 "Sanjay Paswan")
Business Standard asked five eminent thinkers of Dalit issues whether anything had changed for the community in 68 years after independence. What is responsible for this change, or lack of it? Is it politics, economics or the society?
Social reform most important for amelioration of Dalits: K N Govindacharya
We have also experienced how some new creamy layer in a particular caste has been generated wherever political involvement and assertion has been in the mix of finding solutions. And, the benefits have failed to accrue to the common man of that particular caste. That has been the feature of our society.
For example, in Tamil Nadu, it has been seen that the Thevars and Dalits could not prosper as much as Gondas and Nadars because Thevars and Dalits took politics as instruments of upward social mobility while Nadars and Gounders focused their attention on economic enterprise and social reform. As for the society at large, when you want to bring a particular social group in the mainstream you need to recognise that they have an equal right to satta (power), sampatti (property) and samman (dignity). Tokenism is not enough, upkar ki bhavana se nahin ho sakta (it cannot be achieved if its being done merely from a sense of charity).
K N Govindacharya
Rashtriya Swabhiman Andolan (former general secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party)
Satta (power), sampatti (property), samman (respect) and soch (thought) - Dalits will not become part of the mainstream as long as they don't have participation in these four aspects of our social life. Until then, our society also cannot be called 'complete'. For long, the intellectual freedom of Dalits has been constricted. Our societal structures have not allowed them to think for themselves. I believe politics is the most responsible factor for the state of affairs, as politics is the engine of social change.
But having said that, I believe the world has moved on from the 1940s and 50s. The instrument of reservation in jobs and educational institutions should become more inclusive. What I say is 'No More Four'. If three generations of Dalits have received the benefits of reservations, or if an MP or an MLA has won on a reserved seat thrice, or if three people in a family have got government jobs because of reservation, they should not take any further benefits of the reservations. What has happened is that new people are unable to come up.
The instrument of reservation is not benefitting those on the lowest rung of the ladder. But this call needs to come from Dalits, otherwise there will be a counter-reaction. Today, it is a serious situation when even Jats and Marathas have started to demand benefits of reservations. Dalits shouldn't just be treated as a vote bank but also as a thought bank. The Dalit thought represents simplicity, morality, hard labour and sincerity. Efficiency may not be of the highest level but the commitment to sincerity is in surplus.
Sanjay Paswan
Former Union minister and former chief of BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha
Former Union minister and former chief of BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha
In the last 68 years, Dalits in the northern countryside have declared their freedom. Hunger is no more the prime concern. Earlier, the landlord needed a small stick to control an entire Dalit hamlet. Now, they need guns to control one Dalit family. I have seen in my own lifetime how Dalit women would work in the fields of the landlord even on their wedding day. Grooms were not allowed (by upper castes) to come to the house of the bride astride a horse, but only if they were barefoot. Now, a Dalit barat would be thrown out of the village if it doesn't come in a car.
The atrocities you see on Dalit students have their genesis in this declaration of freedom. The situation is comparable to the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 in the United States. Lynchings of blacks started after the proclamation, as before that blacks were the property of the landlords and protected. In India, upper caste landlords owned Dalits as their property. Landlords fought with each other if they were to harm the other's Dalit 'property'. Now, the caste has weakened but society is reluctant to embrace Dalit achievers. They are okay with Dalits studying to become school or even degree-college teachers. But a Dalit doing a PhD, or a super-specialty course or becoming a professor and vice-chancellor of a university - one arm of society is reluctant to accept this. Today, therefore, the conflict is of a different kind as Dalits will no longer accept the subordination and submission.
Chandrabhan Prasad
Journalist and advisor to Dalit Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Journalist and advisor to Dalit Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Varna dharma is part of Hindu economic, social system: Kancha Illaiah
Primarily, religion is responsible. The Hindu religion has created caste and untouchability as part of its evolution, what is called varna dharma. It is part of its economic and social systems and now it is also part of its political system. This basic character of the Hindu religion is not only harmful to Dalits, tribals and backwards but harmful to upper castes also. A recent study has shown how the baniya (traders) community is losing its existential resistance power bit by bit because of not marrying outside their caste.
Secondly, the Hindu society has existed as inhumane in modern times. You don't want to respect others' choice of food, don't allow inter-caste marriages and won't allow women to enter temples. This has now extended to higher education institutions in a very significant way and needs a drastic socio-economic cultural change to reposition the Hindu society and the social relation within Hindu religion. The Muslims don't have it to such an extent that they won't break bread with each other, neither do Christians. This is basically a Hindu problem. The BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), who are a religious party or represent a religious ideology, practice this and blame others. For example, beef is a sustenance issue. People and their professions are dependent on it. But, when you tell them that by banning cow slaughter, you are taking away right to life, they blame people for being anti-national.
Kancha Illaiah
Dalit intellectual and director of Centre for Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad
Dalit intellectual and director of Centre for Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad
It is the society that is responsible because of its feudal mindset, preventing all initiatives from getting implemented on the ground. Also, politics is a reflection of society and this mindset plagues politics and bureaucracy as well. Both don't want Dalits to prosper and be equal to the rest of the people. For example, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat first said that the reservation policy should be reviewed. He has now said it should be implemented with honesty. Now, what is the parameter of this honesty? Who will determine that? Were they honest to research scholar Rohith Vemula, the Hyderabad Central University student who committed suicide? What Vemula suffered from was this same manuwadi mindset.
The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes form 26 per cent of India's population. Won't they give as large a population as 26 per cent participation? They are happy and have no objection as long as Dalits are babus, chaparasis (peons) and safai karmacharis. But not in governance, for then Dalits will rule, hukum karenge.
P L Punia
Chairman, National Commission for Scheduled Castes, and Congress leader
Chairman, National Commission for Scheduled Castes, and Congress leader
