Mooknayak
Topic: Print Culture and the Modern World · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Mooknayak was a Marathi fortnightly (published every two weeks) started by B.R. Ambedkar in Bombay in 1920. Its name means "leader of the voiceless". Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur supported it. It spoke for the untouchable castes and attacked caste injustice. It shows how protest movements used print to criticise the caste order.
Example
Through Mooknayak, Ambedkar demanded dignity and equal rights for the "depressed classes" in 1920. He later started another paper, Bahishkrit Bharat, in 1927.
Don't confuse with
- Gulamgiri: Jyotiba Phule's book of 1871 attacking the caste system. It was a book, not a newspaper, and came long before Ambedkar.