MUMBAI, Oct. 20 -- The recent incident of a shoe being hurled at Chief Justice B R Gavai inside a courtroom was roundly condemned at a gathering in the city on Sunday. "That was not a shoe thrown at the judge, it was a chappal thrown at the Constitution of India," said Arjun Dangle, writer and co-founder of the Dalit Panthers, to a packed hall of about 200 people. Writer and academic Ashalata Kamble said that the incident showed that although Dalits had "entered the middle class and even the upper middle class", they still were disrespected and denied equality. The footwear was flung by a lawyer who was disgruntled by a remark made by Gavai during a hearing pertaining to a place of worship. Gavai is a Dalit and the first neo-Buddhist to become CJI. He overlooked the incident but the court's Bar Association has pressed for punishment. In her speech, Kamble cited Prem Birhade, a Dalit youth living in London, who said on Instagram that he had been denied work in the United Kingdom, as his college in Pune had not provided the company with an Education Reference certificate in time. While this statement was denied by the college, which cited "institutional norms and disciplinary considerations", Kamble opined that it was an instance of how Dalits were being suppressed even today. The comments came at a public meeting to observe the birth centenary year of English professor and anti-caste thinker Dr M N Wankhade, who was one of Dr B R Ambedkar's proteges and an eminent Ambedkarite writer. Wankhade's ideas, Prof Kamble said, needed to be imbibed by Dalit writers. Wankhade believed, she said, that emotional expression through writing was not a solution for suffering; what was also needed was rebellion in the sense of overturning literary norms along with the infusion of Buddhist and Ambedkarite values in writing. Echoing this concern, Dangle, in his speech, declared that the creative expression of Ambedkarite thought was "the DNA of Dalit literature". The latter needed to be true to this DNA of "struggles for social change" today, he added, because Dalit literature was now increasingly taking "an academic turn" away from the streets. He also stated that present-day Dalits were being overlooked by the authorities while framing policies for society, and were "practically leaderless". Wankhade's concern about social change was highlighted by other speakers too. They referred to his student years in the United States, where he went with support from Ambedkar, and where he learned of the Black Panthers. Exposure to the works of African-American writers and civil rights activists such as James Baldwin, who used literary writing to spur social change, said Dangle, convinced Wankhade that literature was an invaluable tool to bring about change. Back in India to work as a professor, he instilled these convictions in his students and the young writers mentored by him. Echoing this theme, another speaker, Dr V Rajunayak spoke on how reading Dalit literature had changed his life. He shared his personal journey from being part of an underprivileged rural community to his current work as an associate professor at The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. But for the literary and other influences on him, he said, he "would have been rearing cattle" instead of turning to his preferred work, teaching. Rajunayak also cited an incident that happened during his research scholar days, when a stranger indulging in friendly small talk during a train journey turned cold when he learned his caste. This, he said, was an example of the persisting hostility towards Dalits, especially when they were educated. In social contexts such as these, he said, Dalit literature was especially important to provide space to "voices of the margins, voices of Dalits and women". Various speakers validated Wankhade's questioning of literary norms. Dangle cited Daya Pawar's famous poem as an example: "The moon reminds them (savarna writers) of their beloved; the rainbow makes their emotions soar. The moon reminds us of bhakri (a rustic millet bread) and the rainbow of our mothers' old clothes." He encouraged Dalit writers to write "truly from your experience, from your circumstances" and to "reject enslavement of your thoughts" by literary standards that sought to exclude and invalidate experiences on the basis of caste and privilege. Taking stock of recent trends in Dalit literature, Dr Raj Kumar of Delhi University noted that a greater variety of subjects was being written about currently. "Dalit writers are not only talking about suffering but also about Dalit culture," he said. "(They) are also trying to talk about Dalit aesthetics." He said that in terms of craft, Dalit writing had created a space where "the language of the common people, the language of the street, has entered literature". He also pointed out a swathe of genres, including science fiction, speculative fiction, writings on ecology, and writings on Dalit patriarchy by Dalit women. A book on Wankhade titled 'Krantadarshi' (Visionary), edited by Dr Yashwant Manohar, was released at the event. A website (drmnwankhade.com), a compilation of information, photos and videos about his life, writings by and about him, and tributes in his memory, was also launched. Other speakers at the event were writer and thinker Raosaheb Kasbe, activist Deepa Pawar, former IPS officer Dr Kiran Jadhav and retired brigadier Shashank Dahat....