I thank Dr. A. M. Rajashekaraiah, Head of the Department of Political Science, Karnataka University, Dharwar, for inviting me to present a paper on “Politics of development of weaker sections” on behalf of the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Memorial Chair. Edmund Burke said “the people crushed by law & religion have no hopes but from power; if law and religion are enemies to them, they will be enemies to law and religion”. In other countries, the status of a person is decided on economic factor but in India it is decided on birth. The Hindu society is graded into innumerable castes, based on the descending order of humiliation & contempt. The Hindu religion is never known to be different from the Hindu society, consisting of thousands of castes with clear-cut compartment of exclusive and isolated living. As long as one ręmains a Hindu, he has to accept the caste hierarachy throughout his life & suffer the ignominy or enjoy the honour. The status of a person is decided at the birth. There is no instance in history of any country that a people or a crowd of people led the opinion. The opinion is engineered by a political or a religious leader and is made to be accepted by the people, and the people in turn will be prepared to act in pursuance of the opinion. ‘If the leader is good and interested in the well-being of all the people more meaningful results will follow. The general happiness of all the people can be achieved by the good leadership. If economic and social imbalances and the status of the weaker sections continue, the natural inference is that there has not been a good leadership. It can be presumed that the persons who suffer the indignities of the society have not been allowed to occupy the positions of power to solve their own problem. This idea of leading the opinion is more exploited in the religious field than in other fields. The religious leaders, particularly of Hindu. Religion, have tried to maintain the division of the society into castes and sub-castes. These religious leaders belong only to higher castes compelling the obedience of low (poor) castes. There is no instance of a person belonging to a low caste becoming a religious leader and who is accepted also by the higher (richer) castes. A low caste man cannot enjoy the status of a religious leader in Hindu society, as he is not entitled to compel reverence from the stronger sections. In this field also the weaker sectiors cannot have the privilege of leading the opinion. The weaker sections are subject to social indignities. They are made to work without adequate pay inspite of the constitutional provisions to give them a living wage. They form nearly 40% of the population. They have continued to live the same life without any change in their minds to live a better life by asserting their positions. They have compromised with the prevailing inhuman conditions and situations for generations. And in short, they have resigned themselves to the given situations and have drained themselves of their self- respect and human values. They have learnt to behave like a sheep which moves in a flock, and which has no choice for rational thinking and free life. There are other inhuman customs inflicted on the weaker sections to drain off their self-respect. The custom of dedicating the daughters of the poor for prostitution has a religious sanction, even though law prohibits such customs. With all these social handicaps it is impossible to think of a leader to lead the opinion on behalf of the weaker sections and to fight for their legitimate rights. We come across some inspired individuals of the stronger sections of the society taking up the cause of the weaker sections to secure for them the freedom, liberty and security of life and happiness. These individuals are also in small number. All such individuals have preached against the perpetrated in- justices on the weaker sections. But there has been ample evidence to show that they try to get collective bargain out of their stand and yet retaining their status in a caste or a community in which they have taken birth. In other words, these inspired individuals expressed compassion, kindness for the sufferings of the weaker sections, but yet retain their pride in enjoying the privileges attached to castes of the stronger sections. The stand and preachings of the Pejawar Swamy of Udupi is one such instance. He proclaimed that there should not be discrimination in the treatment among the Hindus, irrespective of their births and all persons to be treated equal. He visited several localities in several places of Karnataka where these Untouchables lived and said they were all equals & they should enjoy all the benefits of Hindu society. But he was not prepared to promote all those dalits to tha caste to which he belonged to exhibit the sincerity of his preachings. He is not even prepared to convert the people of his caste to admit all these dalits into the fold of his caste. He is not even prepared to give up the post of the head of the Mutt, in case the people of his caste never approved of his stand. This is an example of a paradoxical behaviour of the stronger sections of the Hindu society.
