New Delhi: The Tamil Nadu government has announced that this year’s Vaikom Award for Social Justice will be presented to Thenmozhi Soundararajan, co-founder and Executive Director of Equality Labs, in recognition of her decades-long contribution to Dalit feminist activism and global anti-caste advocacy.

Instituted in 2023 in memory of Periyar E.V. Ramasamy, the Vaikom Award honours individuals and organisations advancing social equality and justice, with a special focus on anti-caste work. The award draws its name from the Vaikom Satyagraha, the historic movement in Kerala that fought for temple entry rights and challenged Brahminical dominance in the early 20th century.

Accepting the award, Soundararajan told The Wire, “I am deeply honoured to receive this award in the spirit of Periyar. His legacy reminds us that ending discrimination; whether based on caste, gender, sexuality, or religion, is our shared duty. I accept this on behalf of all Dalit women survivors and my team at Equality Labs, who continue to fight for dignity and justice.”

She attributed her values to the Dravidian movement and her family’s legacy of resilience, adding, “They taught me that no one can take away our dignity. We continue this struggle until self-respect becomes a lived reality for everyone.”

Soundararajan, a transmedia artist, theorist and futurist, has emerged as one of the most visible global voices on caste equity. Her book The Trauma of Caste applies a trauma-informed Dalit feminist lens to social justice and calls for “collective healing and radical imagination rooted in Ambedkarite thought”.

As executive director of Equality Labs, one of the world’s largest Dalit civil rights organisations, Soundararajan has led campaigns to expose caste discrimination within the South Asian diaspora and in Big Tech. Under her leadership, Equality Labs conducted the first major caste discrimination survey in the United States, revealing that one in four Dalits face verbal or physical assault, one in three face discrimination in education, and two in three report workplace bias. The findings became a cornerstone of advocacy to include caste as a protected category in corporate and institutional anti-discrimination policies.

Soundararajan has drawn attention to caste’s digital dimensions, arguing that casteism now operates across the global technology ecosystem – from algorithms and datasets to supply chains and corporate culture. “Ambedkarites once fought to de-Brahminise roads, water tanks and schools. Today, we must de-Brahminise technology; the apartheid line of our era,” she told The Wire.

She has urged tech companies to include caste as a protected category, conduct bias audits, establish caste equity training and ensure Dalit representation in leadership. “Diverse teams build better products for diverse users,” she said, framing caste equity not only as a moral imperative but also as a business necessity. Equality Labs has since worked with several global technology firms to implement caste-sensitivity training and caste-inclusive workplace policies.

Reflecting on the recognition, Soundararajan said the award is meaningful because it links her contemporary struggle with historical reform movements. Speaking to The Wire, she said: “Its connection to Periyar and the Vaikom agitation makes it even more profound, because the challenges of de-Brahminising society that existed then persist today.”

“When I consider the violence and disinformation caste-oppressed people face simply for naming discrimination, it is profound to have a South Asian government acknowledge our work.”

For Soundararajan, the award also represents a collective victory for Dalit women who have long been at the forefront of anti-caste struggles. She said it affirms the leadership of Dalit feminists within the global movement for justice and equality. “Dalit feminists have always been the engine of change. We built Equality Labs as a transnational platform to break through dominant-caste gaslighting and to expose how caste is reasserting itself worldwide,” she noted.

Soundararajan emphasised that the recognition is not an endpoint but a mandate for further action. “Just as caste-oppressed communities once fought to reclaim access to roads and public spaces, we must now eliminate algorithmic discrimination and prevent a new frontier of digital caste apartheid,” she mentioned to The Wire. “None of us is free until all of us are free.”

As democracies face renewed challenges from majoritarianism and disinformation, Soundararajan urged solidarity across oppressed communities. “The arc of the moral universe does bend toward justice; especially when we help bend it,” she told The Wire. “We are not merely reacting to crises, but building the institutions and movements worthy of a just future.”

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.