NOT CLASS BUT CASTE STRUGGLE WILL LIBERATE DALITS

I had the opportunity to meet some dalit action groups. They are organising the dalits on class basis for their liberation. I appreciate the activists zeal and their involvement in liberating the dalits. But the point is whether organising the dalits on class basis will really liberate them from their oppression. What kind of oppression the dalits are suffering in the present Indian social structure? What kind of struggle, whether caste or class struggle, is to be adopted for their liberation? Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and Jagjivan Ram, the two topmost leaders of dalits, will be my feedback to tell about the actual oppression of the dalits and the method of struggle to be adopted for their liberation. These two leaders, though politically different in ideologies, commonly aimed at liberating dalits. “As caste pervades the entire gamut of Indian society, caste is the be-all and end-all of our society. It guides the destinity of an Indian right from womb to tomb and from cradle to grave and even beyond”, says A. E. Pundit. Activists will now realise the kind of oppression the dalits are suffering. If so, wh- at kind of struggle is necessary to liberate them? Once again I seek Dr. Ambedkar and Jagjivan Ram to answer this question. “The salvation of Untouchables”, says Dr. Ambedkar, “will come only when the caste Indian is made to think and is forced to feel that he must alter his ways. I want a revolution in mentality of the caste Indian. For that, you must create a crisis by direct action against the customary code of conduct of the caste Indian. The crisis will compel the caste Indian to think and once he begins to think he will be more ready to change than he is otherwise likely to be”. Again, he says: “The assurance of a socialist leading the revolution that he does not believe in caste, 1 am sure, will not suffice. The assurance must be the assurance proceeding from much deeper foundation, namely the mentel attitude of the compatriots towards one another in their spirit of personal equality and fraternity. That the social order prevalent in India is a matter which a socialist must deal with, that unless he does so, he cannot achieve his revolution, and that if he does achieve it as a result of good fortune he will have to grapple with it if he wishes to realise his ideal, is a proposition which in my opinion, is incontravertible. He will be compelled to take account of caste after revolution if he do- es not take account of it before revolution” He categorically stated that “it is the love of religion that made Gandhi to talk of con- version of heart. But it is love of my people that compelled me to speak for the annihilation of caste”. Jagjivan Ram said: “Caste is the most extreme form of institutionalised exploitation. An attack on this must be among the core programmes for bringing about rapid social change. What we need is a mass movement to remove the last vestiges of caste mentality from our people and create a spirit of partnership between a man and man”.. Abedkar said: “It is held by some that the social problem apart from the problem of Untouchables is economic. If the economic problem is rightly tackled the rest need not matter. That is, in my view a very superficial view. I have always held that our approach must be integrated and while the economic and political must receive adequate attention, the social may be ignored only at peril to both”. The activist by now might have felt that it is caste struggle, rather class struggle, that liberates the dalits in this connection Dr. Lohia said: “All those who think that with the removal of poverty through modern economy the caste segregation *will automatically disappear make a big mistake. All war on poverty is a sham unless it is at the same time a conscious and sustained war on caste”. The report of A. V. Seemit on the Marthwada riots is another warning for those working for the liberation of dalits. Caste is one of the most important aspects of Indian society. It represents a specific form of oppression at the level of relations of production. To say that they are only class issues, not caste, is totally absurd. The activists may find two main obstacles to organise, dalits on caste basis and to start caste struggle (a) The first obstacle is political reservation. This divides the dalits and make them join several political parties. The dalits owe their allegiance to party leaders but not to their own community. Dalits get divided and become political bonded labourers to their party leaders, (b) The second obstacle is the grant of social educational and economic concessions, aids grants etc to the dalits on the basis of caste and religion. Prior to 1950, the dalits were given concessions, aids, grants on the ground of untouchability. But after the passing of the Presidential (Ordinance) Scheduled Castes Order, 1950, the concessions, aids and grants were given only to those dalits who profess Hinduism and Sikhism and those professing Buddhism. Christianity were not given concessions. Thus a disunity is created by the Govt. between dalits professing Hinduism and dalits professing Buddhism, Christianity by adopting the famous “divide and rule” policy. The division of dalits on political reservations and social, educational and economic concessions, aids and grants. on caste basis prevented them from coming together to fight for the abolition of caste. The activists who want to liberate dalits through caste struggle should first educate them saying that the present reservation, both political and social and educational, based on caste confirms and legalises the caste structure. Existence of caste structure promotes caste atrocities and that the reservation is the greatest impediment to fight for legitimate rights. They should be told that their legitimate rights are not a benevolent gift bestowed on them by Govt., but a birth right to be obtained by struggle. It should be also pointed out to them that inspite of percentage reservations and concessions the majority of them are still living below poverty line as rural and landless agricultural labourers. Such an intensive conscientising the dalits is a prerequisite for star- ting caste struggle. The activist must change his approach and methodology while talking about liberation. If the activist fails to change his way he will confirm the statement of Dr. Ambedkar: “You can get thousands of youths to join political propaganda, but you cannot get one single youth to take up the cause of liberating the scheduled castes from caste system or of removal of untouchability” and any attempt to organise them on class basis will be a day dream. He also said: “Men will not join in a revolution for the equalisation of property unless they know that after the revolution is achieved they will be treated equally and that there will be no discrimination of caste and creed”. Books referred: Annihilation of Caste by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Caste Challenge in India Jagjivan Ram.