Prof Ashutosh Varshney(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashutosh_Varshney) , Irfaan Ali Engineer (an eminent Islamic scholar) and Lenin Raghuvanshi(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenin_Raghuvanshi)speak on Dr #Ambedkar's understanding of religious pluralism and secularism at 2017 Dr. Ambedkar International Conference (https://questforequity.org/about.php#Themes) .
Prof. Rajeev Bhargava (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajeev_Bhargava) chaired session.
https://www.scribd.com/presentation/354660511/Can-the-Neo-Dalit-Movement-Eradicate-Emerging-Fascism-in-India
Can
the Neo-Dalit Movement Eradicate Emerging Fascism in India?
India is one of the world’s oldest living
civilisations with a vibrant culture and diversity of its people and languages.
Paradoxically, this enormous diversity also hides a dark and sinister side in
the shadows of its culture, the caste system. Embedded in the feudal culture,
based on the mind of the caste for several centuries, the Hindu caste system is
one of the world’s longest surviving forms of social stratification. It divides
the society into social classes or castes. This graded inequality has the
sanction of classical Indian religious scriptures.
Piquantly, the caste
hierarchy dictates the lives of its citizens even today. The tribal, Muslimsand the lower castes or
untouchable communities face discrimination and severe oppression due to their
social status. As a result, they have been further marginalised in the society
and denied their basic rights.
Despite the fact that untouchability was
officially banned, when India adopted its constitution in
1950, discrimination against the lower castes and Musahar is all
pervasive. In order to prevent discrimination based on caste and
religion, the government passed legislation, in 1989, known as, ‘The Prevention
of Atrocities Act’. The act specifically made it illegal to parade people naked
through the streets, force them to eat faeces, take away their land, foul their
water, interfere with their right to vote, and burn down their homes. Many of
the youngest in the community are not allowed admissions in the schools since
the upper castes do not want their children to study along with the Musahar
children. Since then, the violencehas
escalated largely as a result of the emergence of a grassroots human rights
movement among Musahar to demand their rights and resist the dictates of
untouchability.
The severest human rights
violations in India, the widespread use of custodial torture, are closely linked to
caste-based discrimination. In the context of crime investigation, suspects are
tortured to enforce confessions. Due to the absence of an independent agency to
investigate cases, complaints are often not properly proofed and perpetrators
are never prosecuted and punished. The discrimination of women and gender based
violence, which includes domestic violence, dowry linked violence, acid
attacks, sexual assault, sexual harassment and sex-selective abortion, are the most
relevant human rights issues in India.
Culture of Impunity
The main problems facing the country emerge from
two things: the implementation of a ‘culture of impunity’, which is a shared
belief that few can act without be accountable for their actions, at the
social, economic and political level and the cognitive problem in the context
of market democracy and economic globalisation. This explanation reveals how
the combination of those two factors – cognitive and contextual – allow the
rise of a Neo-Fascism state – an authoritarian state, which wants to make one country
with one nation – and the implementation of an aggressive Neo-Liberal
capitalism – which perpetuate social and economic injustice. In this way,
we would see how the Neo-fascist Hindutva project is used to perpetuate caste
domination and allow the Indian leaders to realise profit by selling the
country to national and international companies. Furthermore, we understand how
this economic deregulation marginalised lower castes, and therefore,
strengthened social division based on castes.
Thereafter, we propose a way
to correct and change this situation by calling for the creation of a
‘Neo-Dalit’ movement– combining Shudras and
ati-Shudras from all regions, which would formulate popular movement
against the ‘culture of impunity’ through mobilisation of opinion among leaders
from all communities.
The multifaceted problems of
our country are interconnected. In order to understand and solve these, we must
view the dire problem in totality, not in isolation. We need a comprehensive
multi-layer and multi-dimensional approach that takes into account economic,
cultural, political and social factors. The People’s Vigilance Committee on
Human Rights (PVCHR) and its partners are actively attempting to fill this
opportunity space by courting constructive dialogue with others, all stripes,
spots and ideological leanings. Focusing on the diversity of caste experience,
rather than being counter-intuitive to movement goals of creating Dalit
self-esteem represents a primary step toward creating lasting structural change
in the process of strengthening Dalit self-esteem.
Multidisciplinary Approach: for
Actors and Factors
India has one of the highest GDP rates of the
world. As a ’developing economy’ in a global world-wide economy, the country
tries more and more to immerse itself in the international market for goods and
capital. This amazing economic growth is beautifully accompanied by the
establishment of democracy, and seems to make India a
paradise-under-construction. But this lovely facade hides many inappropriate
practices such as poverty, brutality and destruction of nature. Let’s review
these practices in the context of economic policies.
We may describe Indian economic policy as a
conversion to the Neo-Liberalism religion with a brutal ’shut up’, steeped in
ritualisation. On one hand, politicians use India as a reservoir of raw
materials. They allow big corporation to exploit nature, and destroy the
fragile ecosystem, which allows rural people to live, as they have been doing
since ages. They sell the entire national key infrastructure – such as water,
electricity, health, telecommunication, transport, education, natural resources
to private companies to make money through corrupt practices. This
privatisation process of state and land is strongly encouraged by Neo-Liberalist
global institutions – as the World Bank (WB), the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), etc.
On the other hand, such practices of piracy
against people – who are dispossessed of the wealth of their country by
political and economic leaders – are perpetrated through by authoritarian and
violent measures that government takes against people, who resist, and in the
power-that-be’s lingo, try to mutiny against this spoliation. Police uses
torture, army is called to crush the innocent citizens, who dare to speak the
truth. The state machinery that is supposed to defend people and the hazardous
legislation make them safe from any penalty for the violation of
human rights are enacted – as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and
Armed Forces Special Power Act, which are used more against people, who dare to
criticise these policies than against dreaded terrorists. During that
time, other legal texts are enacted to protect and attract multinational
companies to provide them fiscal and legal advantages on a very broad
definition of what we call the ’free market’– as the Nuclear Civil Liability
Bill, which limits liabilities of Transnational Companies (TNC) from nuclear
industrial disasters.
Thus, Indian leaders create a good ‘investment
climate’ for big corporations. They allow these companies to play their
dangerous economic game with all the rights and no duties and with a few and
controlled popular contestations. This transforms India into a beautiful dream
for TNCs, though they pose and remain a daily nightmare for rural and urban
workers. Furthermore, we should understand that this situation is dangerous,
not only because this seems to foreshadow the establishment of an authoritarian
regime, which allows brutal political repression with impunity, but also
because this political impunity is put in place alongside with the
implementation of an economic policy of corporate impunity.
But this political and economical culture of
impunity cannot only be fully understood by the opening of the Indian market to
the international one or by the corruptive practices that plague public and
private institutions. Behind those external factors, there is a cognitive
reason, which is also very important to understand such behaviours among the
actors: the caste system and the mind of the caste.
Indian society has lived for hundreds of years on
a strict and rigid social hierarchy based on the Brahmanism stream within
Hinduism. The caste system, which so many people see wrongly as concomitant to
Hinduism, is a social organisation, which allows upper castes to do whatever
they want, including inflicting psychological and physical tortures, to lower
castes and women, who are considered inferior because of their birth in low
castes. The low castes are forced to accept this supremacy theologically,
founded by the gods but actually righting by select human beings to implement
an unequal socio-political regime. This belief creates a cognitive complex of
inferiority and superiority respectively for the lower and the upper castes.
Sadly, it allowed the implementation of a national culture of caste and social
impunity, perpetuated by a culture of silence created by fear, pain and lack of
self-esteem of the lower castes.
But the story doesn’t stop here, because all these
’cultures of impunity’, which allows a minority group to govern and exploit the
majority can be partly questioned by civil society organisations and
protest movements that wish to reverse this cognitive and social pyramid
or flatten it. For those reasons, power holders use many means to divide
the lowers caste majority and divert them from the key issues that face India –
through communitarian hatred. They thus ensure their freedom of act as leaders –
by enacting draconian laws to ‘protect’ people from communitarian and acts of
terrorism that they create to further their diabolical plans.
Brahminical Power
Structure
So, political impunity and
economical impunity are two sides of the same coin called social impunity.
Social activists and lower castes, who want to defend the rights of Dalits, tribal and the critics of the system are beaten up by the police and the army, with scant regard for humanity. However, Neo-Liberalism allows upper castes and big corporations to rake profits, because people fight each other on religious issues or because they do not dare to attack the Brahmanical power structure.
This stratified and divisive process of the poor
majority, help those who try to keep their power. They use classical methods to
conserve their social position. They know that hate begets hate. This is a
universal law. And when the government and its leaders begin to feed communal
hatred among their own citizens and practice authoritarian political
repression, it qualifies as a ’Neo-fascist’ state because they implement
a national culture of hatred against differences, and love – or at least blind
respect – for authority.
There are deeper questions and analysis. Do some
political leaders have an interest in creating social divisions to conserve
their power? Or is it the true aim of the Hindutva forces to divide
people to allow the traditional power structure – the upper castes – to keep
ruling the country and continue running their businesses with economic
leaders? Or that those who promote genocide and mass killings may do so
with impunity and that they are actually rewarded for this?
The example of Gujarat
Genocide and the verdict of the 16th parliamentary election in India highlights, loud
and clear, that Neo-Fascism and authoritarian Hindutva project, which feeds
communal hatred and divides the poor majority are also promoted by the economic
leaders to hide the implementation of an economic policy of impunity, which is
supposed to make India as an attractive country for foreign investments and
enrich (read gratify) both political and economic leaders.
In the final analysis, we may say that all
political repressions, police torture, bureaucratic corruption, economic
exploitation of human and nature, and rigid hierarchy of social domination are
allowed as much by the implantation of those social, political and economic
cognitive cultures of impunity, rather than by external factors. This may be
termed as the dangerous cross-currents of Neo-Liberal capitalism and communal
Neo-Fascism.
Reformulation of Political
Identity
We have seen that all problems, which look
apparently different, are actually linked. We will examine how this
multiplicity of causes might be overcome by creating a unity process: a
people’s one.
What is the best way to fight against a
Neo-fascist politics of castes and communities divide? The answer is
unity. What kind of unity may we create to fight against the deep rooted caste
system – which is the origin of social division and cultures of impunity – and
Neo-Liberalism that increase the gap between the haves and have-nots and
deprives many people of the benefit of natural resources?
First, a union of lower’s castes.
I mean a union of lower caste from all religions, because misery is beyond
theologies. A union between Shudras and ati[1]-Shudras
or between Dalits and ati-Dalits, and a union with Muslim lower castes and
other marginalised people. A movement of the poor and the abused people for
breaking the economic exploitation and the culture of silence of caste
torture is another unity.The movement is against Brahmanism and caste system,
but not against Hinduism and upper-caste people. The movement is against
Neo-Liberalism capitalism, not against democratic capitalism, based on the rule
of law, peoples’ welfare and pluralism.
Unity of all ‘broken people’ and progressive people is
the best way to fight against this culture of impunity with the norm of
exclusion. Because we don’t think that change will come from people, who
benefit from this system. So, structural change must only come from the bottom
of the social pyramid. I propose to call this movement, ‘Neo-Dalit’, because
this is the Dalit community that has been suffering the most. Moreover,
this name is already synonym of the political struggle envisaged by Baba Saheb
Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar.
Of course, to create a sense of belonging to an
imagined political inter-caste community seems both daunting and impossible.
The caste structure of the society is old and perfectly integrated into the
everyday life. This change of identity requires sacrifices from both, the
castes and communities. The Shudras must learn to deny their right to lord on
the ati-Shudras, if they want to break free from their upper castes masters. On
the other hand, the extended reformulation of the term ‘Dalit’ also
requires an ati-Shudra sacrifice, as these take away the monopoly of the first
identity that they recognize as legitimate, from the first name that they
accept to name themselves. It is a synonym of their political fight. They
use first name with a bit of pride.
This integration problem is even greater when we
try to include in this movement the ‘old’ – but actually still – lower castes,
who converted to Islam or Christianity.
Sameness of Social Groups
Because of all these difficulties, we have to
understand and emphasise the sameness among those different social groups.
First, we should make them understand that they are both the castes enslaved
and alienated by the upper castes through the caste system. They are a majority
that is ruled by a minority, in a country that theoretically became a democracy
in 1947. Secondly, we should show them that main economic resources
and power is held by the upper castes. There is no sense to fight amongst them
but to give a positive answer to communitarian hatred. Such behaviours
will not help implement Neo-Dalit conditions.
The classical example of the
mind of the caste and its implication that the landless Dalit was fighting with
a poor Shudra, owner of small tract of land, because cows of the Dalit were
grazing on the fields of the Shudra, destroying the crops, in Belwa village
of Varanasi. During that time, the rich upper caste, big
landlord often exploited Shudras and ati-Shudras. Hitherto, he never had to
deal with this kind of problem, because the caste mentality allowed him to beat
the lower castes brutally with impunity. The lower castes, over a period of
time, have internalised this brutal domination. They regard it as normal and
because the upper castes have police in their pocket. Here, we should explain
to the Dalit and the Shudra that this conflict results from their
marginalisation that they share together due to the mind of the caste. We
should convince them that they share a common problem, which requires a united
response.
In this way, a united
movement of protest of the poor majority would emerge. They would be
empowered and would have enough power to fight, in a non-violent way, the
atrocities of the rich minority. They perceive themselves as invincible for they
have not seen any resistance. They thus feel that they are un-attackable.
Similarly, fanatic religious leaders, who feed hatred between communities or
divide the lower castes, too have not faced any resistance. The story of
corrupt officials, who believe that they might usurp and abuse of the rights of
poor are much the same. They together form the power structure and create
hegemony because they feel that the fragmented communities and castes are
powerless. They have no money. The poor would languish lifelong in jails as
under trials in false cases. The poor neither have the money nor the unity to
fight the corrupt political regime.
The ‘divide for better rule’ politics has become
an institution in the country. A unification process of the lower castes from
all religions and further unity with progressive people, born in upper castes,
who are against the caste system, is the apt answer. We must create a unified
social movement against the decadent Brahmanical caste system and
communitarian, based on Neo-Fascism and Neo-Liberal Capitalism.
Three Fights of
Neo-Dalits
A union of lower castes against the castes
alienation, a union of religions against communitarian, a union of the poor
against Neo-Liberalism are the three fights that need to be led by one community,
the Neo-Dalits.
But what means of fight should be
adopted? How can such social movement of unity emerge? On which kind of
struggle should it lead? These questions need to be asked.
The creation of a Neo-Dalit political party
doesn’t seem to be the right choice. A political party that wants to defend the
poor would not be able to raise enough money to play the election games.
Leaders who are involved in the institutional game have a better chance
to play as per the corruptive rules of those institutions. Though they
are supposed to defend the interests of the Dalits, they end up playing the
murky game of so-called democracy only for their own profit – as Mayawati
(the BSP Dalit leader) who had a hidden alliance with the RSS. It was aDalit –
Brahmin social engineering that did not attack the evils of te caste system.
The reason for this alliance stemmed from her desire to contest for prime
minister’s office. Many Dalit political leaders joined the BJP and its
alliance in the recent parliamentary election, which was backed by the RSS.
It is better to promote a reconciliation movement
among different castes and religious communities at the grassroots to create
contact among those who have suffered the menace of communitarian and
Brahmanism for a long time. Connection and meetings are the best way to fight
again dangerous prejudices that lead to community’s hatred. It reverses
the process of division between lower castes. But it is clear that this
unification is no cakewalk. Firstly, we need to create a huge and strong
network among all the civil society organisations, who fight separately for the
Shudras, ati-Shudras, Muslim, Christian, working classes, farmers, etc. The
best way is to achieve this union and create a Neo-Dalit social movement of protest
through coordinated actions lead by a shared interpretation of our common
problems.
For this reason, this present call is for all
Shudras and ati-Shudras; to all the organisations that are struggling for human
rights and dignity; to all progressive peoples – whatever her/his caste,
religion, sex or social class – who want to reverse this process of
state-privatisation, abuse of natural resources and division of society through
hatred fed by communitarian, feudalism and the patriarchal system implemented
by the the Brahmanical caste system and its Hindutva project.
Gandhiji’s Conflict
Resolution
But the question remains: what is the best way to
bring together different social groups? I think that this process should begin
by a closer link between opinion leaders and others representative of those
groups. This idea has nothing new. Little after India’s independence, Gandhiji
showed us the way. He demonstrated that it is possible to stop communalism in a
non-violent way. I talk about what people called ’the miracle of Calcutta’.
Gandhiji was able to disarm the communal gangs of the city, but he was not
satisfied by this victory. He demanded more. He asked the leaders of the Muslim
and the Hindu communities to promise that they would maintain peace amongst them.
And the ‘miracle’ happened. Calcutta and its adjoining areas had never had any
communal riots. Gandhiji had resolved the conflict, permanently.
This historical incident
shows that it is possible to create peace between communities. Opinion leaders
have a great role to play. For that reason, the creation of a Neo-Dalit
movement can’t only begin with an approximation of the elites. We should
organise intensive and repeated meetings with all the communities’
representatives to make them work together, symbiotically. All the actors need
to be awakened to better each other’s plight. In this way, they would probably
learn that they protect different communities. Also, though the problems seem
different but they all suffer because of the culture of impunity and
Neo-Liberal alienation. Despite differing perceptions of suffering, their enemy
is much the same.
At the grassroots, we must break the wall of
silence and enhance the self-esteem of the lower castes to give them back their
dignity. We need to make them actors of their own change. Moreover, we should
work to bring the communities together by creating some ‘shared public space’
for Shudras and Dalits, for Hindus and Muslims. This last point is important.
Most of the socialisation processes seem to happen on the streets – where
various communities and castes are together but remain speared in different
district or sidewalks – and place of worship – where ati-Shudras are merely
tolerated, not accepted, by the others castes.
In the final analysis, we wish to emphasise three
ways that the Neo-Dalit movement must take to improve their political, economic
and social conditions. . First, we may fight against political repression and
impunity by legal process. Many human rights organisations are already fighting
the system to transform the Brahmanical ‘rule of the lord’ by coercing them
respect the imperfect ‘rule of the law’. Secondly, the social impunity should
be defeated by changing cognitive weakness. It made some people victim of their
inferiority complex and other tormentors due to their superiority complex. We
need to create commons forums for Neo-Dalit, in order to break the wall of
silence, which leads to the acceptation of this situation. We need to launch a
speech (read dialogue) process, which will teach them that they are equal and
that they share common interest. PVCHR is developing nearly two hundred model
villages based on concept of Neo-Dalit movement.
The Neo-Dalit movement is a
sign of hope, honour and human dignity for the most marginalised people facing
discrimination based on race, caste, religion and gender. The Nelson Mandela
model is the path for PVCHR’s Neo- Dalit movement to bring unity of different
communities against the caste system, feudalism, communal-Fascism and
Neo-Liberalism, through reconciliation for justice and human dignity
against the culture of impunity based on silence. It promises to contribute, in
posterity, to the pluralistic democracy in the world.
—
[1] The word ati means extreme. But, in
this context, it means the people living in the margins of the marginalised.
These people live in extreme deprivation.
Photo Credit: Rohit Kumar
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