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March 16, 2003
Review: Of dalit upsurge
PROFESSOR A.R. Desai says the Hindu caste system “is the most systematized structure of inequality,founded upon the principle of birth” (Capitalist Development, 1990). But strangely only the Left stands for its abolition. Neither did the Arya Samaj demand that, nor does a modern dalit (oppressed) party, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Gandhi opposed only the untouchability aspect of it, which, he thought, was a distortion of the caste system, while seeing no fault with the Varna itself.
The study under review is the story of the struggle of the dalits or the members of the Hindu lowest caste — pasis, chamars, balmikis, musahars, khatriks — against their marginalization and social degradation in Uttar Pradesh (UP). The author says this struggle came much later than those of the dalits of Maharashtra and Madras because UP was a much poorer state.
That is a valid point because militancy usually rises among the oppressed only when hope appears, as with more prosperity or more freedom. However, another reason could be that UP had had much greater Muslim influence than the other two places mentioned. This had softened the oppression of the dalits compared to the areas where the Hindu upper castes ruled.
The dalits’ struggle was pioneered by Ambedkar in Maharashtra. This had only a mild echo in UP. The Indian constitution also provided for affirmative action to remove the disabilities arising from the membership of a low caste. And the dalits voted thereafter faithfully for the Congress, hoping it would change their condition. The Congress leadership was upper caste. But it did relieve up to some extent the situation of the dalits through political action.
The dalits started organizing themselves for autonomous action in the late fifties and arrived at the “mass” (Bahujan) Social Party in the sixties. They rightly chose the electoral path to gain their rights. Armed struggle is out of the question in a society which holds regular elections, however rigged or distorted.
Secondly, a revolutionary path can be chosen by a class which is is in a majority so that the revolutionary vanguard can hope to ultimately gain the majority’s support. Lastly, revolutionary means are used for revolutionary ends. The dalits only wanted fairer wages and other rights within the existing society, not to change the society fundamentally.
The dalits in UP constitute only one fifth of the population, with a literacy rate of 27 per cent while that of the population as a whole is 44 per cent. They have only ten per cent of the cultivable land.
These “low” castes suffer from a double handicap. As the British super-imposed capitalism upon the traditional society in India, they did not transform the society integrally. As a result, the share of labour power in the economy of the traditional sector is determined often by non-economic instance. For example the balmikis work in public hygiene. As the work is unpleasant, their remuneration should be high. But they are paid lower than the unskilled workers in other fields. This is because their wages are determined not by the rules of capitalism but by those of the traditional, pre-capitalist customs. The three upper castes combine to enforce this custom and the custom, in turn, reinforces the caste system.
The BSP’s strategy has been to first mobilize the dalit votes for the party, then use party combinations within the state assembly in order to form the government or share in it. It has also practiced electoral alliance and even given tickets to Muslims and upper caste Hindus in order to broaden its grassroots base. As a result, it has formed governments in the state in coalition with either the Congress or the BJP. The 2002 elections to the 403-seat state assembly gave BSP 98 seats making it the second biggest party after the SP. The credit for this success was given to the party leader Mayawati, who gave party tickets to 73 upper caste Hindus and 86 Muslims. Most of them lost but the policy brought many non-dalit votes to the party. The BSP is now the senior partner in a coalition with the BJP.
The BSP governments have taken affirmative action in order to give the dalits greater access to education and state jobs.
Of course, the beneficiaries of these measures have been primarily dalits who were already materially above the poorer sections, or who had education. This has caused frictions within the dalit community and the BSP has experienced splits. However, enough benefits have reached the mass of the dalits to keep the BSP’s hold upon it. For example, in the elections of 1999, the party got 22 per cent of the votes, which is the same proportion as the dalit population in the state.
Pai concludes that the BSP “has a number of significant achievements to its credit. It has succeeded in creating awareness among the lower castes of their disadvantaged socio-economic status, played a salient role in accelerating the process of democratization and identity assertion against upper caste domination, provided empowerment ... These changes have qualitatively changed their position vis-a-vis the upper castes”. However she recognizes that the BSP has no agenda and is prepared to work within a system dominated by Brahmanism. “Political power, in short, and not social transformation, according to the BSP, is the key to dalit emancipation”, laments the author, without explaining how emancipation of a minority stratum can be achieved without state power, even at the state level.
Gail Omvedt, a sociologist, places the Indian dalit movement in the context of “the crisis of Marxism” on one side and “the obvious crises in capitalism in some of its central countries”, on the other, calling it one of the “new social movements”. (Journal of Contemporary Asia, 1994, Vol. 24, 1)
She says that while capitalism is destroying the Earth, the class-based Marxist theory is inadequate to explain our problems. Therefore, new liberation movements of peasants, women, dalits, etc rise to tackle specific problems of oppression. She defines them as a democratic revolution. However, she does not distinguish between reformist movements, which aim at solving social problems within the existing order and the revolutionary ones which want to change the order. The dalit movement in UP is reformist.
Professor Pai levels the same charge at the BSP saying it has neither an ideology nor an agenda.
Actually, it has an ideology — the embourgeoisement of the upper crust of the dalits, and it has an agenda, namely, to achieve it through the existing political structure of India. Therefore, what Pai calls “the unfinished democratic revolution” will be completed through a host of reformist movements, each addressing a specific, regional, class or stratum problems”.
The book is devoted entirely to the political process, descending, at times, into long descriptions of parliamentary manoeuvring and wheeling-dealing. It ignores the economic bases of the problem, although the author acknowledges that the dalits’ discontent has economic roots.
Dalit Assertion and the Unfinished Democratic Revolution: Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh
By Sudha Pai
Sage Publications, B-42, Panchsheel Enclave, Post Box 4109, New Delhi-110017, India
Tel: 91-11-2649 1290-7
Email: marketing@indiasage.com Website:
www.indiasage.com
ISBN 0-7619-9627-3
265pp. Indian Rs295
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