Embracing Lord Manu

One is amazed at the opportunism of those swearing in the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar. The latest alliancebetween BSP and BJP for sharing power in UP comes as one more nail in the coffin of the efforts towards socialjustice. BJP, cornered due to the Gujarat carnage, is out to make use of new alliances, and has been a majorbeneficiary 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 doingsitting in the lap of this Neo Brahminical party, which is the progeny of RSS and the vehicle for HinduRashtra? Can any party wedded to the interests of backward castes, dalit-bahujans ally with a party whosehidden (now open) agenda is Hindu Rashtra? Whose avowed goal is to abolish democracy and the constitution inIndia?

Dalit-bahujans are facing the major brunt of the adverse impact of globalization. The land reforms havelong been forgotten. The anti-Dalit atrocities are aplenty. The carnages of the type of Laxamnpur Bathe arenot much far behind. The plight of dalit women is too painful to be recounted. Pain and misery abound allaround in the outskirts of villages and the slums of cities where most of the dalits are huddled.

After Independence, industrialization, especially of the public sector, provided a large space for theaspirations of dalits for social justice. The limited land reforms also changed the situation a bit. Thereservation in jobs and educational institutions ensured that a positive attitude towards education wasimbibed by the Dalit masses as a whole.

But by 1980s, the situation started changing. The first indication of this came in the form of Anti-dalitriots in Gujarat on the issue of reservations. The clever change in the target from dalits to Muslims paidrich dividends to the upper caste class party; BJP, and it cleverly manipulated the anti-dalit aggression ofupper caste/class into an anti-minorities tirade.

This anti-minority tirade served the purpose of distracting the attention from social affairs to the socalled religious issues and halted the slow growing process of social transformation towards social and genderjustice. The game was very cleverly played by the upper caste formations. BJP started building social bridgesto different sections of Hindu Samaj and kept co-opting sections of dalits and OBCs. A section ofdalit-bahujans, which benefited from the reservations, was aping and aspiring to be, the upper caste byadopting the upper caste mores. The Sanskritization process -- adoption of upper caste culture by lower castes-- was in full swing.

However, large sections of the deprived continued to be denied the fruits of democracy. Mandal CommissionReport's recommendations, which aimed at alleviating the lot of dalit-bahujans, remained in the deep freezetill V.P.Singh brought them out as a political ploy to counter  the clout of Devi Lal, letting the genieout of the bottle, as it were.

The whole hell broke loose. The ascendant polarization of upper caste/class occurring around Ram Janmbhumiassumed a
new aggressive tone after Mandal. In the after math of Mandal, the polarization got razor sharp with theresponse to Advani's clever Rath Yatra becoming more and more menacing.

At one level, BJP was caught in a pincer. If it supported Mandal in the real sense,  the consolidationof its upper caste vote bank was jeopardised.. If it rejected Mandal, its cooption of dalits was threatened.The clever ploy of Ram Temple lies here. It gave a message to the elite to come around BJP while BJP paid lipsympathy to Mandal, leaving open the option of
incorporating dalit-Adivasis in its ambit. By and by, it went from strength to strength, riding on the chariotof Ram lalla.

By this time, the Dalit leadership was totally rudderless. Gone were the days of Ambedkar's IndependentLabor Party, gone were the days of Dada Saheb Giakwad launching a massive agitation for land rights.

With hindsight, one can recognize the wisdom of Babasaheb many times over. He not only took up the issuesrelated to dalit self respect (Chavdar Talao, Kalaram Temple, Manusmriti Dahan) but also focused on thematerial uplift of the dalits, Labor party, education and other facilities for them.

In the true mould of Babasahed, Dadasaheb went up to take up the land issues in a serious way. Furtherdown, one sees the serious attempt by Dalit Panther to give verbal expression to the thoughts and struggles ofDr. Ambedkar in the form of definition of dalits as all the exploited and oppressed, taking it beyond thebirth based definition.

Unfortunately the challenge of Panthers could be co-opted by the system in no time.

In this backdrop, the emergence of Kanshi Ram as a leader of Bahujans was a landmark. But marred by hisunderestimation of the threats of BJP-RSS, he took it to be just another Manuwadi party. His party could notand does not see that this was and is a Manuwadi party with a difference. It is qualitatively a differentformation; the one capable of abolishing the democratic space in the deepest possible sense. It is the onewhose father RSS is totally opposed to the Indian constitution. It is the one
committed to a Hindu Rashtra, the nationhood totally opposed to the interests of dalit-bahujans.

While democracy means affirmative action, and so the reservations for dalits, the pioneers of Hindu Rashtraassert it is an injustice to the deserving Hindu children and their merit. While secularism means thatminorities be protected and given opportunities to keep their identity for a period of time, the Gurus ofHindu Rashtra cry foul at this and raise a hue and cry of minority appeasement, projecting it as an injusticeto Hindus.

The aims and agenda of RSS-BJP are crystal clear without any ambiguity: Hindu Rashtra, a la the GermanNation of
Hitler. It is here that one has to see the decision of Kanshiram-Mayawati to ally with BJP and give support toits agenda, which is unfolding bit by bit.

Now there are contrasting goals. On one hand to do away with democratic constitution, affirmative actionfor weaker sections of society, protective clauses for minorities and the like (BJP), and on the other, alonging for social economic and gender justice, an absolute and non-negotiable need to preserve the Indianconstitution, and to promote the Dalits and minorities. How can these go together?

During the last three years, more than ever before, the Sangh Parivar's different wings have been co-optingdifferent social groups in its ambit. It is the dalits and adivais who have become the storm troopers of theparivar. While those sitting in
Keshav Baliram Hegdewar Bhavan (RSS head office) make the strategy, the section of dalit-bahujans spill theirblood and also spill the blood of others to achieve their goals.

BJP has been successfully using the ex-socialists and the opportunists of various hues -- DMK, Mamatas, andAjit
Singhs etc. -- for advancing the agenda of Hindu Rashtra. The Kanshiram-Mayawati duo cannot be an exception tothe guiles of the Parivar. They will be helping the Hindutva agenda in more ways than one.

While castism was used by upper castes to keep the lower castes out of the gambit of social benefits ofdevelopment, the low castes had to use this weapon to improve their own lot. The two are not the same. Today'selite politics looks down upon caste politics because it demands and tries to get concessions for the Childrenof 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 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. Whendisgusted and frustrated by the
grip of Lord Manu on Hinduism, as an escape he chanted, Buddham Sharanma Gacchhami, today those whoclaim to be his followers are chanting Manu Sharanma Gacchhmai, the same Manu to oppose whose edicts,Babasaheb burnt the
tome called Manusmriti.

(The author teaches at IIT Mumbai and also works for EKTA, Committee for Communal Amity)