Why is a Bahujan writer questioning the legacy of Fatima Sheikh, an associate of Savitribai Phule?

Government media advisor and writer-activist Dilip Mandal has sparked a controversy by claiming this week that Fatima Sheikh, a Muslim woman who is considered to have been a close colleague and friend of 19th-century women’s education pioneer Savitribai Phule, was not a historical figure but a “fabricated character” that he had created.

In a post on X on January 9, which is marked as Fatima Sheikh’s birthday, Mandal wrote on X, “The truth is that “Fatima Sheikh” never existed; she is not a historical figure. Not a real person.”

In 2019, Mandal had written an article in The Print that had been headlined, “Why Indian history has forgotten Fatima Sheikh but remembers Savitribai Phule.” After the controversy erupted, the publication retracted the article and said it is investigating the matter.

Sheikh’s association with Savitribai Phule – who, along with her husband, Jotiba, played a key role in the anti-caste movement – is often held up as an example of the historical relationship between Muslims and Dalits.

Mandal went on to claim that interest in Fatima Sheikh had vanished in 2022 after he “abandoned” her story. “It is my mistake that, during a particular phase, I created this name out of nothing – essentially from thin air,” he wrote. “I did that knowingly.”

Mandal, a Bahujan activist and journalist...

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