Dalitstan.org

{{Infobox website

| name = Dalitstan.org

| logo = Dalitstan-logo.JPG

| logocaption =

| url = {{URL|dalitstan.org}}

| commercial = No

| type = Dalit advocacy

| registration =

| language = English, Hindi

| launch_date = 1999

| current_status = Offline

}}

Dalitstan.org was a Dalit advocacy website active until mid-2006,{{cite book | author=Dibyesh Anand | title=Hindu Nationalism in India and the Politics of Fear | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lbpfAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT34 | date=15 October 2011 | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan | isbn=978-0-230-36263-5 | pages=34–}} one of 18 websites that were blocked by the Indian government following the 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings.{{cite news | url = https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Govt-blocks-18-sites-to-check-hate-messages/articleshow/1773584.cms| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130527095335/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-07-19/india/27816956_1_govt-blocks-check-terror-websites| url-status = live| archive-date = 2013-05-27| newspaper = The Times of India| title = Govt blocks 18 sites to check hate messages | date = 2006-07-19 }}

The website claimed to be run by Dalitstan, a "Human Rights Organization working for the Upliftment of Dalits, the Untouchables of India".{{cite book | author1=Anjana Narayan | author2=Bandana Purkayastha | title=Living Our Religions: Hindu and Muslim South Asian American Women Narrate Their Experiences | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cDF7Ow_FJ8kC&pg=PA270 | year=2009 | publisher=Kumarian Press | isbn=978-1-56549-270-7 | pages=270–}} Note that -stan is a suffix for "place of"{{cite web|last=Johnson |first=Bridget |title='Stan Countries – What the Suffix 'Stan' Means |publisher=About.com |url=http://worldnews.about.com/od/centralandeastasia/f/stans.htm |accessdate=October 9, 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130401162910/http://worldnews.about.com/od/centralandeastasia/f/stans.htm |archivedate=2013-04-01 |url-status=live }} or "country",{{cite web|url = http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=-stan|title = -stan|first = Douglas|last = Harper|authorlink = Douglas Harper|publisher = Online Etymology Dictionary|accessdate = January 18, 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101195443/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=-stan|archivedate=2014-01-01|url-status=live}} appearing in many place names throughout Central and South Asia. Dalitstan would mean "place or country of the Dalits".

Claims and counter-claims

The website claimed that the Dalits were the original people of India who created the Harappan civilization, and described the Brahmins as the descendants of the Aryan invaders who enslaved them.{{cite book | author=Judith E. Walsh | title=A Brief History of India | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iekF9X3OwwMC&pg=PA15 | date=1 January 2006 | publisher=Infobase Publishing | isbn=978-1-4381-0825-4 | pages=15–}}

Dibyesh Anand of the University of Westminster described Dalitstan.org as a Dalit nationalist group that also acted as a forum for anti-India Christian and Muslim advocacy.{{cite book|last=Anand|first=Dibyesh|title=Hindu Nationalism in India and the Politics of Fear|year=2011|publisher=Palgrave-Macmillan|isbn=978-0230603851|pages=56–59}}

Blocked by the Indian government

Dalitistan.org was among the 18 websites that were blocked in India by the Department of Telecommunications of the Government in July 2006, in a bid to check terror and hate messages on the Internet following the 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings.

History of domain

The website was launched in 1999, with the domain registered by Helen Heklund, with an address in Granbury, Texas. The website was taken down sometime after May 2006.{{cite web|title=Archived Results from Jan 01, 1996 - latest for dalitstan.org |url=http://dalitstan.org/ |work=Internet Archive Wayback Machine |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060510134217/http://www.dalitstan.org/ |archivedate=2006-05-10 }} The domain registration lapsed, and was subsequently purchased by an unrelated party.