DEBATE
Dalit Voice has been repeatedly arguing for the past 10 years that SC/ST/BCs and Muslims/Christians/ Sikhs constitute over 85% of the Indian population and all these six sections (Bahujan’s) are persecuted by only one single common enemy i.e. Aryans. Hence all the six sections must unite to fight the common oppressor Fine.
But where is this unity? In Punjab, 50% of those killed are Dalits. At Ayodhya (UP), a Dalit laid the foundation of the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir on the disputed land to replace the Babri Masjid. Backward Castes preferred to forgo their reservation (human rights) rather than seek the support of SC/STs feeling “superior” to SC/STs.
The net result is that the leader of these Bahujan’s, Kashi Ram, who advised Muslims almost to hand over the Babri Masjid to Hindus, lost his security deposit in election. Nothing can be more humiliating than this. DV should talk of the political realities rather than the “unity of Bahujan’s”. (“Why BSP faced defeat? Babu Raghu, New Delhi, DV Aug. 1 91 p.9)
It is time for Dalit intellectuals to think and indulge in self-criticism. If we do not do it now, Dalit movement will be made redundant and wiped out from the Indian scene. Kashi Ram has already given us a shock. In the 1991 UP Assembly election, he promised to capture it on his own strength winning a majority (213) seats in a house of 425 seats. But he got 13 seats.
Dalits must go for electoral pact: In the 1991 Parliament election, while he promised to have sufficient MPs to force the govt. to be at his mercy, now we find the BSP itself at the mercy of the Congress and the BJP.
He promised to “finish” the Congress in UP. Yes, he did it, but with no benefit to BSP. Now, the BJP is ruling UP because of his blunders. Who put the BJP in power in the most crucial State of India? BSP contributed to the division of Janata Dal votes and that caused the BJP victory in UP. BJP raised its strength of MPs from 2 to 88 in 1989 Parliamentary election, due to its alliance with its arch enemy – the Marxists and Janata Dal. Now they have consolidated it further to 117. I will not be surprised if next time they touch 150-170 figure and become a partner in the Central Govt. If Kashi Ram had learnt this art of electoral adjustment, he could have easily produced 35 MPs this time. But he refused to have any seat adjustment with anybody.
Dalits must go for seat adjustment with any party (including the Congress) offering it 64 MP seats in Hindi heartland (UP/MP/HP/Bihar/Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Punjab) with a total of 254 seats.
Dalits will have to show that they are serious contenders for political power, and are not there only to split the votes, as the BSP did this time.
Pact with Muslims: Reverting to the elusive unity of minorities, I think we will have to take our self-styled leaders to task and set fire to their ego. Staying in Delhi, Kashi Ram can easily meet Syed Shahabuddin and vice-versa.
BSP must prepare a manifesto. Ram cannot keep on nominating or changing his party leaders.
We should have started by having an alliance of all minorities at the block level, then at the district and state level. At the national level also, a collective leadership of all national leaders of minorities should have been established. Only after meeting the pulls and pressures of various groups for bigger share of tickets, we could think of having unity among minorities.
Problem with Sikhs: This unity has to be political and not communal. But efforts to have this unity is hampered by the mental disease suffered by all leaders. Sher Singh met Simarjeet Singh Mann on Feb. 14-20 1990 to write a report for Dalit Voice. Mann told Singh: “You know before this (1989) election, an understanding regarding seat adjustment between Kashi Ram and Rajiv Gandhi was almost reached. Do you know what I did? I rang up Nelson Mandela, and told him to telephone Kashi Ram not to have any seat adjustment with Rajiv Gandhi”. This sort of statements are not in good taste. On the crucial date both Mann and Mandela were confined to solitary cells. Kashi Ram’s residence is only 15 miles from Mann’s residence. This speaks volumes about the egomania these so-called leaders suffer from. SS Mann has been reduced to zero from hero in one year. So also, Kashi Ram. Brahminical strategy proved superior. Success or failure of any movement depends to a very large extent on its sound theoretical basis. Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians will use Dalits and then forget. Let the BCs chalk out their own strategy if they feel they are superior to SC/STS.
