A gold medal that had to be sold due to starvation, a life that fought against caste discrimination; Farewell to M Kunjaman – Asianet News

QMukha economist and Dalit thinker Dr. Goodbye M Kunjaman. Kunjaman was found dead at Srikaryathe house. Dr. to the country’s well-known economist fighting against caste discrimination. M Kunhaman’s life was eventful. Kunhaman had written about many misadventures in his experience story, including having to sell the gold medal presented by the government when he got the first rank in MA.

It was a time when people dug soil in the trunk of their parents’ house and ate porridge and pickled leaves. The experience of being slapped in the face when asked to call the name of the teacher who ridiculed him by calling him only the caste name in school. When we came home crying, we couldn’t do anything, son, mother told him to study well. It was his mother’s realization that he was not going to school to drink kanji that brought Kunjaman to the world’s attention. After KR Narayanan, a Dalit student who won MA in Economics from Calicut University with first rank. The gold medal presented by the ministers was pawned the day after he returned home to Watanakurissi in Palakkad. Sold after ten days. The hunger that was so high was resisted by study and struggle.

Caste is a hindrance to the job despite securing the first rank among those who applied for the post of lecturer in Kerala University. Later, he was a teacher in the same university for 27 years. Eminent disciples..from Kariyavattam to Tata Institute, Mumbai as a professor. What was also put forward was the development-oriented perspective in economics. Even when leaning towards the left, he did not hesitate to voice his disagreements. Kunjaman stood in support of all the recent Dalit struggles in Kerala. Last year, the biography which is a struggle against caste got the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, but the award was rejected. Kunjam’s life was a direct testimony of how much a man was neglected because of the caste he was born into. At the same time, there is no better example than this of proving that any challenge can be fought and defeated

Last Updated Dec 3, 2023, 7:16 PM IST