The determined bid by Christian evangelists to take caste-based discrimination in India to the UN World Conference against Racism (WCAR) has inspired leftists, liberals and human rights activists into a frenzy of verbiage and sanctimoniousness. Yet, for all the anti-caste rhetoric we have been subjected to these past few months, nothing substantial has emerged to assuage bruised Dalit consciousness and offer a way out of the vicious cycle of caste-based violence that has undeniably increased in recent times. Hence, while the run up to Durban has put the international spotlight on the Dalit issue, there has been no internal soul-searching on the question.
This is sad, as India has an ancient tradition of concern for the lower castes, and has not needed finger-pointing by outside nations or faiths to prod her consciousness in this regard. At least since the time of the Alvars, the bhakti saints have worked assiduously to raise the status and lifestyles of lower caste groups. In modern times, Sri Aurobindo and others argued passionately against the exclusion of one-sixth of the nation from social equality and fraternity. Mahatma Gandhi sought to invest the Untouchables with dignity by making upper caste inmates of his ashrams clear night soil. Throughout the freedom struggle, Congress was sensitive to the problem of the lower castes.
It is therefore strange to find present-day politicians and parties largely impervious to the Durban debate. This is a grave act of omission, especially on the part of Bahujan Samaj Party leader Ms. Mayawati, as she is herself a Dalit, and is young and dynamic enough to make a difference if she approaches the problem with wisdom and compassion. But perhaps it may be far more productive if the growing Dalit intelligentsia gets its act together first, and politicians take their cue from the insights of intellectuals.
In this context, Dalit Diary author Mr. Chandrabhan Prasad (Pioneer, 26 August 2001) has broken fresh ground with brutally frank assertions that have blown away the old mental cobwebs. I have frequently “listened in” to Mr. Prasad – his exchanges with suvarna letter writers, the controversy over the British Council tea party, his documentation of discrimination against Dalits. Even while accepting the validity of his arguments, I have often felt that he has written, not without substance, but only in anger. I have wondered if such negativity can help Dalits transcend their limitations. But now Mr. Prasad has broken out of his JNU cocoon and questioned journalists, academics, politicians and human rights activists who profess to be secular, left or liberal, but perpetuate the subordinate status of Dalits by denying them space on their respective platforms. The immediate provocation for the outburst is a discussion on caste by a popular news channel, without including a Dalit on the panel.
It is utterly inconceivable that the same channel would broadcast a debate on madrasas or conversions without inviting Muslim or Christian speakers, so Mr. Prasad’s diatribe is on the mark. It is also evidence of a Dalit realization that while anti-Hindu activists may use caste to denounce the Hindu community, the genuine upliftment of Dalits has no place on their agenda. Mr. Prasad may be aware of the irony of a Marxist revolutionary in Bihar who formed the state’s most deadly anti-Dalit ‘army’ after a Dalit became supreme leader of his parent group.
Clearly, if Dalits desire genuine empowerment, they will have to seek new allies in their mission. Ironically, only authentic Hindus (believers in sannatan dharma) will support them; not false revolutionaries and Hindu-baiters. In the post-Ambedkar phase, Dalits can scale new heights through recourse to the sannatan dharma, not in opposition to it. The Dalit propensity to convert to Buddhism (Dr. Ambedkar’s choice for reasons deliberately ignored by modern Dalits) no longer ‘jolts’ the Hindu conscience because Buddhism has made massive inroads among the upper castes and co-exists with the sannatan dharma.
Islam and Christianity have failed to assuage the Dalit quest for self-respect. Instead of acknowledging their failure, both religions blame Hindu society for their bankruptcy and demand access to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe reservations, though they do not recognize caste-based identity! At the same time they resent it if Hindu leaders seek to embrace Islam and Christianity as sects within Hindu dharma.
The Christian demand to include caste as a form of racism aims at overcoming the resistance of modern educated Dalits to convert to Christianity. Indeed, the American paediatrician, Michael Bamshad’s recent claim about the European paternity of upper caste Indians and Asian paternity of the lower castes was a pathetic attempt to provide a ‘scientific’ link between race and caste. Since the study was shoddily executed, its co-authors dissociated themselves from it when challenged by fellow academics. Its purpose, of course, was to equate caste and racial discrimination, so that the Indian Government could be compelled under international pressure to extend the benefits of reservations in education and jobs to Dalit Christians.
Since non-Hindus and anti-Hindus have failed to bring justice to the Dalits, the latter must fight their battle from within the fold. They must master the tenets of the sannatan dharma, reform dharma through recourse to dharma, to answer the needs of the present age. Reform without rupture has eternally been the Hindu way.
The Upanishads clearly state that the soul, whether of a Brahmin or a Chandal, is divine. What then is the basis of considering its outer covering (body) as pure in one case, impure in another? It has been argued that varna (rank) was originally not hereditary and was rather conferred on the basis of the individual’s intrinsic nature and aptitude. The author of a Rig Vedic hymn says: “I am a composer of hymns, my father is a physician, my mother grinds corn on a stone. We are all engaged in different occupations.” In the Mahabharata, Yudhishthir clearly states that a Brahmin is one who is truthful, forgiving, and kind, and that being born in a Brahmin or Shudra family does not make one a Brahmin or a Shudra. Much later, Adi Shankaracharya proclaimed that every human being was by birth a Shudra, and only education made one ‘twice born’ (Dwija).
There is, in fact, a rich and proud tradition for Dalits to build upon. The great sage Vyasa was the son of a low caste fisher woman, Satyavati. Even Vidura was the son of a low caste woman servant. They became Brahmins because of their wisdom and knowledge. There are innumerable such instances of reverence of saints of low caste origins, just as there are examples of low caste entrepreneurs who became mighty kings and elevated the status of their entire caste groups.
There is no question that Dalits must be accommodated with honour within the system, but they will have to undertake the journey themselves. Certainly Dalits feel oppressed; there are daily reports of discrimination in schools, ill-treatment of women, maltreatment by castes immediately above them, and other untold humiliations. But the constitution already provides affirmative action through reservations in jobs and education, and even the political realm. Spoon-feeding and vote-gathering methods cannot really accomplish much more. Dalits must now own responsibility for themselves and enhance their status by increasing their abilities, as their forefathers did in the past. Disowning their heritage will bring poor returns; owning it can maximize their gains exponentially!
The Pioneer, 28 August 2001