward to the shaayri (poets) tradition under Shivaji. During the nationalist movement and communist movement Annabhau Sathe and Amar Sheikh are our mentors. Then the Ambedkarite movement gave birth to Wamanrao Kardav and Bhimrao Kardav. We are children of that tradition,” Shital Sathe

The post We are paying the price of holding our heads high: Shital Sathe appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) tried to disrupt Dalit feminist protest singer, Sheetal Sathe’s programme at Sholapur on January 2, 2016 but had to retreat when organisers ensured the programme went ahead. However, the Maharashtra state joint secretary of the ABVP, Ram Satpute threatened on Maharashtra 1 television’s newshour programme on January 8, 2016 that “we will disrupt her programmes everywhere in the state.” The justification for the ABVP’s taking the law into its own hands is that she is ‘anti national.’

Sheetal was at pains to tell us that she is out on bail, fully observing the conditions of the court and to dub her ‘anti-national’ was a falsification of the case that is still on. “I respect the Court and its decision, who are these people to act this this?” she demands. She is determined to carry on with her programmes despite such blatantly unlawful threats.

Nikhil Wagle, senior journalist and Editor and head of the Maharashtra 1 television questioned the ABVP secretary on unlawful attempts to take law into his own hands on the newshour programme. “I have observed their work and heard her sing,” Wagle told Communalism Combatonline. “The court case is on but how can a vigilante group take the law into its own hands?” Wagle asks.
 

Sheetal and her group’s performances recorded first in Jai Bhim Comrade¸Anand Patwardhan’s award winning documentary on Dalit protest music have become iconic for the Dalit youth of Maharashtra. (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7JRWE64CEw: Jai Bhim Comrade (Excerpt – Kabir Kala Manch) by Anand Patwardhan.mov). Mainstream Marathi television also now calls her troupe in for performances on historic occasions like the birth date of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar (December 5, 2015). See ABP Majha, Bhima Tujhe Navane: Shahir Shital Sathe & Team tributes to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.

Sheetal was released on bail on June 27, 2013 while eight months pregnant after being incarcerated for about two months. Three of her colleagues, including husband Sachin Mali, are still in jail. Sheetal is part of the cultural protest group Kabir Kala Manch (KKM). KKM was founded in 2002 as a response to the Godhra riots and the ensuing rise in communal tensions. “Ramesh (Gaichor) was one of the founding members, along with Yogendra Mane, Amarnath Chandaliya, Haroon Sheikh, and a few other people,” says Deepak Dengle, who joined the group in 2004. “They thought that after the Gujarat riots, something must be done to promote Hindu-Muslim unity.” 

The group did a number of shows around the city under the ‘Awaaz Do’ banner. But by the time Sathe and her cousin Gorkhe joined the group, new talent had come in who also focus on Dalit and workers’ rights.

The post My songs are my protest: Sheetal Sathe appeared first on SabrangIndia.