Leading Dalit scholar on why politics of symbolism has reached expiry date

Dalit scholar and renowned social scientist Chandrabhan Prasad tells Aditi Phadnis about a new Dalit consciousness on the rise. Edited excerpts from the interview:
 

Two states where Dalits have numbers, as well as political organisations — Punjab and Uttar Pradesh — are poll-bound. What is the Dalit thinking in these two states?
 

Dalits have three layers or three social classes. The Dalit middle-class, which has turned fearful of a caste-Hindu nation, is the least bothered about a ‘Dalit rule’. Instead, it is asking whether the undermining of the Constitution can lead to its outright alteration and whether India’s public sector