CP Bhambhri
February 06, 2016
India: The Dalit question as answer to Hindutva (CP Bhambri)
The Tribune - February 1, 2016
CP Bhambhri
The
suicide of a Dalit research scholar, Rohith Vemula of University of
Hyderabad, has once again brought into sharp focus at an all-India level
the central issue of rigid social, caste-based hierarchical structure
of Hindu society. It has also highlighted the antagonistic contradiction
between the assertive Dalit social movements and the political ideology
of Hindu Sangh parivar and the BJP governments at the Centre and in
various states. The Sangh parivar claims proprietary rights on ancient
Indian classics, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, Vedas, and the Smritis.
It is asking every Hindu to go back to the Vedas for knowledge and
spiritual inspiration.
However, notable Dalit scholars like Jyotiba Phule and B.R.Ambedkar have
disowned the ancient Hindu classics that they perceive as the fountain
source of the origin and genesis of the pernicious Brahmanical
caste-based social order. The real victims of that have been Gandhi's
Harijans, the Scheduled Castes or Dalits. The Sangh parivar, as a
self-appointed champion of ancient classics, has mobilised Brahmin caste
priests, Shankaracharyas and Sanskrit scholars to propagate the "Hindu
values" as laid down by these shastras. Powerful central and state
governments of the BJP have left no stone unturned in the implementation
of rituals associated with Brahmanical Hinduism. Every school in the
states governed by the BJP has been asked to perform Surya Namaskar,
Saraswati puja and recite the Gayatri Mantra.
On February 12, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address 1,100
principals of RSS-run senior secondary schools in Delhi. The RSS has a
definite agenda of managing educational institutions to create Hindu
citizens with Hindu values. Vidya Bharti of the RSS is actively engaged
in this task and 56 senior and committed pracharaks are engaged in the
project of Hinduisation of education. This RSS project of Hinduisation
of education is fully supported by the BJP governments and Prime
Minister Narendra Modi. It has brought university and college-based
Dalit ideologues and activists in direct clash with them. This is the
explanation for the all-India turmoil triggered by Rohith’s suicide.
If the ABVP, the BJP’s student wing is an all-India organisation
established in every campus, so is its opponent the Dalit Student
Organisation. The Dalit students oppose the programmes and ideology of
the RSS-ABVP. Kanchan Illiah and Dalit student leaders have openly
declared: “Teach us English and teach Sanskrit to the children of
upper-caste Hindus”. The Narendra Modi Government has provided huge
funds for the development of Sanskrit studies and departments generally
consisting of Brahmin and high-caste Hindu faculty members. The goal is
to propagate Hindu values in educational institutions by teaching
Sanskrit and and Indian classics. Dalit students want modern education
and for them, English language and not Sanskrit is the vehicle of
learning science and modern areas of knowledge.
The opposition to Sanskrit is linked with the rejection of the Hindutva
of the Sangh parivar which is the champion of teaching of Vedas through
Sanskrit for establishing Hindu ideological hegemony. Under the
protective umbrella of the BJP government, not only cow slaughter, even a
suspicion or rumour of eating beef has evoked violent responses by
cow-protection samitis and many anti-Muslim riots have taken place.
Dalit students have reacted against the BJP’s Hindutva agenda and
symbolically “beef-eating feasts” were announced on the campuses by the
Dalit students. They were opposing the imposition of Brahmanical food
habits by the Sangh parivar ideologues.
Dalits find themselves in contradiction with the Sangh parivar and the
BJP’s Hinduisation project. A new Dalit consciousness has emerged in
Indian society and Dalit intellectuals, artists and activists are
challenging the old caste-based Hindu social order. The Ramayana and the
Mahabharata are being re-interpreted by Dalit scholars to substantiate
the argument that the classics have enough material to justify
caste-based oppression. Ambedkar's call for "annihilation of caste" is
an agenda of rejection of anything associated with high-caste Hindus by
the Dalits. The new Dalit movement has made many Dalits "atheists" and
there is rejection of rituals based on religion. This quest for equality
in Hindu caste-based society of the new Dalit groups has made them
raise fundamental questions about the place of religion and the politics
of religion.
The Dalit movement is a “separate” path and they have been compelled to
launch struggles against caste-based institutions. The silver lining is
that new levels of consciousness among Dalits, especially among its
educated vanguard, is shaking the foundations of the inherited,
caste-based social order. The new Dalit leadership must analyse factors
responsible for the perpetuation of caste hierarchy and oppression in
Tamil Nadu, home to a powerful anti-Brahmin movement. There upper and
Backward castes and not Brahmins perpetuate caste oppression.
Can the Dalit leadership draw some lessons for the larger society of
India from the limited social universe of Tamil Nadu? The answer is in
the affirmative. The Dalit leadership understands that the complex
Indian caste question is linked with history and political economy of
India. The Dalit movement alone cannot deal with the challenge of
“caste” without forging alliances with other like-minded, progressive,
secular, intellectual, social and political forces of the country. The
landless agricultural Dalit workers and extremely marginal farmers in an
agrarian society are victims of daily oppression, due to their existing
“situation” in the economy of the country.
Will agrarian social restructuring, which is essential for the
liberation of the Dalit landless labourers, be achieved without making
“anti-BJP” and “anti-upper caste Hindu” political alliances? Caste
hierarchy is not an isolated part of the whole society. The leaders of
the present Dalit movement have to accept the limitations of their
struggle which is disconnected with other progressive struggles. There
is an urgent need to think over this important aspect.
The writer is Professor Emeritus, Centre for Political Studies, JNU
CP Bhambhri