Speech delivered at the Samata Sainik Dal seminar conducted at the conclusion of the Bheem March, in Bangalore on May 12, 1991.
The subject given to me is not only topical in view of the coming mini-general election (May – end, 1991) but it is a subject to which even intellectuals among Untouchables and Tribals have not given enough thought.
Perhaps, they think that either separate electorate is impractical or there is no point in discussing it, since the Hindus may not concede it.
The first reaction comes out of our immaturity if not innocence and the second one shows that Dalits are losing their identity and getting absorbed into the Brahminical social order.
Samata Sainik Dal (SSD), being the most militant Dalit organization in the State, should condemn both these attitudes.
Break up of USSR:
I congratulate the SSD for not only discussing this subject of separate electorate, but making Self-determination for Dalits as the very theme of this day-long seminar. If self-determination is our aim, then separate electorate becomes redundant. (Self-determination for each Nation, DV edit, Oct 16, 1986). When Soviet Russia itself is breaking up on the issue of self-determination, we will not be surprised if a multinational country like India also gets rocked on this issue.
That the SSD is seized of this question proves that it is maturing into a real, genuine Ambedkarite organization. This is a matter of great satisfaction for me because this is the first time I am called upon to speak on such an important Subject anywhere in India by any Dalit organization.
The subject, therefore, is of utmost importance. I do not know how I can do justice within the given time. However, I will try my best to put at least the essential points avoiding details such as the history of the separate electorate.
Bigger than Europe: The Untouchables of India together with Tribals (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes), if they are taken as a whole, may from over 30% of India’s 850 million population. This exceeds the combined population of entire Europe.
Such a big population can make and unmake history, it can topple any government. The two – SC and ST – together have 120 seats in the Lok Sabha, the Lower House of Parliament. If this 120 MPs join hands, they can topple any government.
But somebody said we have 120 donkeys in Parliament (laughter).
But what is the actual position? When Babasaheb Ambedkar’s famous book, Riddles in Hinduism, was burnt by Hindu Nazis in Bombay and banned by the Maharashtra government, not one Dalit MP had the courage to stand up and protest in Parliament.
DALIT MP BEATEN UP IN THE PARLIAMENT
Hiralal Parmar, a Congress MP from Gujarat, was beaten up right inside the Lok Sabha (1981) by his own party MPs, and that too right in the presence of the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. He was beaten up for complaining that during the first Gujarat upper caste war against Dalits, his house was set on fire. For stating the fact, he was “punished” by the upper castes. No action was taken against the MPs. Why this helplessness? If the SC/STs are 20% of our population, why nobody bothers about them? Why the ruling upper castes do not bother about such a big population? Why our votes are taken for granted? Why Hindus say they can simply purchase our votes? Why our votes have no value?
Muslims and Sikhs: This is because unlike the Sikhs (2%) and Muslims (15%), two other religious minorities in India who are taken seriously by the Hindus, our population is not concentrated in a particular area. It is scattered, dispersed all over India.
Sikhs live mostly inside Punjab and Muslims are heavily concentrated in Kashmir, UP, Bihar, Kerala and Assam etc. These Muslim-dominated States decide the voicing pattern.
But there are no Dalit-dominated States.
As the pre-Aryan sieging inhabitants of India and its original rulers, the whole country belonged to Dalits. That was during the days of the great Indus Valley civilization and later the Golden Age of India’s history under the Buddhist rule.
Cause of conversion: But the Aryan hordes who drifted into India destroyed our glorious civilization and resorted to such barbaric oppression that thousands and thousands of our people became Muslims, Christians and Sikhs. And because of this, our population came down. The whole of Bangladesh was once a Dalit land. The entire population embraced Islam and got themselves liberated. The Aryan oppression on one side reduced the SC population (though we consider the Muslims, Sikhs and Christian converts as our own people), and on the other side the SCs were pushed outside village limits.
THE TWO INDIAS
So much so, that every village in India has parts of its population outside its limits and that is the portion occupied by the SCs.
Babasaheb said we have not one India, but two Indias.
The population of the outcastes or Untouchables (SCs) in each village is small. Not only are they small in number but they are the weakest in everything — socially, economically and even physically. And always at the mercy of the Hindus. In my village of Ambalpadi of South Kanara district, there are only five houses of Untouchables. Their population may be 20 to 30. Some villages may have little more SC population. That is how Hindus can simply starve the Dalits to death through social boycott if they try to challenge them.
Reserved Constituency: And because of this in a given State Assembly constituency the total population of SCs is negligible. Even in a reserved constituency the SCs do not form a majority. In the whole country, there may be only a few reserved constituencies where the SCs may be in a majority. In all other reserved constituencies, it is the Hindus who are in a majority. That is why the SCs cannot get elected from a non-reserved constituency.
Basavalingappa’s case: Take the case of Basavalingappa’s constituency (Yelahanka). I am taking this example because Basavalingappa is Karnataka’s most famous Dalit leader and his constituency is just outside the constituency intimately.
Here also the Hindus are in a majority. Do you know once he was defeated because the Hindus did not vote for him? Not even the Backward Castes.
An SC MLA who gets elected from a reserved constituency always has to be always under the obligation of the Vokkaligas, Lingayat’s and Brahmins – meaning Hindus, because he can’t get elected merely with SC votes.
Plight of Dalit MP, MLAs: If a Dalit, after getting elected for the first time, tries to support his community, Hindu leaders of the constituency will warn him saying that he is not the MLA for SCs alone but he is the MLA for the whole constituency. As the Hindus constitute the majority, they want him to help them.
As the Dalit MLA can help Hindus only at the cost of his people, to get renomination and then re-elected he will have to please the Hindus and forget his people.
Traitors become popular: That is how the SC/ST organizations like the SSD are angry with their own Dalit MLAs, MPs and ministers. This is natural. Such proven traitors are liked by the Hindus. And India is full of such Dalit leaders. And the most famous of them was the late Babu Jagjivan Ram.
In Karnataka barring Basavalingappa, we can hardly get another Dalit MP or MLA who fights for the Dalits even incurring the displeasure of Hindus.
So, if we get only such useless dumb, deaf, blind Dalit leaders the fault lies not so much with these leaders but in the existing electoral system with a reserved constituency.
That is how when Babasaheb’s book was burnt by the Hindu Nazis, no Dalit MP had the courage to get up and protest. Because if he protests, he will not get the party ticket and even if he gets the ticket, the Hindus will see that he is defeated.
Electoral system is the curse: So, the present reserved constituency is a curse. We are fed up with this electoral system. It must be changed. And that is why most Dalit organizations, while demanding continuation of reservation in admission to educational institutions as well as recruitment to government services, have angrily demanded scrapping of the political reservations or the reserved Constituency. What then is the way-out?
HOW TO LIVE WITH HINDUS?
Babasaheb Ambedkar had foreseen this as early as 1930 and that is why he had proposed separate electorate. Our experience in the last 45 years has convinced us that we cannot live with Hindus. We have nothing against them. The two are not merely two separate nations, but one warring with the other. Untouchables and Tribals a separate nation. (Growing demand for Dalitstan, DV edit, Oct 16, 1985)
India a vast zoo?: Somebody said India is like a vast zoo. The comparison is good. Like the zoo, India too has varieties of two-legged animals. Very interesting and very entertaining. Here the comparison ends. In a zoo, each animal, bird or creature is caged separately. If a deer is allowed to live with a tiger, the latter will eat it. That is why all animals are separated and caged.
Not only that, Even in a forest — their natural habitat — each particular animals or birds move within its groups. Elephants live together and move together. But in this human zoo of India, all the two-legged animals are allowed to freely roam around. And this has made the life of weaker sections vulnerable to the stronger and more aggressive, more cunning (upper castes) animals.
So, while agreeing that India is a vast zoo, Babasaheb said like a real zoo, the different animals should be separated through a barricade. And to begin with the weakest animals should be protected first. And this he called as separate electorate.
Mara-Mari in zoo: Only if such barricades are put India – that is a vast zoo – will look interesting. Otherwise, there will be a pell-mell, mara-mari, and the zoo may go up in flames and finally closed down. In the interest of maintaining the “unity and integrity” of the zoo, such barricades (separate electorate) are a must.
Reservations are human rights: There is a hardly any difference between animals and humans. Just as stronger animals eat the weaker, human beings also harass the weaker. The man dominates the woman because she is physically weak. So just like the separate enclosures for animals in a zoo, humans also need separate electorate to assure the weaker sections protection from the proclivities of the strong, mighty, wicked, cunning and the rich. This is a universally accepted principle in all civilized societies. That is what self-determination means.
Otherwise, the human rights of the weak will be trampled upon by the strong. These human rights are called reservations.
Essence of democracy: Separate electorate means the right to elect their own representatives. This is the essence of democracy.
Under the existing reserved constituencies, SC/STs don’t elect their own representatives. They are forced to elect stooges of the Hindus. I need not give you names. But you see themes all around.
Untouchables not Hindus: The principle behind the separate electorate is that SCs and also STs have to be treated separately because they are not Hindus. They are a separate, distinct entity. In other words, Untouchables are not Hindus and never Hindus.
In a democracy everybody is equal but this principle of equality will become effective only when we are recognized as a separate entity. In other words, equal but separate.
Separate electorate is not new to India. Muslims, Anglo-Indians, Indian Christians, Sikhs had separate electorate once and it worked well.
Obedient donkeys: Under the existing electoral system our people are deprived of their right to send their rightful representatives. Only good-for-nothing useless Harijans get elected because these Harijan MLAs and MPs do not represent SCs but the Hindus. And the Hindus want only obedient donkeys to carry their load.
What is separate electorate? For details refer to page 27 of the booklet, – Emancipation of Untouchables, by Dr. Ambedkar.
Under this system a Hindu will have only one vote, but an Untouchable will have two votes but in two different constituencies. The first constituency is a population-wise constituency consisting of only SCs.
The constituency is not restricted to an area but restricted to the population of SCs
RIGHT FOR TWO VOTES
Right now, oracle is allotted a particular number of SC seats in the State Assembly and Lok Sabha and these seats are fixed in proportion to the population of SCs. Certain areas are carved out and it is called a reserved constituency. Each Assembly constituency has about 1 lakh population.
Under the separate electorate an exclusive SC population totaling 1 lakh population will become a constituency by itself. And in this population-wise constituency spread over several taluks, the SCs alone are the voters. It is not a territorial constituency, as it is now but a constituency comprising exclusively SCs.
SCs also get a second vote in the territorial constituency.
That means a Dalit will have two votes. One vote because he is a Dalit and the second as a citizen. By exercising his first vote he will elect the best and the most effective Dalit representative among his community within that population wise constituency. As only a SC is allowed to contest in this exclusive SC constituency, only the best person will be selected as the voters are also exclusively SCs.
All the Dalit MLAs selected on this basis will be like Basavalingappa — not Harijans. By the second vote, Hindus will be made to go to the doors of Untouchables and beg for their votes. And if he, the Hindu candidate, is anti-Dalit he will not get the vote.
This is the meaning of separate electorate. And this system would have ensured the best and the most effective representation to SC/STs in the legislature.
Poona Pact: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi went on fast against this in 1932 and Babasaheb Ambedkar was threatened, bullied and forced to sign what has come to be known as the notorious Poona Pact.
The Hindu and the Gandhian objection is that separate electorate would divide the Hindus and the country. But there is no Separate electorate now. Is not the society divided?
It is because of this Poona Pact that SC/STs were given reservations as a compromise. And these reservations connived at making the Untouchables part of the Hindu caste system – although they are not Hindus and never Hindus, Untouchables are outcastes — meaning outside the caste system.
India not yet a nation: Since India is not yet a nation but a group of nations, striving to become a ration, we have to recognize the fact. Earlier the better. Or else we will have endless war and violence on Khalistan, Jharkhand, Kashmir, ULFA, Tamil Nation etc.
BABASAHEB AS INDIA’S FIRST PRIME MINISTER
Suppression of the separate identity of Dalits, Sikhs or Kashmiris will not promote Indian nationhood. (Nationality Question & The Sikh Problem, Guna, DV, Nov.1, 1985).
Cycle chain: I have no time to elaborate this point, although I can speak to you on this (nationality question) for a full day. Every segment of this country is like a link in a cycle chain. Every link in a chain is important. You can’t say this link is important and the other is less important. If one link breaks, the cycle will not move.
The Hindu objection to separate electorate is that it will divide the nation. But this is not the real objection. Do you know what is the real Hindu fear? Their fear is if separate electorate had been granted, then Babasaheb Ambedkar would have been the country’s first PM. The Muslims would have joined the Dalits and torpedoed that ‘Brahminical bid to impose their imperialism with the exit of the British imperialism.
But suffice it for say that the Poona Pact has killed us. It has killed our militancy and forcibly made us an unwilling part of the Hindu religion although the Hindus are not prepared to accept us as their kith and kin, nor are we interested in joining them.
We have seen the working of the reserved constituencies and how it has made SC/STs slaves of Hindus. We should get rid of this and go for separate electorate.
Separate electorate or chaos: If only Gandhi and the Hindu leaders had then (1932) accepted Babasaheb’s proposal, India would have by now become a healthy, powerful country. The bottled up energies of the SC/ST – the country’s most virile section – would have been released and added to the country’s prestige. There would have been communal peace all over the country. But today, neither SC/STs are happy nor the Hindus. So, in the interest of the unity and integrity of this country – of which the SC/STs are the original inhabitants – the Hindus must peacefully concede our legitimate demand. Or else they should be ready to face our fight for a separate electorate.
Separate settlement: Not only separate electorate, along with that, ‘we must also fight for separate settlement and proportional representation. (Proportional Representation alone can end ‘social Imbalance, DV edit, Sept 16, 1989).
Right now, the Untouchables are dispersed all over the country. There is no village where they have a concentrated population. This has led to several problems.
Because of their isolation, they are exposed to Hindu violence. As they are in a minority in a given village they can’t organize a proper self-defense. The police, judiciary and the press are hostile to them.
Dalit movement itself has become almost Impossible because of this.
TRANSFER OF POPULATION
So, the Untouchable population will have to be moved into separate settlements where their population will become sizeable and hence safe. This is called the transfer of population. World history has any number of incidents of such a successful transfer of population. Israel is the best and the most recent example.
This will help the government also to concentrate all their welfare measures at one place. It will also help the Dalits to organize themselves as effective citizens to claim their human rights.
Homeland: Our experience of the last 45 years has convinced that SCs can no longer live with Hindus. So, they have to break the existing village system and carve out their own separate homeland.
Proportional representation to Brahmins: Today, the Untouchables are only socially separated from Hindus. They must push this further and make themselves territorially separate and religiously separate.
They must also insist upon proportional representation to all castes, sub-castes, communities and religions, including Brahmins.
Proportional representation means representation in proportion to the population of each Jati and religious unit.
In a village there may be one barber and one potter family or there may not be any. What can that one barber and potter Jati family people do? Such minor Jatis therefore get totally neglected.
I do not think the barber community in Karnataka has any one in IAS. So also, potters, weavers, etc. This is because numerically larger communities even among SC/ST/ BCs have monopolized everything. Just because a particular Jati (Jati means tribal unit) is small, it cannot be neglected. Every Jati, even the smallest one, must get reservations (human rights) in proportion to its population.
Hence proportional representation. These three demands — separate electorate, separate settlement and proportional representation – are very important and urgent. We have to bring out small pamphlets in Karnataka to explain it to our people and prepare them for the coming struggle.
Human rights not given but taken: The Hindus will not easily concede our demands and give our human rights on a golden platter. Human rights are not given. They are taken. We have to fight and take. The SSD must get ready (cheers).
Only thing is that there is not much time left.
Gandhian era is coming to end with the end of the 20th century.
The 21st century is the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Era (cheers). This Era is only about eight years away.
Under the Dr. Ambedkar Era not only do we have to get ourselves liberated, but also all other oppressed peoples like the Muslims, Backward Castes, Sikhs and Christians. Even the Hindus (cheers).
Brahmin women burnt alive: Brahmins say they are miserable. Brahmin women are oppressed by their own Brahmin men.
Many Brahmin women are burnt alive daily by their men. So, we have to liberate not only ourselves but all others including the Brahmins and particularly their women. (cheers).
We must get ready. There is hardly eight years left. We must get ready. Will you? (loud cheers).
When I say ‘ready’, I mean we must be ready fully armed to meet all the eventualities (cheers).
