Dilemma of Dalit movement in Nepal

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Nepal’s Dalit movement face and existential crisis as attempt are being made that it does not stand on its own and depend on the various ideological formations in the name of ideology, politics or development. The Hindu Nepal had relegated Dalits to a position prescribed to them under the Manu’s law and remote areas still function on those ‘traditions’ and ‘cultures’ which were strengthened by the monarchy.  However, there is a lot of churning in Nepal after people threw away its Hindu Monarchy and opted for a secular constitution. It decided to give wider political representation to Dalits and other ethnic minorities resulting in a substantial presence (though still much below their population percentage) in the Constituent Assembly. In the first CA (after the peace accord)  there were nearly 50 members from the community in the Assembly of 601 which was about 8.32% representation of a community which is officially 13.5% of Nepal’s total population though independent experts suggest that Dalit population in Nepal is not less than 20%.  This representation of Dalits was due to a serious commitment shown by the Maoists towards the Dalit issue particularly related to land reforms which attracted huge number of people to them.  The percentage of the Dalit representatives elected during the recently held elections of Constituent Assembly have drastically reduced and has shocked political analysts and Dalit Rights activists who felt that this has happened due to faulty electoral system.

Nepal has a mixed Member Electoral system in which 52% elected representative comes through First Past The Post System (FPTP) and rest 48% have to be elected through Proportionate Electorate System ( PES). There is no provision of reservation for the Dalits in the FPTP and hence it is difficult for them to get elected.  Actually in the last CA just 7 members belonging to Dalit community won through FPTP out of 18 candidates put up by different political parties and rest 43 were elected through the proportionate electorate system. In the current election of Parliament just one member got elected through FPTP and rest won through the PES. There was no provision of ensuring the Dalit representation which remains highly insufficient in the Constituent Assembly of Nepal.

At the time when the new constitution is being drafted the fair representation of Dalits and other ethnic minorities is essential so that their interests are protected. Unfortunately, in the absence of independent identity of the Dalit movements in Nepal, political parties seemed to be unaccountable to this approach resulting in substantial reduction in the Dalit representation in Constituent Assembly. In fact many Dalit political leaders have expressed their concern on the issue. The reason for Dalit issues being left to the mercy of the caste Hindu dominated political parties are very clear as no independent Dalit movement has taken shape in Nepal. Thousands of NGOs exists ‘working’ for the Dalits apart from t ‘social movements’ which are actually ‘action’ side of political parties as well as NGOs working on different issues. The mainstream political parties rarely raised the issue.

Dalits do not have reservation in the government services and their percentage is far below in these services. Though, it is true that Nepal’s political parties as well as government is quiet keen on speaking about untouchability and caste discrimination in public and supported the law against it in the United Nations, the fact is that there is strong resistance among the people when the question of representation comes. People accept that ‘they’ should be ‘helped’ but feel very much like the upper caste Hindus in India that ‘jobs’ should not be ‘reserved’ as it would affect ‘merit’. In fact, I was shocked to see the reactions of students at a law college in Kathmandu where I spoke on the issue of social justice, participation and representation of the Dalits. The students were not ready to take the matter that easily and questioned and counter questioned.

In the political turmoil of Nepal, Maoists actually took up the Dalit question a bit more seriously than their other political counterparts. The issue of land reform was very important as the entire edifice of the feudal structure is based on heavy accumulation of land in some hands. Unlike, Indian Communist Parties, Nepal’s CPN gave representation at senior level to many Dalits said Tilak Pariyar, a very respected a senior party member of the Communist Party of Nepal.  Hailing from a Darjee community (tailoring work) which is one of the large Dalit communities in Nepal, Tilak Periyar said that he faced caste discrimination during his growing days but the Maoist movement fought against both the caste discrimination as well as feudal structure of the Nepalese society.  However, my own experience is that both Prachanda and Babu Rai Bhattarai have never used the opportunity to speak against social tyranny of the brahmanical system and continued with term ‘feudalism’. Nepalese leadership cannot blame ‘imperialists’ for the caste system like many ‘brahmanical’ scholars do in India blaming the British rulers to ‘divide’ our society.  Mr Tilak Periyar blamed the leadership of Prachanda for not taking the Dalit issues seriously and ignoring their leadership. His party has broken up with Prachanda and returning to prepare ‘Jan Vidroh’ as they feel that Parliamentary form of democracy is just manipulations and would not allow them to make pro people legislations.

However, despite all setbacks and internal differences, Nepal owes its democracy and rise of Dalit assertion to Maoists. Hundreds of young leaders have emerged and want to make a change. Today, political parties are responding to the issue of Dalits in political structure though in the second phase of the elections for Constituent Assembly, the representation of Dalits has reduced and political parties are maneuvering the entire issue so that no further compensation is granted to Dalits. Many activists have appealed to the government to ensure the Dalits get representation according to their population in the Constituent Assembly so that there issues are properly debated and discussed. In fact, the electoral system that Nepal has today is because of the Maoists forced the political parties to opt for proportionate electorate system though the political parties who are manipulating and subverting the democratic process to deny the ethnic minorities and Dalits a fair share want Nepal to revert back to First Past the Post System which produced more symbolic democracy during the King’s regime with almost no representation from the marginalized sections of society. Nepal will have to guard against this onslaught and sinister design of many such political parties which want to follow the Indian pattern which nothing but manipulation of the corporate and caste forces.

Napal started building up institutions for the benefits of Dalits. It has formed various autonomous bodies like National Human Rights Commission, National Dalit Commission and National Women’s Commission. However the effectiveness and efficacy of these Commissions is still questionable including the power they enjoy.

At the World Conference against Untouchability organized by International Humanist and Ethical Union and other organizations from Nepal including Nepal Dalit Commission, a member of Constituent Assembly boasted in glory how they have been able to get the word ‘Dalit’ into Constitution of Nepal unlike India where the official term is ‘scheduled castes’. While the Nepal’s political leadership felt proud of it, there is an inherent danger as I warned many of them during the conference. Our constitutional forefathers were more visionary in this regard. Baba Saheb Ambedkar actually understood the diversity of the untouchable communities and hence all those castes were scheduled for clarity and representation purposes. Some time in boasting one big identity, we ignore the diversity of castes in it and later some communities dominate the entire spectrum while majority of others suffers silently.

While I do not wish to sound negative but the fact is that in popular discourse on Dalits in Nepal, we do not hear much about Mushahars, Mehtars (manual scavengers), Doms, chamars, Halkhors (Ploughman) etc. In fact, I doubt if there is any survey existing on the conditions of these communities who remained most marginalized and untouchable. The dominant discourse of untouchability is led by Kamis i.e. Vishwkarmas who are Lohars (ironsmith) or Darjee (tailors) or Sunars (gold smith). In fact, Nepal’s Dalit commission should look into the gradation of untouchability and decide about it. I do not know whether Vishwakarmas or Sunars in UP and Bihar were ever untouchables because it is these regions which are bordering Nepal and share almost same caste order and traditions. No doubt, Kamis are around 30% of the total Dalit population followed by Sunars and Darjee. The fact is most the leadership in all sector also emerged from these communities too. If all the communities and particularly the most marginalized one do not get fair representation in political structure and government jobs the Dalit movement for a cohesive identity will not grow resulting in the non-represented communities aligning with the power elite becoming pawn in the political chessboard. Nepal will have to focus on communities which are engaged in degraded traditional practices such as manual scavenging, cremating the dead bodies, Badis which is engaged in prostitution and Mushahars. A majority of these communities are completely landless and non-represented. They suffer from internal untouchability too and are thoroughly isolated.

Mr Sita Ram Mandal, the acting chairman of Nepal Dalit Commission actually conceded to me in an interview that many of the marginalized communities are not represented anywhere in Nepal. Mushahars have a fairly large presence in Nepal but highly under represented. He also pointed out that the Mehtar community exists in Nepal but could not provide me any data about their numbers in the entire country. It is important to note whether Nepal has manual scavenging practices or not. It is great if Nepal does not have manual scavenging but if it has then it is the biggest failure of the social movements in Nepal for their inability to get deep into the practice and how to eliminate it.

There is acceptance of Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar in the Dalit movement in Nepal and many claim themselves as Ambedkarite but there are very few among them who want to convert to Buddhism as a change. Most of them want to remain with their caste identities or fight without being religious.  Dr Ambedkar had visited Nepal in 1956 to attend World Buddhist Conference and was very disturbed to see the plight of the untouchables there. He visited many villages and basties in Lalitpur and Deopatan area of Kathmandu and expressed his disappointment. One of the great Dalit leaders Late Mohan Lal Kapali took Dr Ambedkar to various places where living conditions were utterly pathetic. According to Om Prakash Gahatraj, a leading Ambedkarite in Nepal, ‘When Baba Saheb visited Dalit Basti (Area) and saw the worst condition of Dalits, he became angered against the attitude of Nepal Govt. towards Dalits of Nepal. Seeing the anger mood of Baba Sahib, the liaison officer who was associated on behalf of Govt. in the visit reported the anger of Baba Saheb to the Prime Minister of Nepal (Mr. Tanka Prasad Acharya). After the return of Baba Saheb to the Guest House (Sital Nivas), Then Prime Minister Hon. Acharya invited Baba Saheb to his residence to talk about this matter. When Baba Saheb showed his reluctance to go in his residence, Hon Acharya himself came to the Sital Nivas and assured to Baba Saheb to give due attention to the development of Dalits’.

The Dalit movement has not grown independently in Nepal with a clear debrahmanised ideological shape. It will have to ally with other like-minded groups. There is another factor which is religious too. Nepal has remained deeply entrenched to Brahmanical ritualistic beliefs which have become part and parcel of people. There are same regions for defeat of Communist movement as in India because none of them led the social revolt against Brahmanical hierarchy. In the absence of such unambiguous agenda, many times movement falls in the hands of those who may talk of liberation in purely ‘political terms’ but not challenging the social hierarchy and cultural practices which Baba Saheb Ambedkar felt the root cause of oppression of the Dalits.

Maoist leaders like Tilak Periyar accept Ambedkar’s contribution but not ready to accept all his views particularly related to religion. Actually, during my all interaction, I found, this was the most uncomfortable question to all the leaders which they felt that Buddhism has done nothing to emancipate Dalits. The Marxists blamed Ambedkar for failing to understand Marx and taking a religious route ignoring completely the great speech he delivered in Kathmandu in 1956 where he found the point of convergence between Buddha and Marx as well as their differences. Obviously, this issue needs to elaborate separately.

The positive side is that the growth of the leaders particularly women in the Dalit movement. Obviously Nepal is developing two ways. One side, political representation and other side the civil society. The Maoists decry the NGOs as the agent of imperialism but then very much participate in their activities too in the name of social movements. The National Commission for Dalits needs to be strengthened and more resources need to be allocated to such commissions so that they can do independent studies to find out the status of various untouchable communities.

Nepal’s government has been very positive for an international law against caste discrimination unlike the government of India which has always blocked and defamed the organisations. In fact, India never agreed internationally that untouchability exists. This is brazen shamelessness. Whether India or Nepal, they will never shine unless and until all forms of untouchability cease to exists. Dalits in Nepal have no other option than to stand up and seize the opportunity and compel the political forces to accept to their demand and bring strong provisions for protecting their rights and for that they will have to make ideological alliances who stand with their issues through thick and thin leaving aside their ‘political’ manipulations. Most of the people are frustrated with the political class who they feel are compromising to community interest and promoting themselves. Such practices will only go if the movement is strong and compel political forces to act according to community needs and desires. India is shining example of both success stories and failures of the Dalit movement. Nepal can learn from our successes as well as failures.

Such alliances are necessary as political changes in India affect Nepal too and at the moment right wing Hindutva forces too are operative in Nepal. Their agenda is to use the political uncertainity for their purposes and pitch the Dalits against the religious minorities. The VHP chief Ashok Singhal’s statement of converting Nepal to a Hindu country is very much in the minds of people. Therefore, it will be important for the Dalit social movement and political parties to reach beyond mere identity politics and focus on ideological similarities as the circumstances in Nepal are much more favorable towards the Dalits movement and their ideological allies than in India. The political churning and various struggles has created situation whether they will have to come together with likeminded people without losing their identities and ideological positions but with a common minimum programme. 

Demystifying Varanasi

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Varanasi  is rising on the high voltage publicity after Hindutva’s mascot Narendra Modi decided to contest from this place. The supporters of the party and the caste based Indian middle classes all jumped with joy after hearing this decision. People are thinking as if Varanasi would now be converted into Rome or Athens which are historical and of immense religious value. Thousands of pilgrims from different parts of the world actually visit Varanasi every year to the ‘beauty’ of Kashi.  The city remains one of the dirtiest in the country to say the least. The ghats and the gullies are enough to give you food poisoning like any other religious places of India, full of dirt and filth. The only good thing is ‘’invisible’ is the spirited people and their abundant faith on the ‘power’. Despite dirt and filth, they are ready to jump into the river to wash their sins.

Varanasi is the den of the brahmanical elite in India and that is why it has been glamorized. The caste vampire of Brahmanical India is run through the famous Kashi Hindu Vishwidyalaya simply Banaras Hindu University, where the Dalit students still face discriminations at the hands of Dronacharyas in the university.  Mr Modi, Mr Kejriwal and Mr Ajay Rai will only be able to know that and understand the real feeling of ‘neech jaat’ once they have time to visit those students and meet them.

The Ganga of Varanasi is brahmanical in nature. They have hijacked the whole concept of nature worshipping and converted it into a ritualistic money minting machine which is exclusive. It exploits people further particularly to those who have surrendered here meekly to the discriminatory brahmanical divinity. Varanasi typifies what caste mean. You need to see it, research it and must have intellectual honesty which is rarely available in India.  Just board the boat at the Ghats and ask who are the boatmen and you will find the Nishads and Mallahas doing the service. If you go to the Ghat and see who are the people burning the funeral pyre and you will see the Doms, the most untouchable among untouchable communities. If you roam around the streets of Varanasi, you will find hundreds of people from Mehtar or Valmiki community cleaning night-soil, entering into the manhole and cleaning the streets. Such is the power of caste system that the ghats, the pujaris, the temples are the den of Brahmins and Brahmins alone. They arrogate themselves knowing everything about you past, present and future. The ‘Mahaarati’ at the Ganges look very beautiful at night but reflect the dark reality of the caste system. It is an exclusive domain of the Brahmin Pandas and that too the Brahmin men only. You will not find a single woman leading it.

Brahmanical revivalism in India comes through different forms and the biggest it the cultural manifestations which look too good yet are very dangerous. This cultural revivalism in Varanasi happened despite the fact one of the holiest shrines of Buddhists is located in Sarnath, just five kilometer from the main city. None of our mainstream media and political pundits decided to inform the world that Varanasi is famous not just for the polluted Ganges but because Buddha’s historic shrine is located here. Buddha revolted against brahmanical rituals and dominance of a particular caste.

The caste dominance of the Brahmins was established long back. The idea of a particular community could obtain ‘knowledge’ and ‘guide’ the destiny of the community was challenged not just Buddha but thousands years later in the same land by great saints like Kabir and Ravidas. Both refused to accept the brahmanical wisdom and finality of the religious texts. Kabir also followed the Eklavya traits to get the ‘wisdom’ from Ramananda, who refused to be his teacher since he was not ‘twice born’. This was the ‘greatness’ of brahmanical Varansi that people were discriminated on the basis of their castes and that still persists, education was out of bound for shudras and dalits.

Kabir challenged the supremacy of the Brahmins who had propagandized that anyone who died in Varanasi would go to ‘heaven’. Kabir went to die in Magahar, a place now developed as Sant Kabir Nagar by Ms Mayawati during her tenure. In fact, it is under her tenure that the Buddhists places and all those spaces were developed and revived which challenged the brahmanical supremacy. Unfortunately, Samajwadi party did not have anything to do with such cultural projects which could have challenged brahmanical revivalism. The real threat to brahmanical supremacy came from Buddha and at later stage by Kabir, Nanaka, Ravidas and others. If you die at Magahar, the Brahmins ‘disclosed’, you will go to hell. Why such a thought was developed? Who are the people who want us to believe that dying in a dirty Ganga send you to ‘heaven’ and at Magahar to ‘hell’.  According to many Buddhist scholars, it was because both Kabir and Ravidas were actually saints of Buddhist traditions and revolted against brahmanical hierarchy and superstition that it brought. Moreover, Magahar was also a place attributed as a Buddhist one and biggest aim of the Brahmins that time was to denigrate Buddhism and all those places related to it.

It is deplorable how a superstition is being ‘commercialized’ and defended in the name of ‘culture’. ‘Maa’ ‘Ganga’ I apologise from you’, said Modi. Yes, Modi did not have a big heart to apologize to human beings who were killed in Gujarat in 2002. He has no word of apology for anything wrong that he speak but he apologize to Ganga for his ‘inability’ to ‘wash’ his ‘sins’. Obviously both Kejriwal and Ajai Rai too are the same people who will wash their ‘sins’ strengthening the same brahmanical tradition which was challenged by none other than revolutionary Saint Ravi Das who said ,’ Man Changa to Katauti me Ganga’ which means If your heart is pure, Ganga reside there, you do not need to take a dip to ‘cleanse’ yourself. You need purity of heart and mind Mr Modi. Maybe a few lines of Ravidas and Kabir will give them some knowledge about the importance of these places which are not just brahmanical status quoists but the biggest revolt against them also emerged from here.

That is why it is important to remember Kabir who rejected the advice of the Brahmin to remain in Varanasi to die. He decided to go to Magahar, a place about 150 kilometer away, where he ultimately died. Both Varanasi and Magahar have a huge number of ‘bunkar’ community people, the Ansaris. Unfortunately, with religious rituals dominated among them, Kabir became irrelevant for most of them since he challenged the religious orthodoxy and was equally vociferous against the bad practices among Muslims and caste practices among them. He revolted both against the Mullahas and Brahmins and believed in humanist values of equality and fraternity. That is why a person like Kabir is not wanted to Muslims and Hindus both because he had the courage to speak against their wrong practices. In the Sarva dhrama business of Gandhi, we all have become habitual of ‘great’ religious and ‘cultural’ practices, the ‘Ganga- Jamuni tehjeeb’. Yes, the same Ganga Jamuni Tehjib that unites Hindus and Muslims, actually make them arrogant followers of their caste identities and practice hierarchical system in their societies.

It is so sad that when we are invoking the spirit of Varanasi, it is the spirit of division based on your birth that we are portraying. We are portraying superstition as culture in the name of tradition linking to Varanasi. Shockingly, Indian elite class will go to Hindu Mahant, Babas to talk about unity and equality. Whether they oppose Modi or not, a Shankarcharya will never agree to sit with a Dalit or accept a Dalit or Shudra woman equal to him.  It is not amusing therefore that the legacy of Buddha, Kabir and Nanaka has been fraudulently ignored by the brahmanical media.

Narendra Modi has been emphasizing a lot on being a chaiwallah, a tea seller. Indian media jumped on his rhetoric terming them ‘great’ speeches. Now, he is addressing ‘Ganga ma’ purely to ‘targeted’ audiences to polarize the voters. He is claiming to be a ‘neech’ ‘jaati’ who has been wronged. It is not unusual for Modi to make such speeches which after some days, if we analyse, will find shockingly distasteful. When he was invited to speak at a programme organized by the Balmikis in Gujarat, Modi wanted to show how closely he is associated with Balmikis and he wrote a book and said,’ the manual scavenging work gives a lot of spiritual feeling’. I do not know why he need to come to Varanasi to get that spiritual feeling by dipping in Ganga, better do an ‘spiritual experience’ in Ahmedabad itself.

Finally, let us be clear that no tea seller in India belong to a ‘neech’ ‘jaati’ or lower caste. Most of them are upper backward communities who were never treated as untouchables. I would just like him to show us a single tea shop or a dhaba, run by a Balmiki or Mehtar both in Gujarat and his new constituency of spiritualism named as Varanasi. It is not possible in the model of Varanasi and Gujarat which are being projected to us by the media as well as those devotees of ‘Modi’ as well as ‘secularism’. Question is such great places with purely caste hierarchical system operating wonderfully, even if you get a dhaba being operated by a Dalit, you will not find customers for them. It is not without reason that most of the Dhabas in Varanasi do offer you ‘chai’ in ‘kulhars’ or plastic cups so that the dhaba owners is saved from washing the cups of ‘every one’ including ‘neech-jaat’ people too. Brahmanical Varanasi is growing because of ‘democracy’ of the dominants that  romanticize the religious rituals which were challenged by great revolutionaries like Kabir and Ravidas, whose ideas are the biggest obstacles along with one Rahul Sankrityayan from Azamgarh, for the Hindutva’s unfinished agenda of Hindu Rastra based on caste hierarchy. It is this tradition of revolt against the ‘varnashram dharma’ that we need to provoke and invoke for a strong democratic secular India.

Ambedkar’s ideology is the only way for Dalit liberation in Nepal: Om Prakash Gahatraj

In conversation with Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Om Prakash Gahatraj is an encyclopedia of Ambedkarite movement in Nepal. I mentioned Ambedkarite movement particularly as he was associated with a vetran leader Mohan Lal Kapali who took Baba Saheb Ambedkar to various Dalit basties in Kathmandu when he visited there to attend the World Buddhist Conference in 1956.  He worked in different capacities with the government of Nepal to help them on various issues related to Dalits and their uplift.

                                                                                                                                          

          He is now engaged in Dalit movement of Nepal. He is also the Chief editor of “Pratinidhi” tri-monthly literary Dalit Magazine published in 80s. Writer of the Biography of Mr. Mohan Lal Kapali (Senior Leader of Dalit Movement) published by DNF/ESP. Published many articles in leading newspapers, journals etc. He spoke to Vidya Bhushan Rawat on various issues concerning the Ambedkarite Dalit movement in Nepal.

VB : You mentioned yesterday about the visit of Dr Ambedkar in 1956. It is interesting to see how the Nepali Dalit community welcomed Baba Saheb on his visit. I would like to listen from you a little more about this visit and who were the people who hosted him and which places did he visit. What did he advise to the people.

OM :   The Govt. of Nepal and Buddhist Group hosted Dr. Ambedkar. He visited Dalits areas (dwellings) specially Deopatan (Pasupati Temple Area), Sahagal (Lalitpur), Dhalku-Chettrapati( Kathmandu) and Bhaktapur. After looking the worst conditions of Dalits, he advised Dalits to go in struggle in large scale for emancipation from this condition.

VB : Where did he stay ? Who were the people who invited him ? 

OM:  The Govt. of Nepal and Buddhist Group invited Dr. Ambedkar  to play vital role to make success of Buddist Conference in Kathmandu on 1956. He stayed in Sital Nivas (Govt. Guest House- Presently President House).

VB: Baba Saheb redefined Buddhism in India. He felt it was the only way out for the emancipation of the untouchables. Did Buddhism play same emancipatory role in Nepal for untouchables or they have been culturally religiously remained Hindus. Is there any movement to carry this message of Baba Saheb in Nepal?

OM: As far I know no Buddhist did campaign in Nepal to emancipate Dalits from this caste based discrimination. They are remained religiously limited and very rarely they speak for equality in their religious speech. We social workers do movement to carry messages of Baba Saheb in Nepal. 

VB: According to your narratives of life of Mohan Lal Kapaliji, Baba Saheb also visited Pashupatinath temple. Are you sure of it? Is there any photograph available? What was his reaction to visit there?  Did he express his desire or it was the local community leaders who wanted him to go there.

OM:  The major area of Dalits was in Deopatan which is the area of Pasupati Temple. Formerly it was called Deopatan Area and now it is called Pasupati Area.  Dr. Ambedkar visited that area to see the condition of Dalits not to worship Pasupati Temple. On the way he saw Pasupati Temple being in the same locality of Dalits but did not worship. Even today there are thousands of Dalits living there. Neither the Dalit leaders wanted him to go there nor was his desire, it was on the way so he saw it.

VB: I can understand the pain Baba Saheb Ambedkar felt deeply disturbed on seeing the conditions of Dalits in Nepal. What was his initial reactions and what advise did he give to the people here. 

OM:  Dr. Ambedkar was angered with the behavior of Nepal Government towards Dalits of Nepal and said he was betrayed by the leaders of Nepal while talking in Delhi about Dalits of Nepal. After returning from the visit the leader of the team of Dalit leaders Mr. Saharsanath Kapali (Eldest brother of Mr. Mohan Lal Kapali) gave tea reception in honor of Baba Sahib at the Sital Nivas.  At the reception Baba Sahib called on Dalits of Nepal to go on struggle for rights.  

VB: You mentioned that Baba Saheb wanted to meet the prime minister but when the PM came to know about Dr Ambedkar's wish to meet him. He himself came to Sheetla Bhavan. Could you elaborate of that meeting? Did the PM give any particular assurance to Dr Ambedkar.

OM: I never mentioned that Baba Saheb wanted to meet the prime minister. When Baba Saheb visited Dalit Basti (Area) and saw the worst condition of Dalits, he became angered against the attitude of Nepal Govt. towards Dalits of Nepal. Seeing the anger mood of Baba Sahib, the liaison officer who was associated on behalf of Govt. in the visit reported the anger of Baba Saheb to the Prime Minister of Nepal (Mr. Tanka Prasad Acharya). After the return of Baba Saheb to the Guest House (Sital Nivas), Then Prime Minister Hon. Acharya invited Baba Saheb to his residence to talk about this matter. When Baba Saheb showed his reluctance to go in his residence, Hon Acharya himself came to the Sital Nivas and assured to Baba Saheb to give due attention to the development of Dalits.

VB: Where is Ambedkarite movement in Nepal ? What have been their achievements ? Could you share with us the role of Mohan Lal Kapali ji in promoting Ambedkarism and strengthening the Dalit movement in Nepal.

OM:  Ambedkarite movement is run by most of Dalit leaders not by non Dalits till now

in Nepal. Late Mr. Mohan Lal Kapali run Ambedkarite movement throughout his life in Nepal. We were also educated and informed about Baba Saheb from him. Now most of Dalit leaders in Nepal are convinced that Dr. Baba Saheb’s philosophy is only the way to get rid of caste based discrimination.

VB: What has the the civil society role in Nepal to eliminate discrimination against Dalit. Is there solidarity among various movements in Nepal with the cause of Dalit rights?

OM:  There is a little role of the civil society in Nepal to eliminate discrimination against Dalit. There is solidarity among various movements in Nepal with the cause of Dalit rights.  But most of the civil society organizations are led by Bramins so there is some problems to be done the work by heart.

VB: What is the status of Dalits in Nepal? Is there affirmative action on part of government for the Dalits in Nepal ?

OM:  No one Dalit is in the council of Ministers even today whereas Dalit’s population according to Govt. statistics is more than 13.2 %. Only one Dalit is Chief District Officer out of 75. Out of 601 Constituent Assembly members, only 41 Members are from Dalit community. There is less than one % Dalit recruitment in the Govt. civil service. There is very little affirmative action in the laws that too very poor implementation because all the top leaders of major political parties are Brahmins. They do not like to lose the existing opportunities of their families.

VB: Nepal has outlawed untouchability but discrimination against Dalits and practice of untouchability is prevalent. How does the government handle them? What is the role of NHRC and National Dalit Commission in all this. Do they have power to summon and dismiss the officials who are found violating the law of the land?

OM:  NHRC only can recommend to Govt to implement the laws. National Dalit Commission is not constitutional body so it has no power. It can only request to the concerned agency to provide justice. But the stakeholders so far are showing a deaf ear. The Govt. has assigned the job of over-throughing this problem to Dalits itself through National Dalit Commission and Dalit Development Committee. Non Dalits are not interested in this job.

VB:  How strong is the role of left organisations or parties in strengthening the Dalit movement in Nepal? Are they considered to be friend or allies? How do Ambedkarite organization, if there are any, consider them. What do you think has been the role of the Maoists in fighting for the rights of the Dalits in your country?

OM:  All they are using Dalits for their own and throw them into the garbage after use. This is reality. Most of the leaders of left parties also are Brahmins so it is easy to understand the reality.

 VB:  Are political parties ready to give fair representations in their structure or they still want to continue with patronizing attitude?

OM: They are giving very less representation to Dalits but not in decision making level in their parties to show inclusion to donors.

VB: What is the way out to eliminate caste discrimination and untouchability?

OM:  The only way out to eliminate caste based discrimination and untouchability is to follow Dr. Ambedkar’s philosophy “Be educated, Be organized and Do struggle”.

Democracy as legitimization of Jat terror in Haryana

Dalits of Bhagana village seek justice for rape victims

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Rape as an instrument of caste dominance

On March 23^rd when India remembers one of its greatest sons Bhagat Singh for his supreme sacrifice for the nation, in Haryana (unfortunately it was part of undivided Pepsu province when Bhagat Singh was executed) four Dalit girls belonging to Dhanak community were abducted from their village by five Jat boys of the same village at 8 in the evening. The girls were going out to fetch water in the evening and they would a white colored car rushing towards them and grabbed them inside the car. All four lost consciousness after getting drugged and raped. Next morning they found themselves at Bhatinda Railway station in neighboring Punjab State in utterly humiliating conditions but they were helpless as they did not know any one and had nothing with them.

The Sarpanch of the village was aware of the incident and was waiting for the families to contact him for ‘help’. After the families got intimation of the disappearance of the girls, all in their teens, the villagers went to the Sarpanch Rakesh who ‘assured’ them that all the girls would return their home by next day. The parents of the girls asked him to help otherwise they would file an FIR in the police station but he was just not ready to help them. Finally, when the villagers and parents of the girls threatened that they were going to lodge the FIR against the disappearance of the girls that the Sarpanch Rakesh and his uncle Virendra informed them that all the girls were at Bhatinda Railway station in Punjab which was about 170 kilometer away from their place. Sarpanch Rakesh accompanied with his uncle Virendra and others left in a car towards Bhatinda and found the girls exactly at the place where the Sarpanch had mentioned to them which clearly indicate that he had known everything in advance. They were terrified and in very bad shape. Immediately, they returned to their home. On their way back home, the Sarpanch stopped the vehicle in Hisar for a ‘tea break’ and put the girls in a room on the first floor. After some time, he went up in the rooms of these girls and threatened them with dire consequences if they speak anything about the incident.

An Administration with caste loyalties

The girls narrated the nightmare to their family persons who decided to go for a medical test of them and fight back. The Jats knew it well that hurting an Indian woman is easier as she would not go for the medical test but these girls have shown extraordinary courage to get justice. The medical test was done at Civil Hospital, Hisar on March 25^th. The callous and crude attitude of the doctors at the hospital was visible when they should have taken utmost care of the girls and their families, they were not attended. The families of these children who are in their teens actually reached the Civil hospital by 10 am but the by 1130 pm only one girl could be ‘officially’ ‘checked’. The parents blamed the Superintendent of Police Manisha Chaudhury for not supporting them and threatened them. Strange but true that in India your gender does not matter but your caste identities more than that. The entire ‘medical’ process was completed by mid-night at 1.30 am. No effort was made by the authorities to assure the families of justice. Instead they were asked not to report till last moment. At 2.30 am in the night the SSP Manisha Chaudhury took them for ‘statement’ in front of the ‘judicial magistrate’ under section 164. They were let off after that in mid night when it was raining heavily.

I have seen the documents. Both the FIR and the medical reports are written carelessly. The doctor’s reports are written in highly ‘medical’ language. Poor people may not know what has happened and what has the doctor said in the report. By the time, they come to know, the time is lost. Most of the cases in India have collapsed in the court of law due to negligence by the police and medical authorities. It is not just negligence but purely caste prejudices. It is shameful when India’s women’s movement was trying to hoodwink us that ‘women’ have no castes, the fact is caste and religious identities are more powerful in India than being a ‘woman’ identity and Haryana’s Dalit women have not got that much support from Indian middle classes, women’s movement who were shouting loud at top of their voices after December 16^th. It became a pilgrimage for everyone to refer to us about their relations with the ‘movement’ which was purely casteist and communal. Why the nation does not show same kind of restlessness for mass rapes due to caste and communal violence? Is it because the victims are Dalits, Aadivasis and Minorities?

In the meanwhile the victims of Bhagana returned to mini secretariat in Hissar after recording their statement as they were neither in a position to return home nor are they willing to go back there now. There was no consolation, no show of strength by a lady officer. Rather, they were scolded and rebuked. Over 200 villagers have been protesting in the mini secretariat in Hissar for the past two years for the economic social boycott imposed by the Jats on them. The fact is that it was the aim of the Jats to throw the entire community away from the village.  The police and administration ultimately filed an FIR on March 25^th in the evening but the police did not name the Sarpanch Rakesh and his uncle Virendra in it who are actually the masterminds of the entire operation. Where are our anti rape laws which we have been so powerfully speaking about?

Bhgana’s Dalit families had marched to Delhi last year as on May 21^st 2012 they have been thrown away from their village. In the hot summer they came bare-chested when the Jats of the village had imposed an economic sanction on them. It was clear that the Jats were not very happy with the growing assertion and ‘happiness’ of the Dalits. They were cheated first as Rs 1000/- was collected from them in the name of land allotment but that never happened. Huge village land is available in Haryana everywhere but the Jats are forcing the government not to distribute it to the Dalits particularly to the Dhanuks and Balmikis. When the Chudhas, Dhanuks, Dhedhs (all the most marginalized Dalit communities) raised question about their land rights, the Jats threatened with the same consequences like some other communities like Chamars and Kumhars.  

Shockingly, the Haryana government of Bhupendra Singh Hooda filed a case of sedition against one of the activist fighting for the rights of the Dalits. It happened with the Dalits were protesting against the callousness of the administration and burnt the effigies of the chief minister. Rather than compensating the Dalits the government and political parties across the spectrum have not taken care of their issues. Dalits are not allowed to visit the temples too if they wish to. Bhagana village’s incident is not alone, the Jats and their Khaps are a threat to very essence of democracy. Now the Khaps of over 58 villages have asked government not to distribute village communal land to Dalits. Actually, the real cause of tension between the Jats and the Dalits is the war between them for the land rights. The land reform have absolutely been failed by the powerful peasantry in India and in the Jat heartland of Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh as well as Rajasthan. The Dalits have been demanding their land rights for years but the Jat resistance is so powerful that no political party is ready to take up the issue for them.

The Dalits of village Bhagana have been on a protest sitting at the Mini Secretariat for over two years and now the police is forcibly evicting them.  They came to Delhi and sat on Jantar Mantar in the hope that something would materialize but nothing happened. Now this atrocious and heinous crime against Dalit women in Haryana and things are not moving.

Haryana is a classic case of how Indian democracy function and how India really remained unchanged as far as social structure is concerned in our villages. A story very similar to other ‘progressive states’ such as Gujarat, Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh where such kind of economic and social boycott have been a tool in the hands of powerful peasantry to demolish and crush the very identity and dignity of the people.

While the Dalits who remain at the receiving end in Haryana and elsewhere at the hands of Jaats have got nothing but powerful Jaats have been given OBC status. It is shameful that such a powerful and landed community is given such a status which is a clear violation of basic decency of political life. Jats have never considered them as OBC and always took pride in their being Aryan Jamindars, a term which others may not like.

Jantar Mantar’s irony

At the Jantar Mantar, I speak to Jagdish, a young Dalit activist and other elders from village Bhagana who are sitting on the protest from April 16^th. The young girls and their parents are there. Most of them are covered. How a tragic that those who commit crime walks openly while those who are victimized have to hide their faces. No police protection, no compensation, no assurances so far. The pain and anger is visible in their eyes as they are fed up with preaching and assurances by ‘leaders’. An old man walks in and begins the conversation in a very ‘informed’ way. ‘You should do ‘this,’ ‘that’ and involve activists, people, media’ in your efforts. ‘You must fight’, he says. This is the battle of dignity of women of India. By this time Jagdish loses his temper, ‘Who are you’, he asks.  The old man replies that he was part of December 16^th ‘revolution’. It was disgusting to see such idiotic brahmanical mannerism when we all know that the incidents in Haryana need more serious attention of the nation. Jagdish cry at him,’ Yes, Nirbhaya was an upper caste girl so you have pain for her sufferings but what about our sisters who face this humiliation at daily level in Haryana? Where are the people? We are Hindus when you need our vote but Dhanuks when we want to fetch water from the well and where is the media? Why don’t they come and support. Kejriwal belong to Hisar but did not even bother to visit them despite of the fact that we met him once and he absolutely had no assurances for us. No political party including BSP has shown any interest on this issue in these times of politics. Now, some of his colleagues even defended Khap Panchayats even knowing the fact that they have only one meaning in Haryana which is denigrate and humiliate Dalits at all cost. It is not just inter- caste marriages which is being opposed by these Khapists, they have become law unto themselves. Now they are challenging the very essence of being a Dalit. They do not want them to be in their village. If you have to live in the village work as labours and slaves where anything could happen to you and state apparatus would not do anything. The writ of Indian constitution does not work there. Jantar Mantar gives us false hope as it only listens to the brahmanical lies and not to the pains and agony of the Dalits. Jantar Mantar keeps us under the wrong impression that this country is a ‘secular socialist democratic republic’ where we have allowed protests but have we resolved those issues?

Yesterday some students of JNU protested in front of Haryana Bhavan. They will protest for a few more days. We all will get tired with it. We will start thinking them as burden. The state has this habit of making them burden by delaying things so after some time the victim accuse those who stand with them as things do not move accordingly.

Internationalize the issue:

Where do we go? India’s parliamentary democracy has failed Dalits. It has given  some of them political representation and some more government jobs, much lower than their actual percentage but it has only tried to coopt them into the structure and did not give them right to live on their own conditions. The National Human Rights Commission, The National Commission for Women, The National Commission for Schedule Castes and the National Commission for Safai Karmcharis, all are autonomous bodies but look helpless and are like any other ‘sarkari’ department. Their working pattern is similar to other government agencies and hence do not really give us hope though for small cases they can do wonders. The state of India is helpless to the Manuwadis violent gangs in the name of social identities. Harayana is India’s biggest scandal not in terms of land dealings but in terms of social chaos and politics of dominance. International agencies, human rights bodies must act. It is time to question India on all the international forums for its inability to implement rule of law in Haryana. The Dalits in Haryana have not got justice. Dalits have not got justice elsewhere. You count any massacre in India of Dalits where they have got justice? The Andhra Pradesh High Court has released all the accused of the Tsunduru violence which was one of the worst massacre of Dalits in Andhra Pradesh. Lakshmanpur Bathe and Bathani Tola in Bihar, Kumher in Rajasthan, caste victims of Dharmapuri, Bant Singh in Punjab etc have got no justice so far. It look justice eludes Dalits in India.

India’s integrity is at stake? India’s constitution is at stake. There is no point celebrating these fake ‘dramas’ of ‘democracy’ when we do not allow our people to live in dignity. It is disgusting, shameful and unbearable. I am writing India because Indian governments look helpless the powerful Jat lobby. It is not the question of which government comes to power in Delhi. Question is whether the Dalits in the villages will have right to live with dignity in their villages. Haryana’s Dalits are seeking the answers from Indian state. It is time the institutions of Indian state function and provides justice to these girls of Dalit community who have become victim of the tyranny of the arrogant upper castes who are roaring for a new set of government which could be anti Dalits. It is the same tyrannical caste which played havoc in Mujaffarnagar and got scot free. It is time to implement the constitution of India in the Jat land otherwise no point in boasting your power of a mighty nation when the original inhabitant of India cannot live in their own country with dignity and respect. 

Democracy as legitimization of Jat terror in Haryana

Dalits of Bhagana village seek justice for rape victims

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Rape as an instrument of caste dominance

On March 23^rd when India remembers one of its greatest sons Bhagat Singh for his supreme sacrifice for the nation, in Haryana (unfortunately it was part of undivided Pepsu province when Bhagat Singh was executed) four Dalit girls belonging to Dhanak community were abducted from their village by five Jat boys of the same village at 8 in the evening. The girls were going out to fetch water in the evening and they would a white colored car rushing towards them and grabbed them inside the car. All four lost consciousness after getting drugged and raped. Next morning they found themselves at Bhatinda Railway station in neighboring Punjab State in utterly humiliating conditions but they were helpless as they did not know any one and had nothing with them.

The Sarpanch of the village was aware of the incident and was waiting for the families to contact him for ‘help’. After the families got intimation of the disappearance of the girls, all in their teens, the villagers went to the Sarpanch Rakesh who ‘assured’ them that all the girls would return their home by next day. The parents of the girls asked him to help otherwise they would file an FIR in the police station but he was just not ready to help them. Finally, when the villagers and parents of the girls threatened that they were going to lodge the FIR against the disappearance of the girls that the Sarpanch Rakesh and his uncle Virendra informed them that all the girls were at Bhatinda Railway station in Punjab which was about 170 kilometer away from their place. Sarpanch Rakesh accompanied with his uncle Virendra and others left in a car towards Bhatinda and found the girls exactly at the place where the Sarpanch had mentioned to them which clearly indicate that he had known everything in advance. They were terrified and in very bad shape. Immediately, they returned to their home. On their way back home, the Sarpanch stopped the vehicle in Hisar for a ‘tea break’ and put the girls in a room on the first floor. After some time, he went up in the rooms of these girls and threatened them with dire consequences if they speak anything about the incident.

An Administration with caste loyalties

The girls narrated the nightmare to their family persons who decided to go for a medical test of them and fight back. The Jats knew it well that hurting an Indian woman is easier as she would not go for the medical test but these girls have shown extraordinary courage to get justice. The medical test was done at Civil Hospital, Hisar on March 25^th. The callous and crude attitude of the doctors at the hospital was visible when they should have taken utmost care of the girls and their families, they were not attended. The families of these children who are in their teens actually reached the Civil hospital by 10 am but the by 1130 pm only one girl could be ‘officially’ ‘checked’. The parents blamed the Superintendent of Police Manisha Chaudhury for not supporting them and threatened them. Strange but true that in India your gender does not matter but your caste identities more than that. The entire ‘medical’ process was completed by mid-night at 1.30 am. No effort was made by the authorities to assure the families of justice. Instead they were asked not to report till last moment. At 2.30 am in the night the SSP Manisha Chaudhury took them for ‘statement’ in front of the ‘judicial magistrate’ under section 164. They were let off after that in mid night when it was raining heavily.

I have seen the documents. Both the FIR and the medical reports are written carelessly. The doctor’s reports are written in highly ‘medical’ language. Poor people may not know what has happened and what has the doctor said in the report. By the time, they come to know, the time is lost. Most of the cases in India have collapsed in the court of law due to negligence by the police and medical authorities. It is not just negligence but purely caste prejudices. It is shameful when India’s women’s movement was trying to hoodwink us that ‘women’ have no castes, the fact is caste and religious identities are more powerful in India than being a ‘woman’ identity and Haryana’s Dalit women have not got that much support from Indian middle classes, women’s movement who were shouting loud at top of their voices after December 16^th. It became a pilgrimage for everyone to refer to us about their relations with the ‘movement’ which was purely casteist and communal. Why the nation does not show same kind of restlessness for mass rapes due to caste and communal violence? Is it because the victims are Dalits, Aadivasis and Minorities?

In the meanwhile the victims of Bhagana returned to mini secretariat in Hissar after recording their statement as they were neither in a position to return home nor are they willing to go back there now. There was no consolation, no show of strength by a lady officer. Rather, they were scolded and rebuked. Over 200 villagers have been protesting in the mini secretariat in Hissar for the past two years for the economic social boycott imposed by the Jats on them. The fact is that it was the aim of the Jats to throw the entire community away from the village.  The police and administration ultimately filed an FIR on March 25^th in the evening but the police did not name the Sarpanch Rakesh and his uncle Virendra in it who are actually the masterminds of the entire operation. Where are our anti rape laws which we have been so powerfully speaking about?

Bhgana’s Dalit families had marched to Delhi last year as on May 21^st 2012 they have been thrown away from their village. In the hot summer they came bare-chested when the Jats of the village had imposed an economic sanction on them. It was clear that the Jats were not very happy with the growing assertion and ‘happiness’ of the Dalits. They were cheated first as Rs 1000/- was collected from them in the name of land allotment but that never happened. Huge village land is available in Haryana everywhere but the Jats are forcing the government not to distribute it to the Dalits particularly to the Dhanuks and Balmikis. When the Chudhas, Dhanuks, Dhedhs (all the most marginalized Dalit communities) raised question about their land rights, the Jats threatened with the same consequences like some other communities like Chamars and Kumhars.  

Shockingly, the Haryana government of Bhupendra Singh Hooda filed a case of sedition against one of the activist fighting for the rights of the Dalits. It happened with the Dalits were protesting against the callousness of the administration and burnt the effigies of the chief minister. Rather than compensating the Dalits the government and political parties across the spectrum have not taken care of their issues. Dalits are not allowed to visit the temples too if they wish to. Bhagana village’s incident is not alone, the Jats and their Khaps are a threat to very essence of democracy. Now the Khaps of over 58 villages have asked government not to distribute village communal land to Dalits. Actually, the real cause of tension between the Jats and the Dalits is the war between them for the land rights. The land reform have absolutely been failed by the powerful peasantry in India and in the Jat heartland of Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh as well as Rajasthan. The Dalits have been demanding their land rights for years but the Jat resistance is so powerful that no political party is ready to take up the issue for them.

The Dalits of village Bhagana have been on a protest sitting at the Mini Secretariat for over two years and now the police is forcibly evicting them.  They came to Delhi and sat on Jantar Mantar in the hope that something would materialize but nothing happened. Now this atrocious and heinous crime against Dalit women in Haryana and things are not moving.

Haryana is a classic case of how Indian democracy function and how India really remained unchanged as far as social structure is concerned in our villages. A story very similar to other ‘progressive states’ such as Gujarat, Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh where such kind of economic and social boycott have been a tool in the hands of powerful peasantry to demolish and crush the very identity and dignity of the people.

While the Dalits who remain at the receiving end in Haryana and elsewhere at the hands of Jaats have got nothing but powerful Jaats have been given OBC status. It is shameful that such a powerful and landed community is given such a status which is a clear violation of basic decency of political life. Jats have never considered them as OBC and always took pride in their being Aryan Jamindars, a term which others may not like.

Jantar Mantar’s irony

At the Jantar Mantar, I speak to Jagdish, a young Dalit activist and other elders from village Bhagana who are sitting on the protest from April 16^th. The young girls and their parents are there. Most of them are covered. How a tragic that those who commit crime walks openly while those who are victimized have to hide their faces. No police protection, no compensation, no assurances so far. The pain and anger is visible in their eyes as they are fed up with preaching and assurances by ‘leaders’. An old man walks in and begins the conversation in a very ‘informed’ way. ‘You should do ‘this,’ ‘that’ and involve activists, people, media’ in your efforts. ‘You must fight’, he says. This is the battle of dignity of women of India. By this time Jagdish loses his temper, ‘Who are you’, he asks.  The old man replies that he was part of December 16^th ‘revolution’. It was disgusting to see such idiotic brahmanical mannerism when we all know that the incidents in Haryana need more serious attention of the nation. Jagdish cry at him,’ Yes, Nirbhaya was an upper caste girl so you have pain for her sufferings but what about our sisters who face this humiliation at daily level in Haryana? Where are the people? We are Hindus when you need our vote but Dhanuks when we want to fetch water from the well and where is the media? Why don’t they come and support. Kejriwal belong to Hisar but did not even bother to visit them despite of the fact that we met him once and he absolutely had no assurances for us. No political party including BSP has shown any interest on this issue in these times of politics. Now, some of his colleagues even defended Khap Panchayats even knowing the fact that they have only one meaning in Haryana which is denigrate and humiliate Dalits at all cost. It is not just inter- caste marriages which is being opposed by these Khapists, they have become law unto themselves. Now they are challenging the very essence of being a Dalit. They do not want them to be in their village. If you have to live in the village work as labours and slaves where anything could happen to you and state apparatus would not do anything. The writ of Indian constitution does not work there. Jantar Mantar gives us false hope as it only listens to the brahmanical lies and not to the pains and agony of the Dalits. Jantar Mantar keeps us under the wrong impression that this country is a ‘secular socialist democratic republic’ where we have allowed protests but have we resolved those issues?

Yesterday some students of JNU protested in front of Haryana Bhavan. They will protest for a few more days. We all will get tired with it. We will start thinking them as burden. The state has this habit of making them burden by delaying things so after some time the victim accuse those who stand with them as things do not move accordingly.

Internationalize the issue:

Where do we go? India’s parliamentary democracy has failed Dalits. It has given  some of them political representation and some more government jobs, much lower than their actual percentage but it has only tried to coopt them into the structure and did not give them right to live on their own conditions. The National Human Rights Commission, The National Commission for Women, The National Commission for Schedule Castes and the National Commission for Safai Karmcharis, all are autonomous bodies but look helpless and are like any other ‘sarkari’ department. Their working pattern is similar to other government agencies and hence do not really give us hope though for small cases they can do wonders. The state of India is helpless to the Manuwadis violent gangs in the name of social identities. Harayana is India’s biggest scandal not in terms of land dealings but in terms of social chaos and politics of dominance. International agencies, human rights bodies must act. It is time to question India on all the international forums for its inability to implement rule of law in Haryana. The Dalits in Haryana have not got justice. Dalits have not got justice elsewhere. You count any massacre in India of Dalits where they have got justice? The Andhra Pradesh High Court has released all the accused of the Tsunduru violence which was one of the worst massacre of Dalits in Andhra Pradesh. Lakshmanpur Bathe and Bathani Tola in Bihar, Kumher in Rajasthan, caste victims of Dharmapuri, Bant Singh in Punjab etc have got no justice so far. It look justice eludes Dalits in India.

India’s integrity is at stake? India’s constitution is at stake. There is no point celebrating these fake ‘dramas’ of ‘democracy’ when we do not allow our people to live in dignity. It is disgusting, shameful and unbearable. I am writing India because Indian governments look helpless the powerful Jat lobby. It is not the question of which government comes to power in Delhi. Question is whether the Dalits in the villages will have right to live with dignity in their villages. Haryana’s Dalits are seeking the answers from Indian state. It is time the institutions of Indian state function and provides justice to these girls of Dalit community who have become victim of the tyranny of the arrogant upper castes who are roaring for a new set of government which could be anti Dalits. It is the same tyrannical caste which played havoc in Mujaffarnagar and got scot free. It is time to implement the constitution of India in the Jat land otherwise no point in boasting your power of a mighty nation when the original inhabitant of India cannot live in their own country with dignity and respect. 

Resurrecting Sanjay Gandhi and his politics of hooliganism

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

As media reaches the conclusion about the outcome of the general elections the Sangh Parivar and its excited ‘chhutbhaiyyas’ are competing each other in speak loud and threatening the opponents. One important thing the modern day politics teach us is that those who ride on the chariot of hype are dumped mercilessly by the same forces who are responsible for their rise. The example of Arvind Kejriwal is a pointer as how he was created by media as an alternative and how he has been dumped by the same media because at the moment media magnets and their ‘loudspeakers’ are anointing Narendra Modi as the future of India.

Modi has been hyped by media and its corporate honchos for their own dubious purposes. An image is created as if Modi is India and India is Modi. The ‘tiger’ of India is actually created exactly on the ‘replica’ of Dev Kant Barua’s Indira is India and India is Indira. It was followed by various statements by the ‘opposition’ leaders hailing her as ‘Durga’, most importantly by Atal Vihari Vajpayee, on her role in the liberation of Bangladesh. One must understand that in the post war Indira Gandhi with ‘anti-poverty’ grants under her hands became larger than life hero of the country. The opposition was nothing as India became the very ‘hope’ of India. Criticizing Indira Gandhi became as if someone is challenging the authority of power in Delhi. A number of leaders became her ‘devotees’ and her son Sanjay began to control the party. He was never a political man but more as a muscle man with ‘management’ skills which are needed to ‘win’ elections these days.

Sanjay Gandhi created a whole lot of ‘young’ shouting brigade to run down the opposition and make his ‘image’ as the ‘future’ prime minister of India. He would shout out the old ‘loyalists’ of the party. Many were humiliated in the party and asked to resign. In fact many of the serious issues were not even discussed in the cabinet and ministers were bypassed. The history of imposition of emergency on the night of June 25^th 1975 is well known to be described here when it is said that President Fakruhdin Ali Ahmed just signed the declaration without properly going through it. And after that what the country witnessed was the demolition of its constitutional values and total political anarchy. Sanjay Gandhi unleashed a set of goons on country who would harass individuals who protested against them.

The media was in their control and in 1975 that did not have to do much of the work as Aakashwani and Doordarshan were owned by the government. The newspapers were ‘crawling’ when they were asked to bend, said Lal Krishna Advani when remember those days.

Indira Gandhi depended too much on her ‘chamchas’ and the ‘CBI’ which was jokingly termed as 

‘Congress Bureau of Investigation’ and was used to harass people. She got defeated and even lost her own parliamentary constituency. That was a time when the party has not done anything hurting the poor but the whole issue of ‘PM’s integrity was under the threat. She could not handle the criticism and finally lost her way. The response of the Janata government was much worst and with leaders like Charan Singh and George Fernandese, Indira Gandhi was send to Jail and finally the Janata government fell due to its own contradictions paving the way for Indira Gandhi who sailed through a huge majority. Later, Indira Gandhi’s adviser’s like Vasant Sathe started chanting the mantra of ‘Presidential’ form of Government in United States so that they could rule the country without any hindrances. Vasant Sathe was disturbed with the growing strength of the marginalized communities and felt that it is essential to stop the ‘blackmailing’ through presidential form of the government where votes are sought in the name of leader and President and his ministers are ‘experts’ and not responsible to Parliament. Modi has actually taken a leaf out it and now he is a ‘national’ icon through 24 hours beaming of his rhetoric on our TV channels.

Now, the situation is vastly changed in the post 1990s after the Mandalisation process. Congress is unable to fight and defend the rights of the ‘capitalists’ and Hindu upper castes. In fact, under Sonia it has turned more towards the ‘socialist’ ‘secular’ route though half-heartedly so far but that is the root of Indira’s congress in 1971 when she nationalized Banks, focused on anti-poverty programmes and the most marginalized communities.

Today, what we are witnessing is a revisit to Sanjay Gandhi of those days who was more powerful than the Prime minister. So, Bansi Lal is replaced by an Amit Shah who can manage things here and there. The female brigade around Sanjay Gandhi was powerful and many stories were also published in newspapers but that did not stop him from doing what he wished to do. Coincidently, now with Narendra Modi are ready to even beat up the opponents on the TV channels. The rise of Meenakshi Lekhi, Kiron Kher, Smriti Irani, and Saina NC without any political background is clear replication of Sanjay’s goon brigade who will abuse the opponents and shout them in a much better way would be rewarded. There is a virtual competition between different youngsters particularly these female gang who are ready to go to any extent to accuse, abuse and lynch you on the TV studios or through their writings in the print. Anchors are promoting them and do not ask them tough questions. Now many like Madhu Kishwar and Tavleen Singh have left us without any doubt whether they should be called  journalists or spokesperson of the party.

During emergency in 1975, we criticized the two government channels for not broadcasting the opposition stories but today more than three hundred TV channels and huge number of print media in English and vernacular languages have been hijacked and controlled by the Modi brigade. Modi’s speeches are broadcasted in such way as if they are ‘amritwani’ while all other speeches are shown with an immediate ‘counter’ and ‘rejoinder’. No journalists ever tried to probe Modi. They are in awe with him with just watching him speak. It looks for Rajat Sharma, Madhu Kishwar, Sanjay Putalia and many more, Modi is a demi God and all those who question him are Sonia’s brigade members. It seems he is already the prime minister and media is just afraid of him or the other side of the story may be because of the corporate pressure and goon threats these journalists some of who were always termed as ‘brightest’, ‘ courageous’ , ‘secular’ and who reported from the ground in 2002 have simply shown their true color today.

The trend to create a wave through media has already started. They know that Modi has become larger than life out of nowhere through media. Well known to them is that the negative publicity is also great though media is ready to ‘protect’ and ‘defend’ them. If emergency period of 1975 was considered to be the worst in Indian media world for the pressure played by the government, I can say with firm conviction that 2014 elections will be remembered for how media resorted to lies, deceits, calumny in promoting the Hindutva brigade. At least during emergency we had a Ramnath Goenka, his Indian Express and Statesman which did not surrender to might of the state. This election is radically different. They show that state might has absolutely nothing and being controlled by the media and corporate. Today, it does not look that we have a Prime Minister. If you watch electronic media and print media both, the most powerful person of India is already been declared as Narendra Modi and media is not just crawling but prostrating to Modi humming Namo-Namo. This blatant exhibition of shamelessness and corporate control is basically an indication of what will be the future of our media, freedom of expression and freedom of choices.

Hence Modi is not really a threat. Much more threatening are the forces who are behind him, who planted him on our combined conscious, who created his large ego much bigger than what we have seen. To get their work done they are not going to leave him anywhere. Like Indira Gandhi’s PMO, Modi’s chums in media too want a strong Prime Minister’s office which can take decision without consulting the Parliament and compel the president to sign on dotted lines. Fortunately, we had seen the next day that both Indian Express and Statesman left their front page as blank. Even in 1989, when Rajiv tried to muzzle media through defamation bill there was Indian Express, The Hindu and Statesman which provided us the information but today the scenario is much more disastrous. Now, the editors are openly showing their loyalty and propriety and business ethics have been given a go bye. With the owners directing and guiding there is a scene of despondency inside the newsrooms. Wait for a few days and you will see how many of them will be rewarded for their ‘dutifully’ doing the commands and how many might be thrown away.

That is the ‘terror’ that we have the shouting brigade of Modi on our TV studios like Sanjay Gandhi’s brigade. Some are invited as ‘official’ spokesperson while others are as ‘commentators’ even when we know their open and unambiguous ideological moorings. The media in emergency did fight but today the media has just tamely surrendered to Modi and his team.  They can speak anything. More and more Babas are speaking and none challenge them. No uncomfortable questions to likes of Ramdev and Ravishankar even when their involvement and political campaigning is well known. The bureaucracy it seems is ‘reporting’ to Modi and not to the PM. It does not look we have a PM today. It is actually indicative of how things are going to happen.

When, Giriraj Singh, the BJP leader in Bihar said in the presence of Nitin Gadakari that all those who oppose Modi would be send to Pakistan. The party continues to support those who were responsible for instigating the violence in Muzzaffarnagar. Many of them have been fielded. Amit Shah was made in charge of Uttar-Pradesh. One does not know what is the political qualification of Shah for a politically conscious state of Uttar-Pradesh which gave India, a majority of its prime ministers?  Though they might ‘deny’ but what action has the parivar taken against Praveen Togadia for his fulminations. He is openly threatening to the Muslims and seculars and yet our media keep quiet or try to project them in a different way. The Ram Sena gang of Manglore is not sitting silent but waiting for their right moment. They are part and parcel of the entire saffron culture. Who can forget the two twin brothers of Maharastra. There will more such senas and army which will provide the ‘instant’ justice on the streets. And nothing will happen to them as the ‘team’ of Modi is ready to lynch them further on TV studios actively supported by the spineless anchors and reporters. Yes, their spine is gone.

These voices are not isolated. They know it well that they would be awarded. The idiocies of Swamy, Ramdev, Pramod Muttalick, Pramod Togadia are not just a matters of joke but serious matter inside the Sangh Parivar and their philosophy of hatred. At this time, they have active support from the corporate who are determined to make Modi the prime minister of India and then grab all our natural resources. If you have seen the recent statement by  Mr Amitabh Kant, DIPP secretary was worried that the new act has made impossible for land acquisition. He said, ‘"Land acquisition for roads, ports and similar other economic activities has not been happening ever since the new Land Acquisition Act came into being," Kant said. "A number of road and port projects are stuck up on account of the Act and there is an urgent need to fast-track road and port projects, which can be possible when necessary amendments are made to it.’

So with Hindutva and corporate going hand in hand, India will have tough times in the coming days as the biggest and most scandalous part being played by the corporate goons is to hide information, create new information suitable to their interest, shut and intimidate those who speak for their rights. Indian threw the emergency out in 1975 and after that none dared to do so but now we have similar situation. We do not need to wait as things are visible in the air and the gangs are ready to lynch you at every forum. With Namo Namo on their lips, you cannot expect anything from the paid media so we have a bit hope with social media and it will be under severe pressure and constraints as through paid media attempt will be made to curtail our freedom and shoot the messengers. Sanjay Gandhi could do nothing in his life time afterwards but Sangh Parivar has revived his politics and ‘thought’ for their own purposes. It is not the time to fear but fight and ally with like-minded people with deep faith in secular pluralistic India. Whatever is the result, we can see the trends. We still have time to defeat such forces who are not bothered about the people of this country for their narrow political sectarian goals. Idea of India is under the threat and we need to respond united now.