A noted scholar from Sweden and a Dalit Voice subscriber recently toured India and her impressions on the Indian brand of racism and the protest movement it provoked, that is Dalit Movement – the only movement worth the name today – were published in a scholarly journal, NIASnyth, 1992 No.2, and the whole country was shocked on hearing about the Apartheid in India. Western people are slowly coming to know India’s closely guarded secrets.
In the masses there are older land less agricultural labourers from Madhya Pradesh, middleclass families from Tamil Nadu, and intellectual from Bangalore. In the demonstration procession there are groups of college students dancing and singing to the beating of drums as they are waving with thick new editions of Ambedkar’s production, there among the Indian Constitution. Samata Sainik Dal, the Social Equality Army, from Karnataka give a disciplined impression in their uniforms: black shirts, trousers and berets, red scarves and a red feather in the beret. They are carrying banderols, which are about respect and equality. Dalit Mahasabha from Andhra Pradesh, younger militant boys with blue scarves around their foreheads, are waving with their blue flags with the red star in the centre, as they clench their fists, coming together in a “Jal Bhim”, the greeting of Ambedkar. It is the day of the year when individuals and groups can get a confirmation that they are not alone in their district or village.
So, what have this heterogeneous crowd in common? They all belong to the category of people who were placed at the bottom in the traditional caste hierarchy, those who were called Untouchables and impure, avarnas, atisudras, Panchama’s, those who Gandhi gave the name harijans, the “Children of God”, a name they reject them- selves. Today they belong officially to the category “scheduled castes”, a name which was coined already in 1935 when “backward” groups were registered to get grants and reserved jobs in the administration.
Conveys our anger: Today they have found their own name, they call themselves Dalit, a Hindi word which means downtrodden. A Dalit-activist in Samata Sainik Dal says:
“The word Dalit was coined in the beginning of the 1970s when the untouchables in Maharashtra called themselves Dalit Panthers with inspiration from the militant Black Panthers in USA. Before we were always given insulting names, such as Bangi, Mahar and Pariah. Untouchable was a negative identification and besides an English word. Dalit on the other hand have given a positive identification which is necessary for a liberation movement. Our people had no name of our own. Dalit came to be the only name which we, the untouchables of India, gave to ourselves. The word soon became popular. The name is not only commonly accepted now, but it also conveys our anger, our determination, besides striking a terror in the heart of our enemies”.
Who are Dalits: The Dalit-movement has a longer history and even if the name Dalit was not used in the new sense earlier, already in the end of the 19th and beginning of 20th century we can find groups which were fighting against discrimination. The Untouchables were not allowed entry into temples, they were denied to walk in certain streets or to use public wells, and their touch and shadow were polluting according to Hindus. In the movement today it is not clear who has the right to call himself Dalit. Almost everybody will agree that “scheduled castes/scheduled tribes”, who form 22.5% (according to 1981 census) of the Indian population, constitute the core of the Dalit-movement. For many activists the category “backward castes” also belongs to Dalits, many include Christians and some will also include Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs and other minorities. Some people use the term changeable with “poor” in general. But the most common opinion among activists seems to be that only “scheduled castes/scheduled tribes” are the “real Dalits”.
Gandhi thrown out: Many people from different parts of India, of different ages and different professionals have come to Delhi today, which is a sign that Ambedkar is that powerful symbol, which can unite despite differences. Among Dalits Ambedkar is the undisputed leader and Gandhi is put in the shadow and even put to scram. Activists who want to use a stronger language talk about Gandhi as the enemy number one of Dalits”, Unlike Gandhi, Ambedkar was him- self an untouchable, a mahar from Maharashtra. He lived from 1891 to 1956, and the centenary celebrations are now going on for the second year. Ambedkar struggled against caste oppression, and took the lead on many occasions when the masses exceeded the limits which were set for untouchables; for example when they in 1927 marched to a pond in Mahad, a small city south of Bombay, to drink symbolically of the water they were forbidden to touch; or in 1930 when they tried to force their way into the temple in the pilgrim centre Nasik, northeast of Bombay.
Burning Manushmriti: The most famous action of Ambedkar is maybe when he burnt the holy scripture Manu smriti, the laws of Manu, which prescribes caste-rules, and for Dalits symbolizes injustice. Ambedkar was lawyer by profession, and the first Minister of Law in and the first Minister of Law in India. HE is sometimes called the Father of the Constitution, as he was the chairman of the drafting committee which formed the Constitution after India’s independence in 1947.
Ambedkar and Gandhi were comparatives, and between them many struggles took place. Gandhi gave the name panchamasto the untouchables, which indicates that he wanted to introduce a fifth varna, in addition to the four already existing caste categories, brahmins, kshatriyas, Vaishyas and shudras. In this way he hoped the untouchables should be accepted in the fold of Hinduism. Ambedkar went the other way and fought for separate electorates for untouchables. He condemned Hinduism when he in 1956 took the lead in a mass conversion into Buddhism when about 300, 000 mahars converted in Nagpur, Maharashtra.
Ten volumes: The collected writings and speeches of Dr. Ambedkar have now been published in new editions in ten thick volumes, and four more will come. For many students and intellectual Dalit-activists these are as attractive and hard to obtain as oranges were in former East Germany. You have to be on the spot when the books reach the shop and many people still have gaps in their collection which they want to fill. Volume nine, What Congress and Gandhi have done to the Untouchables, is the most popular; and it is with support of this book some speak of Gandhi as the enemy number one of Dalits.
Many Dalit-activists are today on the same line as Ambedkar. They have started to agitate for separate electorates, and they fully condemn Hinduism. In the demonstration-procession on the 14th of April there were banderols with the text: “We want separate electorates, separate settlement and religious separation.”
Kerala activists: V. Prabhakaran, a Dalit Panther-activist from Calicut in Kerala, tells me about a mutual heritage: “We have a mutual history of suffering and oppression, and Ambedkar is the symbol that unite”. Sarika, a 15-year-old activist, from a small village in Haryana, has decided to sacrifice her family-life. She will not marry, but become a doctor and work full-time in the struggle for Dalits. She speaks lyrically about the centenary celebration:
“The best speaker this year was from south India. He was in his fifties. Fantastic! He didn’t speak Hindi so we did not understand, but because of his way of speaking we could understand any- way. What a tremendous round of applause he got, and every- body wanted him to go on speaking”
Invisible oppression: Some conditions are obvious while others are hidden from the eye. India is in many ways a segregated society, which is evident in the dwelling conditions for example. In many villages in the countryside “scheduled castes” still live separated in small mud huts some distance away from the central village. We can also find “scheduled castes” in slum-areas in the city, on land that is economically useless, close to sewage or garbage. Many Dalit-activists have been brought up in this kind of surrounding. They still consider themselves to represent the category “scheduled castes” although many of them have now improved their situations, not seldom with the help of caste – based reservations in colleges, universities and government-service.
US Blacks: A feeling of social oppression is expressed by many Dalits, and not seldom is there a parallel drawn to the situation of the Blacks in USA or apartheid in South Africa. Many Dalit-activists are government employees and economically safe. But still they feel discriminated, which have led to their involvement in the movement. They struggle to get social recognition.
Many speak of the invisible oppression as the most difficult to get rid of. Jayadev Anand, Dalit Panther-activist from Engineering College in Calicut, Kerala, states:
“Untouchability is still there, but it has taken new forms, it’s not possible to discover it immediately, but it is there. They think themselves superior, because we have got our seats on reservation. They don’t say anything but we can feel it all the time. They can point us out directly, because everybody knows who was accepted in the reservation quota”.
Black Bishop: M. Azaria his a Christian Protenant and the Bishop of Madras. He is a Dalit himself and works actively for the Dalit course:
“The problem with our people is that they are suffering from an inferiority complex, at the same time as upper castes suffer from a superior complex. We have been looked down at for so long that finally we have started to hate ourselves”,
Were we right? Human, a 23- year-old Dalit-activist, lives in Bangalore and studies at the university.
His brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents live in a small village with 400 households’ northeast of Bangalore in the south of India. He is studying sociology and wants to continue in the research department. All spare-time is spent in the work for Dalits. He is bitter about what his parents and grandparents have gone through as untouchables, and now he wishes to contribute to some changes and improvements in the village. Human is self-confident and energetic; he is in a good mood and it is difficult to follow his speed in the Indian heat:
“We are not against the brahmins but brahminism. They are scared now when we start to get education. They are terrified to give us education because they know what a fury is burning inside us”.
We are walking through the home-village of Human and he tells me about the street playgroup of which is a part:
“Even here in my village we tried to put up a street play. We dramatize different problems which we Dalits meet. We wanted to show the problem of untouchability on stage. The first time we tried Rame Gowda, an MLA [Member of Legislative Assembly] came and told us it was not possible. He lived in this big house but is dead now. We came back a second time, and then upper caste people came with sticks and stopped us. We were much less people. When Rame Gowda was in the hospital in Bangalore, we gathered 50-60 students and went to see him. I asked him: ‘How can you stop us from giving dramas showing the problems, isn’t this a democracy and you are a member of the parliament?” At that moment he was trembling with fear. We grabbed his shirt, and we put him out of the bed by force, like this”.
In our company there is a friend of Human and he nods in agreement.
“We forced him down to the floor and gave him some good kicks. When we came to play here in the village the next time he was here, ‘Oh, welcome”, he said. Welcome’, It is difficult to under- stand India. Scientifically, from an objective point of view, were we right? What do you say?”
Many Dalit-activists are like Human: young college – or university-students from small villages. Not seldom they are the only one in the family who has got the opportunity to study. They live in the bigger cities, and like Human they keep the contact with their families in the country- side.
Quit Hinduism: A common denominator in the Dalit-movement is the rejection of Hinduism and the caste system. Many ways have been tried to get away from the social oppression during the years, and the most well-tried is maybe conversion.
Ambedkar chose Buddhism after a long time of consideration, and he took the lead in a mass conversion to Buddhism in 1956, as already mentioned. Also, during recent years followers of Ambedkar converted, although on a smaller scale. In many cases conversion is pure strategy and it seems more important to escape Hinduism than to find a new religion. Many Dalits have converted because they consider Buddhism a more equal religion, but they have no special interest in religion and they never perform any Buddhistic rituals. At the most one can find a Buddha statue in their homes. But of course, there are also devoted converts. Maybe the number of conversions to Buddhism will now increase, because since 1990 the Buddhists have got the right to reservations. Earlier many stayed in the fold of Hinduism not to lose their advantage.
Born Buddhists: Lakshmi is a 35-year-old woman from Bangalore. She is small and sensitive, and a convinced Dalit-activist. She is propagating Buddhism in a some- what different way:
“The most difficult thing is to make people leave their religion. Brahmins have brainwashed us during all these years and made us believe that we are Hindus. We don’t need to convert because we are already Buddhists. That means nobody has to leave his religion. When we go to the villages, we explain to our people that we are the original inhabit- ants and even the original Buddhists in this country and because of that we have the right to the land.”
“I ask Lakshmi if she is performing any Buddhists rituals: “No, you can say we are secularized Buddhists”, she says laughing. In the small room which is her home, where books are almost the only belongings, she has put two posters on the wall, one of Ambedkar and one of Periyar, who was a rationalist from Tamil Nadu, who in 1925 started a self-respected-movement in south India.
An All-India Buddhist Conference is taking place in New Delhi between the 1st and the 3rd of May 1992. A portrait of Ambedkar is placed on a table on the podium, and decorated with flower-garlands. Much of the time is spent discussing the situation of the Dalits. Basavalingappa, Congress Minister from Karnataka, echo what I have already heard from Lakshmi:
“We are Buddhists since the time of Ashoka [third century BC]. We have been Buddhists during thou- sand years. This is something we must go out to propagate.”
Beef Biriyani: There is a unity in the conference and I wonder whether there will come any conflicts to the fore or not, between conservative Buddhists and secularized Dalits that now belong to the Buddhist fold. In the south of India for example a new group of Dalit-Buddhists celebrated the birthday of Ambedkar with beef biriyani for lunch, However, on the second day of the conference, in the afternoon, the discussion is more agitated, and many monks point out that there are some criteria to be a Buddhist, and to call yourself a Buddhist you should at least have meditated five minutes in your lifetime.
Role of Islam: Dalit-groups do not only convert to Buddhism, but also to Islam, Christianity as well as Sikhism and atheism. In 1981 about 1,000 Dalits converted to Islam in Minakshi Puram, Tamil Nadu, which scared Hindu fundamentalists, who imagined how the Muslims were soon to take over the country.
Hindu fundamentalists, like members of BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party), RSS (Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and VHP (Vishva Hindu Parishad) are in conflict with the Dalits as well as with the Muslims, which makes Dalits and Muslims look for alliances. According to Ram Vilas Paswan in Dalit Sena (see below) the cooperation between Dalits and Muslims has grown stronger the last year in the state of Bihar. I am also told by Jayadev Anand in Dalit Panthers in Kerala how they cooperate with a group of younger Muslims, who even work as body- guards in their conferences:
“Since we were attacked by RSS during a meeting we have taken help from the Muslims. I am not sure what they think about us but they use us and we use them. We are both oppressed by the brahmins, so we have a common interest in fighting them”.
Caste in church: Also, Christianity has Dalit converts. A big problem for the Christian Dalits, which has been a topic for discussions and conferences the last years, is that they lose their right to reservations when they convert. Another problem is that they do not always escape oppression through conversion to Christianity. In Tamil Nadu in the south of India there are for example places where different chalices were used for Dalits and others in the same congregation until recently, places where Dalits and others went to different churches in the same congregation, and places where Dalits are buried secluded in the graveyard. Dalit Liberation Education Trust, a Dalit-organization in Madras, works socially among Dalits and have produced a video about the conditions inside the church.
An atheistic outlook is not uncommon among the Dalit-activists of the younger generation. According to their opinion faith in any god is superstition. In the home of an activist in Mangalore the house-altar, with Vishnu, Krishna and many other Hindu gods was put away into a dark hidden corner, while a poster of Ambedkar was put up in the altar’s original place in the centre of the room. Initiator to these not very popular changes was the young activist in the family. The opinion among the younger generation is that the faith of the aged is not possible to change, an opinion shared by Venkaiah in Mangalore:
“The old people have believed in these things all their life, so let them be. We mostly propagate among the younger”.
Reservations: Dalit Panthers came into existence as a literary movement in Maharashtra in the beginning of the 1970s, but later on as a result of internal conflicts they split up. For many activists today, not only in Maharashtra, Dalit Panthers has been a source of inspiration and is looked upon as a new starting-point after Ambedkar. There seem to be two main events the last two years which have contributed to the revival of the Dalit-movement. In addition to Ambedkar’s centenary celebrations an event of importance was when the percentage of caste – based reservations was increased two years ago.
Janata Dal, under the leadership of V.P. Singh, implemented during its short governing period, added reservations, that means special quotas for “backward” groups in the central government service. This was in accordance with a ten – year – old government recommendation, the Mandal Commission Report. Many of the upper castes felt this as a threat, and during the autumn of 1990 we could witness on television how students in the universities set themselves on fire, as a protest and because they were frightened of losing job opportunities to “backward” groups. The opposition against V.P. Singh and the implementation started discussions, and with the law on their side Dalits were agitating that the reservations should not only be a paper-exercise but be implemented in practice, an agitation which still goes on today.
Role of Dalit Voice: There is not one overall formal Dalit-organization, but hundreds and hundreds of separate informal and formal groups. Consequently, there is no well-formed-groups from different states together, but on the other hand many effective informal networks. What happens in the south of India is not always known in the north, and vice versa, but with the help of central activists who maintain the contacts, the information sometimes seems to be spread surprisingly well.
With the help of periodicals, the informal networks are also kept up. In the south of India, with its main office in Bangalore, we can find Dalit Voice. The editor V.T. Rajshekar is a journalist who worked for the large Indian daily, Indian Express, but ten years ago lost his job because of, according to himself, his radical opinions. He then started Dalit Voice, a fortnightly periodical in English, which he is still publishing. The central theme is how brahminism has destroyed the country, and Rajshekar compares brahminism with Nazism in its cruelty. The periodical informs about Dalit-meetings, atrocities on Dalits and about new literature of interest. In “letters to the editor” Dalits make themselves known and Buddhist, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and other minorities communicate and exchange ideas. Even though the periodical has a limited edition It has a widespread effect as It is read by many key-figures In the Dalit-movement.
A new Hindi periodical in north India is Naya Chakra, (The New Wheel), which is published from New Delhi by the editor Ram Vilas Paswan. Even this paper gives information of interest to Dalits.
BSP and Dalit Sena: Even if many of the networks have a local extension, efforts are made to keep groups together in a more organized way over larger areas. In the north of India there are a few larger organizations, Dalit Sena, and BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party), between which it is possible to trace some competition.
BSP is a political party which gathers “scheduled castes” and “backward castes” and it is steadily growing since its birth in 1984. It is in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab the success is most visible. At present they have three seats in the Central Parliament and 24 seats in state Legislative Assemblies. Kanshi Ram is the founder and leader of the party.
CIA Agent? : BSP has its back- ground in BAMCEF, Backward and Minority Community Employees Federation, which was born in 1978. It is an association of government employees who feel discriminated by upper caste people. These employees who belong to “scheduled – and backward castes” are the foundation of BSP. They have a sense of guilt towards their caste-mates who are not as well off, and they are willing to finance the party-work – they are the financial muscle of BSP, says Kashi Ram. Upper caste people can join the party, but they are not allowed to be its leaders, as they would block a process of change in the same way as they do in other political parties, according to Kashi Ram. A lot of propaganda has been spread against BSP, and Kashi Ram has even been accused of get- ting assistance from CIA.
The other force of importance is Dalit Sena. Its President Ram Vilas Paswan, who is sometimes also called the second Ambedkar among his followers, is careful to point out that Dalit Sena is a social and not a political organization. In spite of this Dalit Sena has close connections with state opposition party, Janata Dal, in which Ram Vilas Paswan is Vice President. Dalit Sena makes up the base in a network of 158 Dalit organizations, which in the end of last year formed All-India Dalit Action Committee for Social Justice, in which Ram Vilas Paswan was choose chairman. Ram Vilas Paswan likes to be in the centre, and media has also given him a lot of attention during this spring. At present he is in the middle of a campaign where he is demanding that the country’s next President should be a Dalit. Janpath 12, the residence of Ram Vilas Paswan, is a luxurious white house in the more well-off blocks of central New Delhi. Paswan denies a rumour that he is about to leave Janata Dal and form a new party of Dalit Sena: There is no conflict between Janata Dal and Dalit Sena. In Dalit Sena we want to accelerate ideas. Janata Dal is like the weapon of the social movement.” I have read earlier that Ram Vilas Paswan would introduce armed Dalit forces in the villages. “Yes, that is right. I have even asked the government to form Dalit liberation force. You just rain them and give them arms, so that they can defend themselves. No response, as you can understand”.
Movement Taking Shape: Consciously and strategically an ideology and Dalit-identity is being formed, and because of the loose structure of the movement many ideas can be tried out. Dalit-activists are building up self-respect in the movement and they also demand the respect from others. In conferences, meetings and Dalit-periodicals it is spoken about common roots and about Dalits as the original inhabitants of India. A search is going on to find mutual symbols, and Ambedkar seems to be a symbol everybody can accept.
There is no evident leader, even though Ram Vilas Paswan and Kashi Ram have got a lot of attention in media lately. Rather, many active key-figures have the role of leaders in their own district or region. To maintain the contacts these activists are important to the informal networks in the Dalit-movement, a movement which foremost and explicit purpose is to change the existing power-structures. Even If the opinions whether the changes should be carried out through reforms or faster, upheavals vary.
Dalit a force: The term Dalit has now come to be used in the daily newspapers and the success of BSP has made many people understand that the Dalit-movement, despite its sometimes-split appearance, is a force no longer possible to ignore. It was a powerful manifestation in New Delhi on the 14th of April and for sure some Hindu fundamentalists became wary. The movement has got a revival during the last two years, and we will have all reasons to keep an eye on the Dalits in the close future. Now to begin with, we are waiting to know if India will get its first Dalit President, as Paswan demands.
Literature: Joshi, Barbara R (ed.). 1986. Untouchable! Voice of the Dalit Liberation Movement. New Delhi: Select book Service Syndicate.
KEER, DHANANJAY: 1990 (1954). Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission. Bombay: Popular Prakashan.
Ambedkar, B.R. (ed. Vasant Moon). 1979 – Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches. Bombay: Education Department, Government of Maharashtra. (All the work of Ambedkar will be published in fourteen volumes. Ten volumes have been published.)
ZEILLOT, ELEANOR. 1992. From Untouchable to Dalit. New Delhi: Manohar.
