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www.GOALias.blogspot.comRise of Popular Movements 133Credit: Anhad and NCDHRex-untouchable groups continued in variousways. Dalit settlements in villages continuedto be set apart from the main village. They weredenied access to common source of drinkingwater. Dalit women were dishonoured andabused and worst of all, Dalits faced collectiveatrocities over minor, symbolic issues of castepride. Legal mechanisms proved inadequateto stop the economic and social oppressionof Dalits. On the other hand, political partiessupported by the Dalits, like the RepublicanParty of India, were not successful in electoralpolitics. These parties always remainedmarginal; had to ally with some other partyin order to win elections and faced constantsplits. Therefore the Dalit Panthers resortedto mass action for assertion of Dalits’ rights.ActivitiesActivities of Dalit Panthers mostly centredaround fighting increasing atrocities onDalits in various parts of the State. As aresult of sustained agitations on the part ofDalit Panthers along with other like mindedorganisations over the issue of atrocitiesagainst Dalits, the government passed acomprehensive law in 1989 that providedfor rigorous punishment for such acts. Thelarger ideological agenda of the Pantherswas to destroy the caste system and to buildan organisation of all oppressed sectionslike the landless poor peasants and urbanindustrial workers along with Dalits.The movement provided a platform forDalit educated youth to use their creativityas a protest activity. Dalit writers protestedagainst the brutalities of the caste system intheir numerous autobiographies and otherliterary works published during this period.These works portraying the life experiencesof the most downtrodden social sections ofIndian society sent shock waves in Marathiliterary world, made literature more broadbased and representative of different socialsections and initiated contestations in thecultural realm. In the post-Emergencyperiod, Dalit Panthers got involved inelectoral compromises; it also underwentCredit: Anhad and NCDHR