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Dalits are angry with DMK govt: L Murugan
Murugan was responding to a statement of the govt that rights of dalits were protected by it.Murugan further said caste violence against dalits have increased in the state and alleged that in many places DMK cadres themselves “instigate violence”.
Union minister L Murugan expresses alarm over rising atrocities against Dalits in Tamil Nadu under the DMK government. Recent cases, such as the murder of a BSP leader and rape of a Dalit girl, underscore the urgent need for improved law enforcement and social justice measures.
Learn about the impact of AIADMK's boycott on the Vikravandi by-election. Find out how the verbal duel between AIADMK and BJP could affect the outcome. Explore the options for AIADMK voters and the potential implications for DMK.
Tragic clash in Thiruvalarcholai village, Trichy leaves one dead and five injured in a dispute believed to be linked to a love affair. The incident has stirred unrest in the area. Police are investigating the matter to establish the facts and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Four people were detained by the Karur police in Tamil Nadu in connection with the assault of a 14-year-old Dalit student and his grandmother.
The incident occurred on Friday (August 25) when the victim, a Class 10 student from Uppidimangalam Government School in Alliyakavundanur, was involved in a verbal spat with a student from the upper caste while travelling on a government bus.
The altercation escalated into a physical assault, which was promptly halted by other passengers.
However, the incident took an ugly turn the following day when the student from the upper caste and his accomplices went to the Dalit student's home and assaulted him and his grandmother Kaliyammal. A video of the incident has gone viral on social media.
The victim said the upper-caste student was infuriated because he had laughed at a joke shared with his friend.
"I was beaten on the bus. I told my uncle and decided to file a police complaint when 20 people surrounded us, called me by my caste name, and began hitting me and my grandmother," said the Dalit student who is undergoing treatment.
Karur police have detained two students -- Ilango and Manikandan -- and two minors over the attack on the Dalit student and initiated an investigation.
This is the second instance in Tamil Nadu where a Dalit student was assaulted by fellow students from the upper caste.
On August 9, a Dalit student from Nanguneri was assaulted in his home for allegedly standing against the harassment of his fellow students from the upper caste.
Congress picks senior Dalit MP Kodikunnil Suresh as chief whip in Lok Sabha, Manickam Tagore as whip
Jorhat (Assam) MP Gaurav Gogoi has been appointed as the Congress Parliamentary Party deputy leader in the Lok Sabha.
Published Jul 14, 2024.
Congress MPs Kodikunnil Suresh, Manickam Tagore.
Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi wrote to Speaker Om Birla informing him about the appointment of the deputy leader, chief whip, and two whips for the party in the Lok Sabha.
Congress general secretary and Alappuzha MP KC Venugopal on Sunday, 14 July, said in a post on X that Jorhat (Assam) MP Gaurav Gogoi has been appointed as the party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha.
Leader of Opposition and Raebareli MP Rahul Gandhi is the party’s leader in the lower House of the Parliament.
Also Read: Key accused in BSP leader K Armstrong murder case shot dead by police in Chennai
Chief whip, whips appointed
Eight-time MP Kodikunnil Suresh, elected to the Lok Sabha from Mavelikkara in Kerala, has been appointed the party’s chief whip.
Virudhunagar (Tamil Nadu) MP Manickam Tagore and Kishanganj (Bihar) MP Dr Mohammad Jawaid have been appointed as whips.
“Guided by LOP Shri @RahulGandhi ji, the Congress and INDIA parties will energetically champion the people’s causes in the Lok Sabha,” Venugopal wrote on X.
Karnataka's SCP-TS funds legally directed to Shakti Scheme, says official
BELAGAVI : “The government has implemented the Shakti Yojane and other guarantee schemes to bring the women to the mainstream and strengthen them financially. The Special Component Plan (SCP) and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) funds have been utilised for these schemes under Section 7C,” revealed the president of the Karnataka Scheduled Caste and Tribal Development Corporation, Pallavi G.
She told media persons here on Saturday, “STP-TSP are the best programmes in the country to deliver justice to ground-level communities. It was introduced by Siddaramaih in his previous term as chief minister. He also allocated more funds for the welfare of SC/ST communities by legalising these programmes under Sections 7C and 7D. Section 7C mentions that the fund can be utilised more efficiently for good work. That is the reason it has been utilised for Shakti and other schemes to bring women into the mainstream.” She said, “But some organisations are pressuring the government to use SCP/TSP funds only for the welfare of SC/ST communities. I have discussed it with the CM.”
On the Rs 94-crore scam at the Valmiki Corporation, she said, “No one can be bigger than law. The government has formed a SIT and the investigation has started.”
She said the state has 10.9 lakh people belonging to nomadic tribes as per the 2011 census who reside in forest areas. They are not aware of government programmes. Siddaramaiah had started an ‘Alemari Kosha’ in 2019, which has been converted into a corporation.
Grievances of nomadic communities to be heard
BJP begins preparation for Jharkhand assembly polls
The BJP leaders have underscored the need to redraw the party’s outreach towards the tribal communities as well as Other Backward Classes and other caste groups in urban constituencies in Jharkhand
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has drawn a two-pronged strategy of sharpening its outreach in the tribal community by raising issues of local relevance and retaining support of the urban electorate by highlighting the deficiencies of the state government in Jharkhand, where elections for the 81-member assembly are due later this year.
According to a BJP functionary, the opposition party in the eastern state will focus its campaign on the alleged corruption by chief minister Hemant Soren, who was released on June 28, six months after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case.
“There are several issues that will drive our election campaign in the state, but the focus will be on the poor governance record of the state government and the corruption by chief minister Hemant Soren,” the functionary said, declining to be named.
The functionary added that the BJP will also focus on 28 of the 91 constituencies reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs). As per the 2011 census, 34.6% of the state’s electorate belong to ST communities, which hold the key to swinging the poll outcome.
The BJP’s performance in both the 2019 assembly elections and this year’s Lok Sabha polls has been attributed largely to the apathy from tribal communities.
In 2019, the BJP lost the assembly elections, with its tally shrinking from 37 to 25 in the 81-member assembly. The JMM, led by Soren, formed the government after winning 30 seats and getting support from the Congress that won 16 seats and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) that won a single seat.
In this year’s Lok Sabha elections, the party’s tally came down from 11 in 2019 to eight. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) won three, Congress two and the AJSU won a single seat.
Ahead of the assembly elections later this year, there is concern over the loss of support from tribal communities that has been exacerbated by the Opposition’s relentless campaign to characterise the BJP as anti-Scheduled Caste (SC) and ST and against caste-based reservations, the functionary quoted above said.
“Of the 47 seats (across 16 states) that are reserved for STs, BJP won 25 (in the Lok Sabha polls). This was less than 2019, when the party bagged 31. Here in Jharkhand, the loss was more severe, as the party did not win a single ST seat of the five. This (result) was because of the Opposition’s fake narrative that the BJP would end reservation,” the functionary said.
In recent meetings with Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who have been appointed as election in-charges of Jharkhand, state leaders underscored the need to redraw the party’s outreach towards the tribal communities as well as Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and other caste groups in urban constituencies.
“There is a section of leaders within the party who feel that JMM’s allegation that the Union government victimised Soren, a tribal chief minister, has resonance among the communities on the ground. The issue of ‘tribal pride’ being hurt by his arrest is gaining strength even though his track record of governance is poor. Therefore, it is imperative to shine light on his deficiencies such as the failure to provide jobs and flag issues that concern the people,” a second functionary said, also seeking anonymity.
To counter the JMM’s allegation that Soren was a victim of political vendetta, the BJP has drawn attention to the problems being faced by ST communities, particularly women and youngsters.
“Issues such as land acquisition in tribal areas through stealth and illegal settlement of people from Bangladesh have become a huge worry in the Santhal Pargana region,” the second functionary said.
The BJP leaders are buoyed by the recent Jharkhand high court order directing the state government to identify infiltrators from Bangladesh and prepare an action plan to deport them.
For retaining support in urban areas, BJP leaders want the Union government to announce state-specific schemes and sops for food security, higher remuneration for crops and enhanced outlay for health, housing and other amenities, as was announced in Chhattisgarh last year when the BJP managed to oust the Congress government from power during the assembly elections.
“There is anger on the ground because the chief minister had promised five lakh government jobs, which have not been provided. There was no development nor any economic measures for the youth…,” the second functionary said.
The other important issue that will need to be resolved in the coming weeks is the question of firming up alliances. There is a section of leaders who feel that the party will benefit from a pre-poll tie-up with the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU).
The BJP and the AJSU have been allies on and off, including in 2014, when the BJP won 37 seats and the AJSU won five.
The state BJP is also aware that the question of leadership will surface and dominate electioneering, the second functionary said.
The 2019 defeat was to a large extent attributed to the absence of a tribal face as then chief minister Raghubar Das was not seen as a pan-state leader. With the appointment of tribal leader Babulal Marandi as state BJP chief, the party is hopeful of overcoming the allegation that it does not have a tribal representative at the high table.
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Shravasti News: ‘I am not able to sleep at night, I am scared…’, the case of making a Dalit teenager drink urine in Shravasti
Azeem Mirza, Shravasti: We are not able to sleep at night due to fear and terror, we are afraid that if those people come to kill our brothers at night, if we are awake at that time, we will definitely raise an alarm so that our brothers can run out of the house and save their lives, these words are of Dalit Sanju Devi, whose younger brother was beaten at gunpoint by three goons of her own village and made to drink their urine, the report of which was written 9 days after the incident after the intervention of the Superintendent of Police.
Edited By Vivek Mishra
When the NBT Online team reached the village of victim Pradeep Kumar Paswan (15 years) Rampur Tribhauna district Shravasti, there was a strange silence in the village. Some people were trying to find out who these people were by looking at us, but no one was saying anything. When we reached the victim’s house, the victim’s father Indrasen Paswan and his mother Indu Devi Paswan were sitting quietly in a hut. The hut was completely thatched and the victim was feeding fodder to the buffalo, but no one could muster the courage to ask me who I was and where I came from.
The victim’s family runs the house by doing labour work
This village is dominated by upper castes. There are only 4-6 Dalit houses. They too are all Patriarchs. The victim’s Dalit family has 32 bighas of land on paper, but about 25 bighas of land has been washed away by the river, so this family is left with 7 bighas of land. Pradeep and his elder brother Chandra Prakash have to survive on the money earned by working as labourers.
He was made to drink urine by putting a gun on his temple
On the day of the incident, Munni Lal’s DJ was booked at Kishan Tiwari’s place, and Pradeep was responsible for delivering the DJ, because he was the operator. Pradeep delivered the generator but was going with Kishan keeping a sodium light. On the way, Dilip Mishra and Satyam Tiwari came on a Pulsar motorcycle and stopped Pradeep and urinated in a beer bottle. They tried to make him drink it. When he refused, he slapped him and Dilip took out a pistol and placed it on his temple. Satyam and Kishan caught hold of him and forcibly made him drink the urine by stuffing the bottle in his mouth. Actually, Dilip was unhappy with Pradeep because one day, after eating paan masala, Dilip was spitting on Dalit children, which Pradeep had opposed.
Case filed on 9th July
Pradeep’s elder brother Chandra Prakash Paswan gave a written complaint about the entire incident to Gilaula police station on 1st July, but the police of Gilaula police station did not budge for a week. Then, about a week later, the victim gave another application to Superintendent of Police Ghanshyam Chaurasia. After the intervention of the Superintendent of Police, a case was filed against Dilip Mishra, Satyam Tiwari and Kishan Tiwari under Sections 115 (2), 351, 352 (NSA) and Scheduled Caste/Tribe Act on 9th July and all three were arrested on the same day.
Victim’s family is not coming out of the house
Victim Pradeep says that ever since these three have been released, we are not able to go out anywhere, because these people have challenged that if the two brothers are found anywhere, then make them disappear. We are not able to eat peacefully due to fear. Our mother is crying a lot. She was afraid that if something happened to us, then our old father who is often ill will not be able to do anything and who will take care of our family.
The accused’s father said – We have been framed
In this regard, when the elder father of accused Dilip Mishra, Badlu Ram Mishra, was asked why he does not explain to his children not to do such acts, he said that we have been framed. This is a matter of political rivalry.
The police said – will apply the Goonda Act
Superintendent of Police Ghanshyam Chaurasia said that a video of the victim had gone viral, which someone showed me, after seeing which I was shocked, because the matter was very disgusting and the allegation was very dirty. As soon as we saw the viral video, we got the complaint registered and formed three teams and arrested one from Bhinga, one from home and one from the market and sent them to jail within 6 hours. Now we will also apply the Goonda Act on them, but the accused are out of jail at this time. Regarding the security of the victim, he said that if any complaint is received, security will also be provided. The SC/ST Commission has taken the incident with the Dalit teenager seriously and has summoned all the records including the investigation report by July 29.
Vivek Mishra
Birthplace is Barabanki and work place has been many cities of three states. Started career with print media in 2013. Entered digital media with Navbharat Times through MP Jan Sandesh, Patrika, Hindustan, Amar Ujala, Dainik Jagran.
Scavenging And Consuming Jhoothan: A Reflection On Dalit Lives, Histories And Memories
The word jhoothan points to the social practice of the consumption of leftovers by the Dalits based on the hierarchical Varna system that subjects them to incessant torture, poverty, and disgrace
By Rageshree Bhattacharyya
Anand Teltumbde, an activist and a major advocator of Dalit rights in India, evocatively points out that the “Indian culture is nothing but caste culture.” He adds that “this culture externalises the responsibility of maintaining cleanliness to a particular caste. It stigmatises [their] work as unclean and workers as untouchables,…, enabling people to derive a sense of [upper-caste] superiority in littering the place, expecting it to be cleaned by the lower-caste scavenger.”
The story of these “lower-caste scavengers” becomes the focal point of the autobiographical accounts of Dalit writers Babytai Kamble and Omprakash Valmiki, thereby documenting the casteist nature of the food systems in India. Their narratives in “The Prisons We Broke” and “Jhoothan” respectively, are a shameful reminder of how Dalits in India have been dehumanised on an everyday basis, especially through acts such as the daily scavenging and the routinised consumption of jhoothan (leftovers).
Understanding Jhoothan
The literal meaning of the term jhoothan refers to the uneaten food that is left on the plate and is eventually thrown into garbage bins. However, the actual reality behind this term is hardly as simple because food is considered to be jhoothan only if someone else consumes it. In this context, Rosanna McLaughlin explains that the consumption of jhoothan is a caste-based practise that “specifically refers to [the eating of the] leftovers from the plates of upper-caste people,… scraps of food that would usually go into the dustbin..”
Hence, the word jhoothan points to the social practice of the consumption of leftovers by the Dalits based on the hierarchical Varna system that subjects them to incessant torture, poverty, and disgrace at the hands of the upper-caste Savarna people.
Therefore, originating from the word jhootha in Hindi, jhoothan (leftovers) encapsulates notions of pain and humiliation experienced by the Dalits on account of their caste identity. In doing so, this term is laden with connotations of ritual purity and pollution because leftovers are treated as an extremely sensitive category in Hindu thought and philosophy. “Eating leftovers carries the risk of moral degradation, biological contamination and loss of status,” opines the anthropologist, Arjun Appadurai.
These notions are poignantly articulated within Omprakash Valmiki’s autobiography titled Jhoothan (2003) wherein several narratives suggest that the lives of the Dalits in the village of Barla in Uttar Pradesh were embedded in an inherent relationship with the consumption of leftovers of the upper-caste Hindus. In doing so, Valmiki highlights how the caste-based social structure in India forced the Dalits to not only rely on jhoothan but to relish it.
In this vein, Babasaheb’s writings demonstrate the fact that upper-caste villagers could not tolerate the decision of the Dalits to not accept joothan and instead threatened them with violence if they refused it. Similarly, Babytai Kamble’s “The Prisons We Broke” (2017), which was published in Marathi under the title Jina Amucha, is a reminder of the existence of caste-based politics around food and eating in India by underlining how oppression was inflicted on the lives of the Mahar community.
Structural violence through food and eating
Babytai Kamble observes in her autobiographical memoir that while the bullocks were given grass to eat and were allowed to stay on the courtyards of the upper-caste people, the Mahars were merely given leftovers. She writes, “We ate the leftovers without complaining and laboured for others…. Our place was in the garbage pits outside the village, where everyone threw away their waste….The leftover food would be thrown into the blanket that [the Mahar] spread as a makeshift bag.” The usage of the word “thrown” in this context indicates the notion of erstwhile untouchability that is inseparably intertwined with Dalit identity in India.
Further underlining such incidents, Kamble mentions that the Mahar was expected to ring a bell to announce their arrival. She writes that “if the men sitting down for their dinner heard the Mahar’s voice, they would have to discard their meal and get up. But if they heard just the sound of his bell, they could finish their meal. His voice could pollute but not the sound of his bell!” This shows that Dalits have been treated as polluted beings whose touch, voice, or even shadow is believed to carry the ability to pollute upper-caste people. Therefore, not only did the upper-caste people expect Dalits to consume leftovers but also managed to transform the body of the Dalit into the leftover or the jhoothan, a figure of moral degradation, biological contamination, and loss of status – tainted by the touch of impurity and pollution.
Additionally, even though erstwhile untouchability prevents the upper-caste people from coming in contact with their Dalit counterparts or providing them with food in a dignified manner, it unfortunately, does not make the Savarnas even slightly reluctant before consuming the labour of the same ‘untouchable,’ Dalits. “The Prisons We Broke” is replete with various episodes which indicate that the Mahars were expected to work continuously to ensure that upper-caste marriage ceremonies happened smoothly without even being given any remuneration in exchange for their labour. She writes, “After having worked for hours on end, he (the Mahar) would be feeling terribly hungry, but somehow he would try to satiate his hunger with his own saliva. With utmost humility, he would bend before the master, saying Jee dhani, jee dhani. The master would then command him, ‘First sweep the pandal clean. Then you can take away those two baskets of leftover food.’” This shows that the upper-caste people enjoyed full liberty to consume the Dalit person’s labour while completely rejecting his body and his entire being.
Through the documentation of this Dalit food culture that has hinged on scavenging and consuming jhoothan, these memoirs challenge the portrayal of the Dalits as silent spectators who cannot speak about their oppression and instead provide them with a language, a vocabulary and a platform to speak out against the violence inflicted on their bodies and minds in their voice.
What is particularly distressing in this context is that leftover food gets treated as a form of payment for the labour that is given by the Dalits. To articulate a similar context Valmiki writes in ‘Jhoothan” “After the bridegroom’s party had eaten, the dirty pattals, or leaf plates, were put in the Chuhras’ baskets, which they took home, to save the joothan that was sticking to them. The little remnants of pooris, puffed bread; bits of sweetmeats; and a little bit of vegetable were enough to make them happy”. Therefore, these autobiographical accounts highlight not just the politics of the consumption of leftovers but also draw our attention to the unfortunate fact that leftover foods were the only things given to the Dalits in exchange for their back-breaking labour. The usage of food as a form of payment and in turn the absence of money as a legitimate remunerative object is extremely striking in these instances of Dalit lives, histories and memories.
Resisting the Brahmanical domination
While Dalit literature, particularly autobiographical accounts like the ones written by Omprakash Valmiki and Babytai Kamble act as poignant reminders of how Dalit lives, histories and memories around food and eating get deeply linked with notions of disgrace, degradation and deprivation, these articulations must also be seen as symbols of direct self-assertion whereby they manage to confront Brahmanical hegemony with immense vigour and resilience. Through the documentation of this Dalit food culture that has hinged on scavenging and consuming jhoothan, these memoirs challenge the portrayal of the Dalits as silent spectators who cannot speak about their oppression and instead provide them with a language, a vocabulary and a platform to speak out against the violence inflicted on their bodies and minds in their voice.
Courtesy : FII
MP Barodia Nonagir Dalit murder case: Fact finding report says Anjana’s death suspicious!
The report makes serious allegations against the police administration and BJP leader and former minister Bhupendra Singh. Heavy pressure is also mentioned on the victim’s Dalit family.
Ankit Pachauri
Bhopal. A fact finding report has been prepared by a citizen investigation team on the famous Khurai Barodia Nonagir Dalit murder case of Sagar, Madhya Pradesh. This report has been released on Friday in a press conference in the capital Bhopal by advocate Mohan Dixit, advocate Aditya, Rawat, Madhuri from People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Anjali from All India Feminist Forum, Neelu Dahiya, Nitin from Jagrut Adivasi Dalit Sangathan, Rohit and Sadaf Khan in the fact finding report.
The fact finding report makes serious allegations against the police administration and BJP leader and former minister Bhupendra Singh. It is noteworthy to note that in August 2023, a case of brutal murder of 18-year-old Dalit youth Nitin Ahirwar and attack on his mother and sister by goons came to light in Baraudia Naunagir village of Sagar district. Just 9 months later, Nitin’s uncle, and a key witness in the case, Rajendra Ahirwar, was violently attacked and killed. While taking Rajendra Ahirwar’s body home, Nitin’s sister, 20-year-old Anjana Ahirwar, who was constantly demanding justice, also died under mysterious circumstances. “We found that although most of the accused in the Nitin murder case were arrested due to media activism, there were many loopholes in the proceedings and due to bias and partiality of local politicians and administration, pressure continued on the victim’s family and Rajendra and Anjana also died. No action was taken on written complaints of pressure from the accused to the victims to sign a ‘compromise’, not adding the name of a local politician and laxity in proceedings. Earlier also, the case was weakened in a case of sexual violence against some of these influential people,” the fact-finding report read.
“Sagar is an important centre of political power in Madhya Pradesh and in this case, opposition leaders and then Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav himself visited the victims. But even after one and a half months, most of the accused in Rajendra’s murder have not been arrested. Anjana’s death is being described as ‘falling or jumping’ from a hearse which is unbelievable and when asked for details, even after one and a half months, the police is silent saying ‘investigation is going on’.” “The circumstances of Anjana’s death point to a conspiracy. Anjana was educated, and she played the most important role in seeking justice in all these cases of atrocities. She was the one who communicated with the administration and politicians on behalf of the family. At the age of 15, she was able to get an FIR registered against influential people for the violence against her and she kept refusing to compromise in this matter.”
“Anjana was the complainant and a main witness in the case of her brother Nitin’s murder. She was also the main witness in the case of her uncle’s murder, as she was the one who informed her over the phone about the attack on him. Anjana was constantly being pressured to compromise and change her testimony and she had also made several written complaints in this regard. Anjana also objected to the bail plea of ??the accused in Nitin’s murder in the High Court, due to which their bail was rejected. Anjana was also preparing to object in the Supreme Court.” “There is a dire need for a detailed and impartial investigation in all these cases, for which the local police do not appear competent and reliable. Therefore, we believe that the investigation should be done by the CBI, as is being continuously demanded by the victim’s family and the area.” “The statements given by Bhupendra Singh, a prominent leader of this area, MLA and former minister, in these cases show bias against the victims and an attempt to downplay the seriousness of the cases. After the murder of Nitin, he called it a ‘mutual dispute’. After the death of Anjana and Rajendra, he called Rajendra a criminal and Anjana misled by the criminals. Whereas the matter is of atrocities on Dalits by the goons, which included violence on a minor girl, death of three young men, beating and stripping of a woman and demolition of Dalit houses.”
“It is noteworthy that three of the accused ‘lambardars’, Komal Thakur and his two sons, have been BJP workers and office bearers. The police have cited criminal cases against Nitin and Rajendra, along with Nitin’s brother Vishnu, and said that they were used by the rival faction of the domineering “lambardars”. While the police’s clearly visible bias calls for an impartial investigation of these pending cases, even if these Dalit labourers have received support from the rival faction in raising the issue, the allegations of violence and harassment cannot be denied.” “It is obvious that a Dalit labourer family filing FIRs and complaints against the domineering “lambardars” of the village, giving statements against them and not being ready for compromise has been seen as a challenge to the dominance of the domineering and this has increased tension and violence. The victim families of Nitin-Anjana and Rajendra told us many times that they are feeling unsafe.” “Many prominent politicians from the ruling and opposition parties have been involved in this case and the Chief Minister himself has visited. Even after this, due to lack of concrete action, the threat to the victim families has increased. It is clear that even now if there is any kind of deficiency in action and any kind of violence or harassment takes place, then the state government will be completely responsible for it,” the factfinding report said.
Note: This news has been written on the basis of the fact finding report of the Citizen Investigation Team. The Mooknayak has no connection with this analysis and conclusion. This news has been published from the press release issued by the said organizations.
The end of independent Ambedkarite Dalit politics?
The 2024 general elections were fought primarily around the discourse of social justice. The Congress-led opposition alliance (INDIA Alliance) campaigned on the narrative that if the BJP came to power with an absolute majority, it would change the Constitution and end reservations for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC). In contrast, the BJP-led ruling alliance (NDA) sought to corner opposition parties by raising the fear that the INDIA Alliance would give SC, ST, and OBC reservations to Muslims. Prime Minister Modi, while speaking at a rally in Haryana’s Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha constituency, referred to a recent West Bengal High Court verdict that cancelled five lakh OBC certificates.
Dr. Rahul Sonpimple,
He claimed that reservations for OBCs were being given to infiltrators, i.e. Muslims. Issues such as under-representation of SCs, STs, OBCs in government jobs, education, private sector employment, mainstream media, need for caste census, implementation of reservation and protection of Baba Saheb’s Constitution have been central to Ambedkarite Dalit Bahujan discourse and the Scheduled Caste-led political parties and their supporters.
In these elections, these social justice issues became a key part of the opposition’s campaign and were able to successfully challenge the comprehensive campaign of Prime Minister Modi. However, it is even more surprising that parties such as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) led by Behen Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh and the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) led by advocate Prakash Ambedkar in Maharashtra, whose politics have traditionally revolved around social justice discourse and issues, were a complete flop in these elections.
They failed to win a single seat and their vote share also fell sharply. The re-emergence of the Congress-led opposition and their better performance than in the previous elections has inspired the so-called progressive or liberal upper caste intellectuals to once again envision a strong anti-BJP-RSS political mobilisation.
However, they are ignoring the threat of the collapse of the independent politics of the most marginalised people in India. In this case, one can argue that the election results are a fair outcome of democratic electoral competition, but the moral question that arises for parliamentary democracy with the collapse of the independent politics of the parties of Dalits and other marginalised sections should not be neglected. The question is, can we celebrate a strong opposition without the presence of independent Dalit politics? And we want to ask, what is moral in our democracy?
However, this does not exempt us from questioning the political vision and leadership decisions of independent Dalit-led parties, which have resulted in the complete collapse of independent Dalit politics in the electoral arena. Particularly, as mentioned above, when we know that the discourse of social justice in electoral politics in India is the result of long-running political activism from the Scheduled Castes Federation (SCF) to the Republican Party of India (RPI), from the Dalit Panther to BAMCEF, and from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA).
Why then were Dalit-led parties like the BSP and VBA hesitant to make the discourse of social justice their main agenda during the election campaign? By their hesitation to raise social justice issues, they appear to have created distrust among their core vote bank and supporters.
This resulted in their core vote bank, mainly the large number of Dalits in UP and Maharashtra (who proved to be the biggest game changer in influencing the overall win numbers of the BJP), moving to other opposition parties that successfully placed the discourse of social justice at the centre of their political campaign.
Besides taking the Dalit vote bank for granted, both the VBA and the BSP have no association with grassroots Ambedkarite social movement organisations that work for the welfare of the community with little or no resources and support and most importantly build an ideological base.
We also know that unlike other upper caste political parties that fight elections with the help of media, mafia and money, Dalit-led parties lack resources and rely mainly on community support and voluntary activism by local workers. However, we have also observed that there is poor coordination between community-based organisations and Dalit-led parties.
It is important to note that for the ruling BJP, there exist several socio-cultural Hindutva ideological organisations, including the RSS as the most important social organisation.
The Congress before entering the election created a large chain of progressive social movement organisations under the banner of Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, who actively campaigned for the Congress and its alliance on the ground.
Moreover, this election also sent a strong message that not only charismatic leaders but also issues related to everyday life matter. Unfortunately, even after such a long journey, Dalit politics still revolves around excessive celebration of the charisma of the leader.
There is little space for the need for organisational leadership in contemporary Dalit politics and discourse. The lack of strong local (second tier) leadership also seems to worsen the position of Dalit-led political parties.
As we know, after Babasaheb Ambedkar, Dalit politics has experienced both the rise and fall of leadership in national politics. Kanshiram sahab gave importance to building a cadre-based movement. However, the current Dalit-led parties not only lack internal democratic structure, but also do not give any importance to building cadres at the grassroots level. We (AIISCA), as a social movement organisation, believe that while independent Dalit politics and leadership have weakened in national politics, the Dalit movement at the grassroots level has strengthened and continues through various non-party and non-electoral local organisations and groups, which envision new Dalit politics and leadership.
We believe that the 2024 elections have once again given importance to the discourse of social justice, and proved that elections can be fought and won by keeping social justice issues at the forefront. In this context, there is hope for a new beginning by Dalit political parties.
AIISCA believes that Ambedkarite Dalit parties must prioritise some key critical tasks to regain their natural vote bank:
- Dalit-led parties must stop taking the Dalit vote for granted.
- They must build second-line leadership and grassroots leadership.
- They should make well-coordinated efforts with Dalit social movement organisations.
- They should give importance to internal democratic party structure.
- They should create a cadre-based political movement.
In this context, the All India Independent Scheduled Castes Association (AIISCA) is going to organize a one-day conference in Nagpur on July 21, 2024 to discuss the direction and future of Dalit politics.
Jai Bhim!
Author- Dr. Rahul Sonpimple is the Founder President of All India Independent Scheduled Castes Association
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