Volume 4, No. 11, November 2003

Today, the increasing caste attacks on dalits is not restricted to acts of violence the intolerance is also clearly reflected in other spheres like that of reservations and conversions out of the Hindu fold.

The right to reservations of the socially oppressed is a right seized through struggle. Until full social equality is achieved, it is totally justified. Only economic criteria can never be a basis for reservations as capitalism’s basic essence is economic inequality and real equality can only be achieved, not through reservations, but through socialism. Within the prevalent system certain opportunities in the field of education and jobs become available to the socially deprived through reservations, which otherwise would not have been possible without it. Without reservations, existing biases and social preferences would have kept virtually all jobs, besides the menial, as the preserve of the upper-castes, in whose hands the bulk of the recruitment authority exists.

In addition, every citizen of the country should be free to choose any religion (or no religion; i.e. atheism) of his/her choice. There can be no authority to prevent any citizen converting from one religion to another. Though conversions will not provide the answer to discrimination, all must have the right to follow ant religion or no religion at all. The suffocation of the inhuman caste system pushes individuals to convert to other religions, which do not have the caste system. This is his or her basic right and no one should have the authority to stop it, not even the State. That converting to another religion is not the answer to their suffering is irrelevant to the question of the right that they possess to do so. Besides, in a genuinely secular system the government should not interfere in religion or promote any (or all) religions. Religion must be a strictly private affair and the sole choice of the concerned individual.

Globalisation, through whole-scale privatization of the public sector and mass retrenchment of government (and semi-government) employees, is directly impacting on the possibility of jobs through reservations. In addition, during the 1990s, due to the impact of globalization, a spate of closures and retrenchments followed, aggravating the economic crisis of the Dalits even further. Generally the Dalits, who constitute unskilled or low skill labour in factories, could be easily displaced by new automating technology. And social prejudices have made them further vulnerable to loss of jobs. In the sphere of education, we can clearly see the impact in terms of far more elitist orientation in education than ever before. In accordance with one of globalisation’s ‘virtues’, the State in the attempt to contain its fiscal deficit has been throttling its funding to education. Dalits who have been barely able to afford schooling with the aid of freeships and scholarships are squeezed out from both ends. Firstly, education has become increasingly inaccessible and unaffordable to them. Even if they persist with it, they have to face several hurdles on the way to get education that would get them gainful employment. The increasing opportunity cost of schooling is dissuading many dalits from education resulting in increasing numbers of dropouts. Even if they crossed all the hurdles as an exception, they would face a far bigger hurdle in the job market that tended to value your family background more than your scholastic performance.(6)

And the growth of Hindu fascism affects both, conversion and reservations. Conversions are now sought, not only to be prevented by the frenzied so-called re-conversion campaigns of the sangh parivar, but also forcefully through the Prevention of Conversion Acts being passed in various States. ‘Re-conversion’ is nothing but a forced proselytising campaign for the sanskritisation of dalits and tribals. It acts to make them resent their own roots and seek to ape the upper-castes, getting neither self-respect nor liberation from the inhuman caste system — being converted into a desperate and pathetic being, cringing continuously for recognition from their new patrons, and getting in return a mere condescending pat on the back for their servility.

Sanskritisation seeks to force dalits within the Hindu caste fold, while conversion to another religion seeks liberation from the oppressive atmosphere of caste domination. Besides, aggressive Hindu fascism has also affected reservations for the oppressed social castes with the upper-castes now demanding reservations — a backdoor means to nullify the effects of reservations to the oppressed castes. Earlier, they had opposed reservations tooth-and-nail; now they seek to nullify its effect with a demand for economic-based reservations for themselves.

The backlog in filling reserved posts is huge, particularly in the upper category. Class IV posts are always over-fulfilled (more than the quota), as anyhow menial jobs are for the dalits. In 1990 while SC/STs occupied 5.7% of Class I jobs, they had 24.4% of the Class III & IV jobs in the Central Govt. Services. In the PSUs the SCs had 1.8% of the Class I posts while they had 22.5% of the Class IV posts (compared to their 14% total in the population). In 41 universities surveyed SCs comprised 0.05% of the professors, 0.15% of the readers, 0.60% of the lecturers, and 0.3% of the research assistants. (7) These facts indicate the extent of the backlog in the above categories. The situation has not mush changed since. Obviously the ‘merit’ argument still prevails, even though the quota is on paper. So, with all the reservations, basically the caste system continues in employment, with the menial jobs for the dalits and the top category and teaching posts staying as the reserve of the upper-castes. While the upper-castes constitute 25% of the population they have 90% of those posts — the rest, the SCs, STs, & OBCs (who comprise 75% of the population) have a mere 10% of these posts.(8)

Anyhow, with a huge dalit population in government jobs, even if menial, they achieved an economic status they had never seen. But, with the government now making drastic cuts in jobs in all its departments (except for ministers) and with the rapid privatization of the PSUs, the chances for the next generation dalits (and others) to get jobs in the public sector are dim. The backlog is unlikely to be ever filled; more likely the posts will, be abolished. In the private sector the cultural factor and the fact that upper-castes dominate the bulk of the top posts, through which appointments take place, the jobs are more likely to go to their kith and kin. Besides, with globalisation, English-speaking, western mannerisms, social contacts and cultural sophistry all have a premium and virtually act to push dalits (and even others) out of the job market, except for the very elite amongst them.

As though this was not enough the supreme court has ruled against reservation in the institutions of higher learning putting forward the standard ‘merit’ argument; ignoring of course, the fact that it is money and not merit that allows the bulk of the admissions to these institutions.

And now in the true Hindutva mode the Congress and the BJP have ganged up to make even these microscopic remnants of reservations that remain, irrelevant, with a plan to introduce reservations for the upper castes. Earlier itself the BJP included the Jats of Rajasthan in the OBC list, and now after three years of sustained agitations by the Brahmin-Rajput combine, the cabinet of the Congress(I) Ghelot government has recommended to the Centre 14% reservations for the economically deprived amongst the higher castes. The BSP has supported this quota for higher castes. The Prime Minister has set up a Group of Ministers’ Commission yto study the possibility of a Constitutional Amendment for the purpose. The CPI/CPM have been silent on the question, but one can well understand their stand when the Chief Minister of West Bengal himself trashed the practice of caste-based reservations of seats for higher learning and vehemently attacked the Mandal Commission (9) If 14% reservation is passed, it will defacto sound the death-knell for the issue of reservations. It will remain in name only.

With the growing attacks on dalits, threats began pouring in like an avalanche, for conversion out of the Hindu fold. Though the bulk were for conversion to Buddhism, in some places threats also came in for conversion to Islam and Christianity. Any talk of conversion, particularly to the latter two religions, creates panic within the ruling classes. In Jhajjar when 80 persons converted to Buddhism all said that they (upper-castes) "value cows more than us". On Jan 6 this year 400 dalits embraced Buddhism in Mayawati’s backyard, in the heart of Meerut city. A few days later the Vishwa Boudh Sabha of Vadodara, Gujarat threatened mass conversion to Buddhism. They stated that: "dalits were dumped after being used against Muslims during the riots. Those arrested were ignored……Dalits are not allowed to drink water from the upper-caste owned ponds used by cattle and dogs but were co-opted for riots against Muslims." In North India a big conversion drive has been going on by Udit Raj’s All-India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations. In a mass Conversion rally to be held at the Ram Lila grounds in Delhi on Nov.4, 2001, the government banned the programme at the last moment and sealed all the entry points to Delhi. In spite of this, it is claimed, over 50,000 converted to Buddhism on that day. He also organised a dalit-Muslim rally on the Ram Lila grounds in May 2002 and a series of dalit-Muslim meetings in Gujarat. All this has shaken not only the Hindu fundamentalists but also Mayawati, whose BSP has always opposed conversion, who was forced to say, on Ambedkar Jayanti last year, that if the religious leaders don’t mend their ways, she too will convert. In Tamil Nadu a substantial number of Dalits are Christians since many years. Notwithstanding this the number of Christians in Tamil Nadu has hardly increased in the three decades from 1961 to 1991 from 5.23% of the population to 5.78%. Yet, there have been continuous threats of further conversions during the course of the vicious attacks over the last 5-7 years. In Madurai, a center of big clashes, 250 dalits embraced Christianity in Aug.2002; and claimed that 1,500 had converted in 2001.

It is in the light of this, that the Tamil Nadu government,in November 2002 brought in the "Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religions Ordinance"; which says " no person shall convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any person from one religion to another by the use of force or by allurement or by any fraudulent means". Besides, anyone who converts has to intimate the local magistrate within a fixed time or face a jail term of one year. This ordinance was vehemently opposed by dalits who threatened mass conversions on an even bigger scale. On Dec.6th last year the Dalit Panthers of India in Tamil Nadu threatened that 10,000 dalits would convert to Buddhism against the new anti-conversion ordinance.

This was followed by an even more draconian anti-conversion Bill in Gujarat in April of this year. While in TN the conversion has merely to be informed to a magistrate the Gujarat Bill demands that anyone who wants to convert has to seek prior permission from the district collector. Enraged by this, here too dalits of the Bahujan Sangarsh Manch threatened mass conversion.

Ironically the Madhya Pradesh government already has two Acts preventing conversion — the MP Freedom of Religion Act, 1968; and the MP Freedom of Religion Regulations, 1969. Of course these are conveniently forgotten by the Digvijay Singh government, when it comes to the Hinduisation of tribals (from their animistic religious beliefs), which has been going on at a frantic pace under this so-called secular Congress government.

But in the face of this all-round attack on dalits what have the progressive and dalit forces been doing to fight back? While spontaneous outbursts continue to flare up at the local level we find little organised opposition to this offensive. In fact there has been a strong current from the ruling-classes to co-opt a section of the dalits into their fold. Due to the weakness of a counter current they have, to some extent, even been successful.

The co-option is, of course, of a section of the dalit elite; and it is through them that they seek to co-opt the entire community. Some objective factors help this process. Over the past two decades the main conflict has arisen with that section of the dalits who have gained economically and educationally, and are now demanding equal social status. The upper-castes resent this ‘rise of the menials’, and cannot tolerate their greater assertion and so attack them with a frenzy and hatred built over centuries. Habituated to see them being kicked around, they cannot imagine a dalit sitting at a table as equals, however well off economically. But, as these dalits having struggled hard to achieve this status, they too fight back to protect their hard-won gains. But, whatever may be the nature of the conflict, in essence they aspire for equal status with the upper-castes, having achieved economic gains. Their aim is to personally climb the social and economic ladder, not to pull those below, towards equality and justice. This is the objective reality of the present conflict. And it is this top 5 to10% dalits, who also happen to be the backbone of the dalit movements throughout the country, that acts as the material basis for their cooption. The bulk of the 85% poverty-stricken dalits merely follow the lead by this more well-off and knowledgeable section.

Ever since the powerful Dalit Panther movement in Maharashtra in the early 1970s the ruling classes have been shaken by the revolutionary potential within this section and have adopted a systematic plan of cooption. The Panther movement was followed by equally militant movements of dalits in Mahrashtra, as the movement for renaming Marathwada university as Ambedkar University, the movement against the banning of Ambedkar’s writing ‘Riddles in Hinduism’, culminating finally in the statewide protests that paralysed entire Mahrashtra for 3 days, after the firing on dalits (and the killing of 12) at Ghatkopar in Mumbai some years ago. After the Panther revolt the leaders were first purchased (its then top leader, Namdeo Dhasal is now a Shiv Sainik), its activists were given government jobs on a large scale, and the vast literature of revolt that came with this movement, began to be patronized with doles from the State and imperialist institutions. But, the embers of that movement continued to flash till, at least, the Ghatkopar event. Of late, it has gone into slumber.

This cooption is basically taking place on three fronts:

(i) Sanskritisation of a large section and even absorbing them into the Hindutva fold.

(ii) An attempt at cooption into the Globalisation process through such methods as the Bhopal Declaration — mimicking the US policy towards Blacks.

(iii) A massive infusion of imperialist funds into progressive dalit politics through NGOs, Ford Foundation and other such funding outfits, to push them towards passive ‘dissent’ and thereby keep them at arms length from revolutionary Marxism and militant revolts.

Let us now look at these three operations in little more detail:

Dalits being used as the foot-soldiers of the RSS in the anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat, the BSP-BJP marriage in UP, and dalit leaders and intellectuals aligning with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, are merely some examples of the political manifestation of the Sanskritisation process taking place amongst dalits. At a more sophisticated level it can be seen amongst the bulk of the top echlon within the government and bureaucracy, and among dalit politicians. The bulk of these elements, whether with the Sangh parivar or not, have become the pillars of the establishment whose main job is to keep the volatile dalit community from going over the edge. They are like chameleons, who can change their skin overnight, selling themselves to the highest bidder. It is these wolves in sheep clothing who are the worst enemies of the dalits as they act as the median through which to befool the mass of dalits through their rabid ‘dalit talk’, deification of Ambedkar and their aggressive "they vs us" rabble-rousing. Though dalits are a specific category — the ‘untouchables’ — these top bureaucrats, political leaders, and their intellectual pen-pushers seek to cover up the class differentiation amongst them, in a bid to keep them under their reactionary thumb. Due to the lack of an effective alternative they have so far been quite successful, except in Bihar where the bulk of dalits have been mobilized by the revolutionaries and are fighting a virtual war against the upper-caste Senas.

The Hindutva brigade utilize this top echelon from amongst the dalits to act as the main vehicle to entrap the middle-class dalits, who seek a place in the sun and fall easy prey to their enticements. The brahminical poison is neatly packaged in Ambedkarian coating to make it more acceptable. It is some of these elite dalits who give legitimacy to the RSS gangster’s attempts to co-opt Ambedkar, conveniently ignoring the democratic content of his writing. Even the RSS use the Ambedkar icon to woo the dalits; and of late, the fascist, Katiyar has sought to twist Ambedkar’s writings to use it for their fascist anti-Muslim agenda. While staunchly defending the caste system they make a pretense to be against ‘untouchability’ by displaying show-pieces like a Bangaru Laxman, a Ram Vilas Paswan, etc.

More dangerous though are the Mayawatis and Kanshirams who take the entire dalit fold into the brahminical camp. They have a neat mix of anti-upper-caste demagogy with pro-brahminical servility. Mayawati’s open campaigning for Modi after the Gujarat holocaust and her support for reservations to the upper-castes was the last straw to break the dalit movement’s back. While maintaining their dalit signboard, they have become the effective Hindu fascist Trojan Horses within the dalit movement.

In Mahrashtra too there has been a positive response to Bal Thakrey’s call of unity of Shiv-shakti and Bhim-shakti; i.e. the followers of Shivaji and followers of Ambedkar. With the Congress proving as casteist as any other party and the numerous dalit groupings turned into a totally impotent and opportunist force, the dalits of Mahrashtra, notwithstanding their history of continuous struggle, are falling prey to these fascist, brahminical forces.

In their attempts to co-opt the dalits at a gathering in Ambedkar’s hometown, the BJP announced the "Mhow Declaration" on April 27, 03. But, here too, due to pulls and pressures within the BJP, on how exactly to dupe the dalits without compromising brahminical principles, this declaration, which was to be released in June, is yet to see the light of day. No doubt, it will finally emerge with its admixture of demagogy, patronizing pleasantries and economic baits to entrap them.

But the sanskritisation movement amongst dalits goes far deeper than its political manifestation. This was well brought out in a paper by Anand Teltumbde "Onslaught of Fascist Hindutva on Dalits: Impact and Resistance" presented at the AILRC Seminar in Mumbai (Dec.2002), which said that it comprised aspects of Demolition of the Dalit Social Agenda, Subjugation of Dalit Identity, and Suppression of Culture and dalit self-respect.

As far as the Demolition of Dalit Social Agenda goes the speech states: The Hindu Rashtra campaign successfully took the social agenda of dalits comprising untouchability, poverty, inequality and discrimination away from the problems of Dalits. Their sole ploy is to include them within their ‘us’. This ‘us’ however is a political homogeneity and does not anyway relate with the socio-economic evils the dalits suffer from. To the extent gullible dalit masses fall prey to the allurement of instant Brahmanisation of Hindutva the social agenda of dalits gets eclipsed.

If we turn to the question of the Subjugation of Dalit Identity the speech says: Although originally a movement of revivalist Brahmans, which is potentially antithetical to the dalit interests, Hindutva could never enact its agenda by ignoring the dalits and tribals who numbered approximately one-fourth of the total population of the country. It is neither feasible from the electoral logic of securing political power nor from the fascist imperative of creating mass hysteria by launching street battles. With this realization the shrewd Sangh Pariwar had commenced working among (some sections of) the tribals and successfully Hinduised their tribal identity. The efficacy of this transformation is only realized in the recent Gujarat experiment. Later, they launched a skillful co-optation programme for the dalits.

On the question of the Suppression of Culture the aggressive Hindutva campaign promoting all sorts Hindu religiousity through the media and ‘spiritual gurus’ has to some extent sought to drown the assertion of what came to be known as dalit literature — which had reflected their rising self-respect and pride in their struggles for justice and equality. Dalits, with the Dalit Panther movement, began to replace Ravan with Ram, promote beef-eating and discarding photos of Hindu gods as a revolt from Hindu traditions, replacing Buddhist and Ambedkar festivals with Hindu festivals, etc. Even this level of revolt has now receded.

So, overall we find the Sanskritisation process has proceeded apace in all spheres of the political, cultural and social life of dalits, and particularly the urban middle-class amongst them. In the rural areas the rising middle-class dalits are in fact facing the maximum wrath of the entrenched semi-feudal vested interests. This dichotomy is indeed paradoxical.

The chief promoter of the ‘Dalit Agenda’ of the "Bhopal Declaration’, the Chief Minister of MP, Digvijay Singh, has no problem of acting as the champion of the dalits and simultaneously promoting the Hindutva Agenda through: a vigorous campaign for a ban on cow slaughter, appeasing the Hindu Jagran Manch by opening out the so-called Bhojshala (an ASI monument) for prayers by Hindus, of the State Govt. focusing on the revival of Sanskrit as a need to arrest "cultural erosion", and vigorously promoting the RSS-run Swami Vivekanand-type societies to convert tribals to Hinduism.

What then is this ‘Dalit Agenda’ and how can it possibly fuse so well with the Hindutva Agenda? Certainly this requires some thought, as some leading dalit intellectuals have been active promoters of this Agenda.

The 21-point "Action Agenda for the 21st Century" adopted at a 2-day Convention held at Bhopal in Jan 2002, is, in essence, a method of absorbing a section of the dalit elite, who may get disillusioned with the system, resulting from wholesale privatization and the loss of reserved jobs. The aim is to draw them into the globalisation process by handing out a few sops. As subterfuge, to cover up this crude reality, it is combined with much idealistic and utopian posturing. Its true character can, ofcourse, be seen in the implementation of the Agenda.

The rhetoric and demagogy in many of the 21 clauses talks of: giving land to the dalits, abolition of bonded labour, empowerment of dalit women, and even the arming of dalits supposedly for their self-defence (but more likely against naxalites operating in the State). This, of course, was all spin, to dupe the dalit masses for, when it came to the implementation, it was purely a globalised Agenda, modeled along the US administration’s method of absorbing a section of elite Black into their system.

In Jan, 2003 the State Cabinet decided to implement the recommendations of the Task Force on the Bhopal Declaration. These were: 30% of all State Government purchases will now go to SCs and STs, 25,000 SCs and STs would get entrepreneur training and loans, and 5 SC and 5 ST students would get 100% scholarship for education abroad. (The US Ford Foundation has been sponsoring such students since many years.) There is no concrete policy for the land and other issues. How much of this will actually get implemented is yet to be seen, but even on paper, the essence is to absorb some dalits into the privatization process and train a handful of dalit compradors by sending then abroad. Instead of opposing privatization and thereby preserving dalit jobs and enhancing the amount on scholarships to poverty-stricken dalits, crores will be spent each year to train a mere 8 students aboard.

Besides the Bhopal Document goes on and on praising the US model as an example for dalit upliftment. An entire section (Chapter 6) of this Document, entitled "Let’s Go Globetrotting" eulogizing the US system. It says: " the US has evolved into a thriving democracy from a society of inhuman practice of slavery and systematic elimination of Native Americans. American society is now an enthusiastic advocate and practitioner of equal opportunity, affirmative action and diversity policies in every sphere of life — from the government sector to the private sector to arts, media and in sharing the national prosperity." Then it goes on to list, over 25 pages, details of the percentage of Blacks in various Fortune-500 corporations, the media, IT sector, the Arts, the Universities, etc. etc.

The US has the largest number of prisoners in the world — roughly two million people. Of the 2 million prisoners 63% are Black and Hispanic, although these two communities form only 25% of the population. With only 5% of the world’s population the US has nearly 25% of the world’s eight million prisoners. Blacks are just 12% of drug users but account for 35% of those arrested for drug use, 55% of those convicted for use, and 75% incarcerated for use. In Washington where Blacks account for less than 4% of the population they make up almost 40% of the prisoners. Human Rights Watch says: in 12 States Black men are incarcerated at rates between 12 and 16 times greater than those of White men. In 15 States Black women are incarcerated at rates 10 and 35 times greater than those of White women. One out of every 14 African American men is now in jail. And one out of 4 is likely to be in jail at some point in his lifetime. The fastest growing section of prisoners though is Black women, of whom 70% are non-violent offenders.(10) Besides this a huge 1.4 million Blacks’ (i.e. 13% of the Black voting population) right to vote has been removed because of felony convictions. Lastly, blacks are being used as cannon fodder for America’s imperialist wars to conquer backward countries — while they comprise a mere 12% of the population their percentage of the US Army is 29%.(11)

Why does the Bhopal Declaration hide this horrendous reality of the US system? Yet, this is not all. The bulk of these prisoners, most of whom are Black are used as virtual slave labour. It is probably the only country where prisons are big business (many of the prisons are privately run) and prisoners are used as cheap labour for most industries. While the Bhopal Declaration waxes eloquent about the number of Blacks in the Fortune-500 industries it hides the fact that the bulk of these companies also use Black prison labour to reap gigantic profits. From General motors to Micrsoft — all are in the business of hiring cheap prison labour. Honda has paid inmates $2 per hour for doing the same work that would cost $30 per hour. Konica has used prisoners for as little as 50 cents an hour. Prisons for profit now generate $30 to $40 billion revenue every year. Corporations hire over half a million full time prison labour. Violent crime is down by one-fifth in the last 30 yrs, but incarceration has quadrupled. Prisoners are made to work 40 hours a week.(12)

This is nothing but a sophisticated form of the old-style slave labour. The Black elites, of course, prefer to wine and dine with the devil, forgetting their brethren and past!! Digvijay Singh wants the dalits of India to repeat this example through his so-called Dalit Agenda, in the new circumstance of the globalisation of the Indian economy. It is nothing but a comprador Charter to absorb a section of the elite dalits into the process of selling India’s sovereignty to the imperialists. And through them lure the mass of dalit middle class with high expectations for these traitorous policies. So, it is no wonder that it fits in perfectly with his Hindutva Agenda. After all, in India, the worst compradors are the most fanatical Hindutva elements, notwithstanding their entire ‘patriotic’ demagogy.

The importance that NGOs give to the cooption of dalits can be seen from the fact that at the ASF jamboree at Hyderabad in January this year, 13 seminars were held on different topics related to just this one issue. A host of dalit organisations were involved as part of the ASF.

Those not generally trapped in the above two frameworks get ensnared by the NGO culture of a show of dissent. Like amongst all the other spheres in which these NGOs operate they seek to institutionalise dissent and take the oppressed masses away from the path of struggle and resistance. They act as a safety valve to let off people’s anger against the system, so that it does not burst into revolt. It has been an effective tool in the armoury of the reactionaries to keep the populace in control.

Those working amongst dalits have the same approach. That NGOs can be so very complacent can be seen from the example of those working with tribals and Dalits in Gujarat; which was evident after the anti-Muslim pogrom. Interestingly, Gujarat-based NGOs working under the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) boasted of being the biggest contingent at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban in Sept. 2001. But all through the communal violence they failed even to condemn the actions of the Hindutva brigade.(13) Yet, such elitist bodies are idealized by the likes of Gail Omvedt (See: Dalits Mobilising; The Hindu May 27; 03) and other so-called progressive ‘intellectuals’. In this article she virtually eulogises all that is reactionary in the dalit movement. Here, idealizing the Vancouver Declaration recently held, and inaugurated by ex-President of India, K.R.Narayan, she goes on to say: "in India, while politicians like Mayawati symbolize the new cultural-moral self-confidence of dalits, and those like Digvijay Singh are pushing forward the economic agenda, dalits themselves are calling for action on all fronts, a cultural-economic and political revolution". So, according to Omvedt, Mayawati is ushering in a "moral revolution" and Digvijay Singh an "economic revolution". Mayawati is the epitome of moral degeneration, and Digvijay Singh of typical Chanakya-style hypocrisy. Can intellectual dishonesty go to such depths? And as for the Vancouver Declaration, it does nothing but plead with the TNCs to "recogise their social responsibility" to give jobs to dalits.

Such then is the nature of NGO culture being promoted by a host of organisation working at different levels and publicized widely by the media and numerous intellectuals. They basically have a two-pronged approach: on the one hand they seek to divert the activities of progressive intellectuals away effective action; on the other hand they work to co-opt the activists at the grass-root working in slums, villages, etc. When the need of the hour is to fight (or support those fighting) atrocities on dalits and the growing Hindutva fascist wave, they divert such activities into futile and useless debates. There is no harm in debates per se, as long as they are tied in with practical activities. But when debates become an end in themselves, it is then that they become self-defeating.

A typical example of this is the heavily foreign-funded BUILD outfit —the Vikas Adhyayan Kendra (VAK). This NGO has specifically funded the formation of the Dalit Intellectuals Collective (DIC) a few years back. The bankruptcy of this body is self-evident from a report of its first function in 1999 by Gopal Guru and V.Geetha(14). To get just a small glimpse at their intellectual sophistry we quote GG & VG: "thus, DIC has an ambitious agenda to speak in universal but authentic terms realizing that authenticity will not be an impediment for reaching the universal". To add intellectual semantics to sophistry they add : " DIC wants to promote an interactive relationship between scholars and the general public. This is to be achieved through the development of public political reason. The DIC, therefore, also has an agenda to seek the redefinition of the dalit-self both at the theoretical and the political levels through the development of political reason. The development of public political reason is important to DIC also because, the cognitive map of dalit and non-dalits in general seems to be occupied by ‘common sense’ full of intersecting levers of consciousness and emotions." The article goes on in this vein.

Now if one can first understand what precisely the authors wish to say it itself would be an achievement. Having achieved that, what purpose can an ambitious agenda serve today that spends its time merely speaking in universal but authentic terms? As they deny any need for a "pre-given theoretical framework" their so-called universal can only be empirical. This is itself a contradiction in terms. And then what practical purpose does its other agenda serve to seek the redefinition of the dalit-self, when the need of the hour is to fight for the self-respect of dalits, achieved only by vigorously opposing the brahminical and feudal discrimination and atrocities on them. With the Hindutva forces on a massive offensive it is criminal to see such progressive forces being frittered away by those who fund and sponsor such NGO projects.

By negating a theoretical framework they, in essence, deny a comprehensive approach to the issue, making it impossible to come to any conclusion; creating thereby, the basis for endless debates. Further, by elevating intellectual debate itself to the level of "activism" they, in effect, deny real activism; having thereby no link with practice they will be unable to test the validity of their debating in universal and authentic terms. The authenticity of their speech therefore will lie only in their own conviction of it and not the reality of the world outside. The end result is endless debates of the Collective. If it instead devoted a fraction of that time in detailed analysis of dalit atrocities or even the linkage between Hindutva and growing atrocities on dalits or some such practical problems — let alone in actions against caste oppression — it may serve some practical purpose.

While the sanskritisation process seeks to tie the most politically backward dalits to the prevailing system, the NGOs seek to do the same amongst the most politically advanced sections from amongst them. If dalits must effectively take up cudgels against the growing atrocities on them and fight for the overthrow of the very caste system itself they will have to break out of the vice-like tentacles of the above three trends.

To do so what would be the necessary steps?

Globalisation tends to marginalize the bulk of the population, except for the elite — particularly the urban elite. And as one goes down the economic and social ladder the marginalisation increases at a geometrical rate. The mass of Dalits are at the very bottom of both the economic and social ladder. They are bound to feel the full impact of globalisation in the years to come. Besides, Hindutva fascism — while not, as yet, immediately targeting dalits, focusing primarily on Muslims, and to a lesser extent Christians — intensifies brahminical values and thinking, resulting, as a by-product, in greater casteist feelings and enhanced hatred towards the ‘untouchables’.

Yet again, due to the changing caste/class configuration in the rural areas, with the rise of a section of the middle castes to political power in most States, besides the upper castes, it is these neo-rich middle castes who have become the most aggressive in their attacks on dalits. This neo-rich class/caste are crude, brutal and venomous when they find their social status being threatened by a rising dalit section. As the earlier reports show the main violent attacks on dalits in the past decade, have come from these castes. For all the BJP-BSP unity at the political level, in the face of these brutal attacks at the ground-level, the upper-castes actually instigate, or look the other way. And, as has been seen, in the face of clashes the entire State mechanism comes down heavily against the dalits, even though they are the victims. In such circumstances there is rarely a single party that comes to their assistance, as they too are seeped in casteism and tread carefully not to disturb voting equations.

So, the dalits find themselves fenced in from all sides. In addition, amongst the dalits themselves there is a growing polarization between the elite and the mass of dalits. On the one hand privatisation shuts out the entire new generation of dalits from the possibility of reserved jobs; on the other, the existing elite dalits thrive on schemes like the Dalit Agenda and by currying favour with the power power-brokers, whether of the Sangh Parivar kind or any other. So, the gap between the mass of dalits (including the middle-class amongst them) and the elite sections together with their political representatives, will only grow in the days to come. In other words, the mass of dalits will be further fenced in from their very own community leaders, who are already busy capitalizing dalit vote-banks for money and power.

As it is, over 81 % of dalits live in rural areas, and of these, nearly 86 % of rural dalit households were landless and near landless households (in 1991). Of the total dalit rural workers about 82 percent were engaged in farm activities and the remaining 18 percent in non-farm activities — farm activities mean, as agricultural labourers eking out a barely subsistence existence. That means roughly 100 million dalits (or 10 crore) eke out a precarious existence in rural India. It is primarily this huge section that is cornered in from all sides. Even of the balance, in the urban areas, the majority live in sub-human conditions in the sprawling slums. With globalisation, a large section of the dalit middle-class will be pushed back into poverty and the number gaining from the system will even be fewer.

Due to the "we dalits" vs the "they non-dalits" formula, together with the siege mentality resulting from the casteist sentiments of all those belonging to the various levels of the caste hierarchy, the dalit vote-bank becomes a solid block to be traded in the vote market to the highest bidder.

Yet, with this scenario facing the bulk of the dalit community, they have no alternative but to revolt; and not even their traitorous leaders will be able to tie their hands for much longer. The problem tough is where is the alternative, to lead the revolt.

As for all the major parliamentary parties, they are casteist to the core. Even the so-called ‘left’ CPI/CPM, for all their ‘progressive’ talk, display much the same caste biases at the ground level. Though they may not practice overt ‘untouchability’, their patronizing and condescending attitude will get reflected in numerous subtle ways. An example of this is he massive promotion of the Durga Puja festival by top CPM leaders in West Bengal. Of course this is justified on the grounds of ‘being with the masses’; on the contrary it is in fact trailing behind the masses; nay, leading the masses. As we have earlier mentioned, caste discrimination is inseparable from Hindu religion, and if not reflected crudely, will get reflected in thousands of methods in the course of social interaction, from marriages to ceremonies to even such mundane things as family relations on a day-to-day basis. These casteist attitudes within the CPM was well reflected by even a bourgeois liberal like Arundathi Roy in her book ‘God of Small Things’.

As for the dalit parliamentary parties they use demagogy merely to promote the small section of dalit elite in power-sharing with the rulers, and thereby enriching themselves. The prime example of this is the Mayawati/Kanshiram BSP, wherein Mayawati can vulgarly display her wealth at a birthday bash, with the confidence that the poverty stricken dalit mass will not be revolted and the dalit leaders will applaud "we can outdo the Brahmins in ‘splendor’". The BSP’s servility to the brahminical BJP had gone beyond all levels of decency, before factional feuds led to a temporary split. It only requires a more conscious dalit population to break out in revolt as they did with the Dalit Panther movement against the corrupt RPI leadership of that time.

The only hope for the dalit movement comes from the revolutionary communists in the country, whose ranks contain people from all castes and who are not involved in the parliamentary stench afflicting the country. The problem though, within the communist movement and particularly in many of its mass organisations, where dalits may not comprise the majority, particularly of the activists, issues of dalit atrocities and discrimination against dalits are often ignored due to pragmatism (not wanting to go against the grain of the bulk of its membership and/or not thinking it important enough), economism (elevating the struggle for partial demands to the status of THE class struggle) and worst, at times trailing behind the caste sentiments prevalent in the mass organisation, and even probably a section of the activists.

Unfortunately there are also many misconceptions, which deflect from a thorough-going revolutionary mobilization of the dalits. Let us take some of these to clear the air for a solid involvement of this most oppressed section of our society within the revolutionary movement.

The first and starting point is ideological — attitude towards Ambedkar who has become the icon of the struggling dalits. Then there is the endless debate on caste vs class. To take the first:

(i) AMBEDKAR & MARX

There is a whole section that speaks of the confluence of Marx-Phule-Ambedkar type thinking. Here there are numerous flaws. First, the theories of Marxism cannot be equated with any other social scientist (however good) as Marxism has elevated the understanding of entire society to the level of a science. All others seek merely to interpret certain phenomenon — however accurate they may be in that, theirs is still not a science. The reason for this is that Marxism has discovered the laws that determine the development of society. So, does that mean that Marx is the gospel truth while all others are inferior? Certainly not! Marxism, just like the sciences that seeks to understand nature, grows with further discoveries and enriches itself through new findings in the social sciences and the elaboration of the laws of the development of society. If looked at as a gospel truth it would be reduced to a religion; if equated with any and every social scientist (however good) it would amount to rejecting its scientific essence, which is the core of Marxism.

Another point regarding the above thesis; it gives the notion that Marxism is useful for the class struggle and Ambedkar for the caste struggle. Some actually state this. This again emanates from a misconception of what is Marxism. If it is a scientific tool with which to understand society, it is the best instrument (if wielded properly) with which to understand caste, or, for that matter, any other social phenomena. If for some reason the Communists in India have failed to do this (except for the erstwhile PW, which, to some extent, attempted this, with its policy paper on caste, the erstwhile PU which passed some resolution on it, some Marxist intellectuals like D.D. Kosambi and a few others —the attempt is genuinely lacking), it is the failure of the Indian communists and not of the purported ideology.

Due to their revisionist thinking, the earlier CPI/CPM failed not only on the question of understanding caste, but on most other issues relating to Indian society and revolution, not even being able to understand that India was then basically a semi-feudal country. One should not throw out the baby with the bath water. No doubt Ambedkar has contributed to the struggle against casteism and for the abolition of ‘untouchability’, and his contribution to change in India had a democratic content to it; but his limitations lay in his constitutionalism, his model of liberal democracy of the West, his wrong understanding of the role of the British in India, his over-emphasis in equating casteism with Hindu religion, fully negating the economic roots of a feudal system, etc. Communists should then have recognized the fact of Ambedkar’s bringing the question of ‘untouchability’ into the political arena for the first time ever and removing it from the trammels of the rigid brahminical biases of the then Congress; the condescending approach of the ‘Harijan’ concept by a Gandhi; the mechanistic approach of the then CPI; and, of course, by breaking through the rigid feudal values encompassing the overwhelming majority of peoples’ thinking and values. Having recognized his positive role on the question of ‘untouchability’ and casteism, notwithstanding his severe limitations, they should have taken the struggle against ‘untouchability’ and casteism forward, liking it with the overthrow of the system by armed force.

But, they did not. They branded him a British agent, snuggled close into the arms of the Congress and that arch traitor, Gandhi, and finally fell prey to the parliamentary semantics of the new comprador rulers in India. Besides, their economic determinist attitude to the caste question (saying, for example, by jointly fighting for partial demands caste feelings would automatically go; and, saying that there is no need to specifically take up the caste issue, as with the ‘revolution’ casteism would automatically go, opposing reservations, etc.) has alienated the bulk of dalits who equate the CPI/CPM with communism. In addition, the ruling classes, and particularly the elite dalit politicians, have fuelled this myth, even when a communist alternative in the form of the Naxalites is clearly visible. Red-bashing has become a veritable business amongst the dalit politicians to get applauds and favours from the powers that be. As part of this they pit Ambedkar vs Marx; and then, utilizing the formers deification amongst dalits, create an anti-communist hysteria amongst them.

(ii) THE CASTE-CLASS FACTOR

As mentioned earlier an economistic approach equates the struggle for economic (i.e. partial) demands with class struggle. Based on this wrong understanding on the question of class struggle often the so-called class (read economic) struggle is pitted against caste struggle. This is done by both Marxists and also non-Marxist red-baiters. The errors of the former give fuel to the latter with which to attack them. So, some Marxists try and see in every struggle of dalits only the economic factor and not the caste factor within it. The anti-communists do exactly the opposite. So, the sparring goes on and on, the basis of which is, in the first place, a wrong concept.

As Engels had pointed out, over a century back, the class struggle encompasses not only the struggle for economic demands but also the political struggle and also the theoretical struggle. This point was more detailedly elaborated by Lenin in his book "What is to be Done". The key aspect of any communist’s class struggle is the struggle for the seizure of political power by armed force. All other aspects of the class struggle must serve this, if it is to be revolutionary. So, to think that the struggle on caste issues could deflect from the ‘class-struggle’, would be as valid for the struggle for economic demand. We only have to look at the CPI/CPM’s trade unionism for eight decades, which has not only brought the most revolutionary class in India — the industrial proletariat — any closer to revolution, but taken them far away from it, corrupting them in the muck of economism. So, if any aspect of the class struggle is not specifically and concretely linked to the central task of revolution — of the seizure of power by armed force — it, in essence, deflects from the overall class struggle.

In a country like India, where every aspect of a person’s social, economic and political life involves the caste factor, to play it down or negate it, is tantamount to a perpetuation of existing caste biases and antagonisms — a de facto acceptance of upper-caste superiority. It cannot but detract from India’s democratic revolution of which the abolition of casteism and ‘untouchability’ would be an important factor, due to its all-pervading presence. This cannot be achieved by mere fiat or declarations but by continuous and daily struggles against it, as caste biases and caste affiliations and caste discriminations are embedded deep in people’s psyche, generated over centuries of practice and customs. Even if officially abolished by the revolution, the struggle against casteist values will continue in the sphere of the superstructure for decades.

But, on the other hand to say that in India the caste struggle is everything and that all other struggles must be subservient to it displays ignorance of today’s reality; even that of dalits. For example, for the vast mass of dalits the key question is land reforms. Globalisation has not only eclipsed this agenda of land reforms but also substituted it with corporatisation of farming for the global agricultural market. This will only aggravate further the conditions of the dalits, who are already being displaced by machines (even in the smaller farms), with no alternative source of income; and with no possibility of jobs. With the strong caste biases amongst the agricultural labourers the first to be ousted will be the dalits as caste affinities result in the farmers retaining those of their own caste in their fields.

So, a key factor for the liberation of dalits is against the semi-feudal land relations in the countryside — this has both an economic aspect to it, of land distribution and a political aspect to it, to smash the authority of the existing rural elite and replacing it with people’s authority; and of course, it will also have the social aspect.

It also calls for the struggle against globalisation, which is robbing lakhs of dalits (and others) of their jobs, both in the urban and rural areas. Besides, such joint struggle for common demands helps (does not in itself) the process of removing upper-caste biases and thereby cementing the unity of the oppressed.

So, to say that the caste struggle is a pre-requisite to all other struggles, or taken as a one-point agenda, is not only counter-productive; not only does it go against the very interests of the dalits eking out a hand-to-mouth existence, but it also promotes caste exclusiveness, perpetuating the caste divisions in society.

Whether we like it or not there is a growing movement against caste oppression. First and foremost the communist revolutionaries must be in the forefront of these struggles; only then can they win over the mass of dalits. With the greater marginalisation of dalits due to both Globalisation and Hindutva, this conflict is bound to intensify. While the prevailing semi-feudal relations acts as the basis for caste exploitation, the present situation only adds to the existing biases. A section of dalits, due to education, struggles and various factors, have gained an element of self-respect, they are bound to fight to assert it. The dalit political leaders can continue to befool them, primarily because there is no viable alternative. At one time, when the Dalit Panther movement was at its peak, any report of attacks on dalits would result in a van-load of dalits reaching the spot with hockey sticks and cycle-chains. Dalits should not be left to fight their conflicts on their own, for then it will be a loosing battle, leading to their demoralization. It must clearly be understood that the fight against untouchability and casteism, is not merely a dalit question, but more particularly a democratic question. So, not merely dalits, but all genuine democrats must fight against the growing atrocities on dalits.

The fusion of the Dalit Movement with Revolutionary Politics involves a number of aspects, the first and primary being that mentioned above — that communist revolutionaries be in the forefront of such struggles against caste oppression and discrimination. With proper revolutionary leadership it can help dalits to understand the nature of the contradiction in the different circumstances. Sometimes it may take the form of a struggle between the people (as the poor are also filled with caste biases); this can be settled non-antagonistically by helping the person from the higher caste to understand his/her mistake, maybe with a small punishment. On the other hand when it involves sections of the elite or Hindutva-type forces it would be treated as an antagonistic contradiction and dealt with accordingly. Here, no amount of ‘convincing’ is of any value, direct action is called for. Without such revolutionary leadership dalit reactions are spontaneous outbursts of emotion, with no tactical plan to fight the battle; and therefore, failure is inevitable.

The second aspect of the above fusion is to draw a large number of dalits not only into the on-going movement of the communist revolutionaries, but to have them at all levels of its leadership. This requires a widespread propagation of Maoism, and the Marxist interpretation of the caste question (including of Ambedkar) amongst the dalits, and particularly its advanced sections. Once the advanced sections are won over to revolutionary politics it will be easy to win over the mass of dalits. But as long as this section stays within the muck of dalit politics there is no future for the dalit movement and a big obstacle in the revolutionary movement.

The third aspect is to unite with the on-going movements of the oppressed castes in general, and dalits in particular, as part of the united front policy of aligning with all democratic forces in the country. The struggle against ‘untouchability and caste oppression/discrimination is part-and-parcel of the struggle for the democratic transformation of India through the New Democratic Revolution. To neglect it in any way is to negate an important component of this process of revolutionary change.

The fusion of the dalit and revolutionary movements is beginning to be advocated by some dalit groups and intellectuals as well. An example is the Dalit Liberation Party in Tamil Nadu; also the book "Dalit Vimarsh Ki Bhoomica" by Kaval Bharati from Allahabad. Others too are beginning to realise the stagnant pool of dalit politics and look for an alternative, in alignment with the revolutionary movement.

Already in some parts of the country where the revolutionary movement is strong, like Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, a section of dalits are under the influence of revolutionary politics. This has to be deepened in those areas and extended to the rest of the country. For this, the revolutionary Parties have to take an even more pro-active role in the fight against all forms of caste oppression, and caste discriminations and biases. Let this fusion emerge from the embers of the dalit movement, turning it into a fire that burns to ashes not only the hated caste system, but the very social order on which it stands.

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