Implications of BSP-BJP
Alliance
The latest alliance between BSP and BJP for sharing
of power comes as one more nail in the coffin of
the efforts towards social justice. It is not that
this alliance is taking place for the first time;
it is not that these parties do not know the agenda
of each other, but despite that we find two polar
opposites sharing power. BJP cornered due to Gujarat
carnage is out to make use of new alliances and
anyway it has been a major beneficiary of the alliances
it has struck to hold power at the center. But what
about the upholders of the values of Babasaheb Ambedkar,
Rammanohar Lohia etc. what are they doing sitting
in the lap of the Neo Brahminical party, which is
the progeny of RSS; the vehicle for Hindu Rashtra?
Can any party wedded to the interests of backward
castes, Dalit-bahujans ally with a party whose hidden
(now open) agenda is Hindu Rashtra? Whose avowed
goal is to abolish democracy and the constitution
in India?
Today Dalit-bahujan are facing the major brunt
of the adverse impact of globalization. The land
reforms have long been forgotten. The anti-Dalit
atrocities are aplenty. The carnages of the type
of Laxamnpur Bathe are not much far behind. The
plight of Dalit women is too painful to be recalled.
Pain and misery all around in the outskirts of villages
and the slums of cities where most of the dalits
are huddled. After Independence the industrialization,
especially of public sector gave a large space for
the aspirations of dalits for social justice. The
limited land reforms also changed the situation
a bit. The reservation in jobs and educational institutions
ensured that a positive attitude towards education
is imbibed by the Dalit masses as a whole.
By 1980s the situation started changing. The first
indication of this came in the form of Anti-Dalit
riots in Gujarat on the issue of reservation. The
clever change in the target from Dalits to Muslims
paid rich dividends to the upper caste class party;
BJP and it cleverly manipulated the anti-Dalit aggression
of upper caste/class into anti-Minorities tirade.
This anti-Minority tirade served the purpose of
distracting the attention from social affairs to
the so called religious issues and to bring to a
close, to a total halt, to the slow growing process
of social transformation towards social and gender
justice. The game was cleverly played by the upper
caste formations. BJP started building social bridges
to different sections of Hindu Samaj and kept co-opting
sections of Dalits and OBCs. Section of Dalit-bahujan,
which benefited from the reservations etc. was aping
to the upper caste and adopting the upper caste
mores. The Sanskritization process, adoption of
upper caste culture by lower castes, was in full
swing.
Still large sections of the deprived were denied
the fruits of democracy. Mandal commission, which
aimed at alleviating the lot of Dalit-bahujan, was
in the deep freeze till V.P.Singh brought it out
as a political ploy to placate the clout of Devilal.
The whole hell broke loose. The ascendant polarization
of upper caste/class occurring around Ram Janmbhumi
assumed a new aggressive tone after the Mandal.
In the after math of Mandal the polarization got
razor sharp with the response to Advanis clever
Rath Yatra becoming more and more menacing. At one
level BJP was caught in a pincer. If it supports
Mandal in the real sense its vote bank of upper
caste will not be able to be consolidate. If it
rejects Mandal its cooption of Dalits will suffer
a jolt. The clever ploy of Ram Temple lies here.
It gave a message to the elite to come around BJP
at the same time BJP paid lip sympathy to Mandal,
and so it did leave its options of incorporating
Dalit-Adivasis in its ambit open. By and by it went
from strength to strength, riding on the chariot
of Ram lalla.
By this time the Dalit leadership was totally rudderless.
Gone were the days of Ambedkars Independent Labor
Party, gone were the days of Dada Saheb Giakwad
launching a massive agitation for land rights. In
hindsight one can recognize the wisdom of Babasaheb
many times over. He not only took up the issues
related to Dalit self respect (Chavdar Talao, Kalaram
Temple, Manusmriti Dahan) but also focused on the
material uplift of the dalits, Labor party, education
and other facilities for them. In true mould of
Babasahed, Dadasaheb went up to take up the land
issues in a serious way. Further down one sees the
serious attempt by Dalit Panther to give verbal
expression to the thoughts and struggles of Dr.
Ambedkar in the form of definition of Dalits as
all the exploited and oppressed, taking it beyond
the birth based definition. Unfortunately the challenge
of Panthers could be co-opted by the system in no
time. With the prominent leaders getting nominated
on Govt. bodies and getting awards for their heart
rending writings, many of them chose their mentors
from different sections of ruling political parties
and parted company to get lost in anonymity over
a period of time. Deeply entrenched in the cushy
positions and parroting the reservation mantra,
the dalit movement broke in to as many pieces as
was the number of leaders. These mentors were from
Congress and BJP. The most striking example is that
of the radical Namdeo Dhasal singing peens to Hindu
Hriday Samrat (Balasaheb Thackeray)
In this backdrop emergence of Kanshi Ram as a
leader of Bahujans was a landmark. But marred by
his underestimation of the threats of BJP-RSS, he
thought this is just another Manuwadi party. His
party could not and does not see that this is a
Manuwadi party with a difference. It is qualitatively
a different formation; it is the one, capable of
abolishing the democratic space in the deepest possible
sense. It is the one whos father RSS is totally
opposed to the Indian conetitution. It is the one
committed for Hindu Rashtra, the nationhood totally
opposed to the interests of dalitbahujans. So while
democracy means affirmative action and so the reservations
for Dalits, the pioneers of Hindu Rashtra assert
it is and injustice to the deserving Hindu children
and their merit. While secularism means that minorities
be protected and given protection to keep their
identity for a period of time, the Gurus of Hindu
Rashtra cry foul at this and raise the hue and cry
of minority appeasement, projecting it as an injustice
to Hindus. The aims and agenda of RSS-BJP are crystal
clear without any ambiguity, Hindu Rashtra, a la
the German Nation of Hitler. It is here that one
has to see the decision of Kanshiram-Mayawati to
ally with BJP and give support to its agenda, which
is unfolding bit by bit. Now there are contrasting
goals, on one hand to do away with democratic constitution,
affirmative action for weaker sections of society,
protective clauses for minorities and the like (BJP),
and on other hand, a longing for social economic
and gender justice, an absolute and non-negotiable
need to preserve the Indian constitution, and to
promote the Dalits and minorities. How can these
go together? During last three years more than ever
before Sangh Parivars different wings have been
co-opting different social groups in its ambit.
It is Dalits and adivasis who have become the storm
troopers of the parivar. While those sitting in
Keshav Baliram Hedgewar Bhavan (RSS head office)
make the strategy, the section of dalitbahujan spill
their and others blood to achieve RSS goals. While
the parivar elite plan the roads to Hindu Rashtra,
dalitbahujans dirty their hands to make these roads
which have to be sprinkled with the blood of minorities
and other weaker sections of society for curing
of these constructions. BJP has been successfully
using the ex-socialists and the opportunists of
various hues (George Fernanades, Sharad Yadav),
DMK, Mamatas, and Ajit Singhs etc for furtherance
of the agenda of Hindu Rashtra. Kanshiram-Mayawati
cannot be exception to the guiles of Parivar. They
will be helping the Hindutva agenda in more ways
than one.
While castism was used by upper caste to keep the
lower caste out of the gambit of social benefits
of development, the low caste had to use this casteism
to improve their own lot. The two are not the same.
Todays elite politics looks down upon caste politics
because it demands and tries to get concessions
for the Children of Lesser Gods (we are all aware
about the caste specific Gods which we have). The
things are all messed up between the real politic
and the long-term directions. We have no Ambedkar
today, when he is so much needed, to steer clear
of falling in the trap and lap of Hindu Rashtra
politics. When disgusted and frustrated by the grip
of Brahmanism, as an escape he chanted, Buddham
Sharanma Gacchhami, today those who claim to be
his followers are chanting Manu Sharanma Gacchhmai,
same Manu to burn whose edicts Babasaheb burnt Manusmriti.
