This article interrogates the marginalisation and epistemic erasure of dalit women within mainstream feminist and dalit political discourses, arguing for their recognition as producers of knowledge and theory. Drawing on both historical and contemporary sources, it traces the evolution of dalit feminist thought, engaging critically with foundational scholars such as Gopal Guru, Sharmila Rege and Shailaja Paik. Central to this intervention is the oral testimony of Bimla, a second-generation Valmiki Partition migrant and sanitation worker in Delhi, whose life narrative provides a grounded account of caste, labour and migration. Through Bimla’s voice and those of contemporary dalit women writers such as Baby Kamble, Baby Halder, Yashica Dutt and Priyanca Singh, the article explores how dalit women assert intellectual agency across autobiographical, testimonial and digital platforms. It critiques the limitations of Savarna feminist engagements with caste, the tokenistic application of intersectionality and the continued dominance of upper-caste narratives in academic and public discourse. Ultimately, the article calls for a transformative dalit feminist framework rooted in lived experience, oral history and digital resistance that reclaims voice, asserts dignity and reconfigures the politics of knowledge production in postcolonial India.
Akanksha Kumar (Thu,) studied this question.