Dilemma and Challenges

ICCO Partner Conference in Thailand

BY

M C Raj
Rural Education for Development Society
Shanthinagaar
Tumkur 572102
Karnataka, India

Democratization

1.There is no doubt that India has much more democratic space than many
other countries when one looks at India as one country. What is problematic
however, is the big question whether India can ever be termed as one country
with its multiplicity of cultures, languages, history and religions. One may take
many strenuous efforts to accept with great difficulty that our country after all,
is one. The question that arises then is at whose cost is this oneness
achieved in India.

2.From the time of independence from the British rule in 1947 India has been
hailed as a great democracy. It has followed the Majoritarian Electoral System
till now. This Electoral System is fit for a political system which has two or
three major political parties and for one party rule. But India has transpired
into coalition politics in the last more than one decade of political governance.
Therefore, according to me there is a dire need to re-examine the validity of
the present electoral system in India to make it more democratic. The present
electoral system of India does not allow proportional representation of the
Dalits in the Instruments and Mechanisms of governance. A political party that
gains only about 29 % of votes has the possibility of governing this country
under the majoritarian systems of elections. This will mean that the govern-
ment does not necessarily enjoy the support of 71% of electorate and is not
representative of a majority of citizens. Therefore, there is a need to look at
other electoral systems, say for example, the German Electoral System of
which I have made a recent research.

3.Such a necessity is realized out of our struggle for proportional representa-

tion of our people in the Parliament and State Legislature of India and Indian
States. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, who is the Constitution maker of India actually
demanded separate electorate for the Dalit people. This was granted to the
Dalits along with the Muslims by the British rulers. However, the Hindus pro-
tested vehemently against giving separate representation for the Dalit people
though they did not object to giving the same to the Muslims. Their reason
was that Dalits are Hindus. They accused the British of trying to divide the
Hindus. The Hindus were basically afraid that if the Dalits and Muslims of In-
dia joined hands they would be nowhere in the Instruments and Mechanisms
of governance of India.

4.Ambedkar stood firm in his demand. The Round Table Conferences failed
because of the irreconcilable and diametrically opposing positions Gandhi
and Ambedkar took over the issue. Finally Gandhi used his ultimate weapon
of Fast unto Death violently against the Dalits and Ambedkar had no option
but to withdraw his demand. This was a great betrayal of the Dalit people by
Gandhi as he also was a strong Hindu. He camouflaged his violent opposition
to the question of equal political rights of the Dalit people under his very
highly appreciated non-violence. As a compromise formula Gandhi and
Ambedkar made the Poona Pact which brought about the present provision of
‘reservation’ to the Dalits.

5.The caste forces of India croak about the provision of reservation as their
generous gesture to the Dalit people and today take to streets to abolish it.
Political reservation actually does not give proportional representation to the
Dalit people. In the present form, 17.5% of seats to the Parliament and to
State Assemblies are reserved to the Dalits. However, Dalit candidates can
win only if they join one or other political party. All political parties in India, in-
cluding the communists are dominated by Brahmins or by Brahminic forces.
Dalit candidates who contest elections as members of such parties ultimately
are supported financially and electorally by the caste forces. Such winning
candidates have to tread the official line of the party which is generally on
caste lines except for raising slogans for the sake of vote bank politics. It is a
painful thing to know that the question of untouchability and atrocity on the
Dalits are not raised in the Indian Parliament even by the Dalit members. This
is precisely because they are sitting in the Parliament not as representatives
of Dalit people but as representatives of their respective parties. They are
adding strength to the parties in the name of Dalits and are not adding
strength to the Dalits. That explains why the Dalit people are still in the ghetto
even at the threshold of the 60th year of India’s Independence.

6.The political system in India is designed perfectly in line with the double
standards practiced largely by Brahminism whose cultural manifestation is
Hinduism. On the one hand it presents to the world that Dalit people have
been given 17.5% of reservation which is in proportion to their population
(though this is highly questionable) and on the other hand it also sees to it
that the Dalit people will not be able to have genuine democratic rights. As
long as dominant caste people can use their money, muscle and voting power
to field and elect Dalit candidates in elections the proportional representation
of the Dalit people will only remain a mirage and that is what is happening in
our country. Hence the dire need to bring about an electoral reform in India in
 the line of German Electoral System which has double voting rights as well as
provision for genuine proportional representation.

National Integration

1.When the Dalit people demand proportional representation in the Instru-

ments and Mechanisms of National governance the dominant caste forces
have the strategy of immediately branding our efforts as separatist and dis-
ruptive. Our efforts are actually aimed at greater integration of not only the
Dalit people but of all people in India in the governance of this country. The
dominant caste forces and economically powerful in India do not want integra-
tion of all people in governance, as that would jeopardize their economic and
political stakes. In order to keep the poor and Dalits out of the governing sys-
tems of the country they have evolved their own paradigm of national integra-
tion. Their paradigm is problematic. What they aim at is a subjugated integra-
tion of our people. They expect our people just to accept the normative that
they evolve, as good for the country, as if the country belongs only to them.
All possible forms of assertion for equality are immediately branded as dis-
ruptive.

2.What they do not realize is that a subjugated form of integration brings

about the weakness of a nation and it is in no way a manifestation of the
strength of the nation. We, the Dalit people want our country to be a strong
nation. In order to become a strong nation it is imperative that Dalit people,
especially our women should become essential part of the governance of our
country. The integration of our people into the systems and structures of gov-
ernance should be realized through their innate and developed strength and
not through their ignorance and subjugation. This country has a very bad his-
tory of banning education for our people for more than three millennia. Such
is the type of national integration that the caste forces visualize for our coun-
try. That is why even today our country is stinking all over. It is because the
caste forces enforce a law that it is our caste duty to clean their dirt. They
themselves do not feel any responsibility to clean their dirt. One can go on
enumerating such consequences that may look small. But when they are ac-
cumulated then the whole country becomes chaotic as our traffic is.

3.This is very much in keeping with the double standards that are established
religiously in our country. On the one hand they speak of national integration.
They want to establish an integration that will be founded on our slavery and
bondedness. When we demand to be integrated as equals with dignity they
brand our efforts as disintegration thus shifting the blame on the victims them-
selves. Thus our efforts for dialogue and negotiation which can ultimately lead
to peaceful coexistence is nipped in the bud. We already have acquired an
oppressed psyche and with such antagonism from the dominant caste society
not abating at all the possibility for conflict keeps increasing.
 4.It is only the resilience of our people, which is our characteristic mark that
keeps this country going in the path of peace. The Dalit people have not
taken up to violence as have done all other caste forces in India. Be it the
Leftists, the rightists, the Gandhians, the Hindus, the Muslims, the Christians,
all have taken to violent path. But we Dalits have not indulged in violence to
put down other people. We have served them despite their heaping indignity
on us. We do not have high sounding mysticism in our kitty. But we have
goodness in our community. If only this can become a national resource for
building up integration and equality for all people of India!

Internal Governance

1.Our land has been taken away. Today 90% of Dalit people in India are land-
less laborers. Our education was taken away. The Hindu Scriptures and their
religious laws have banned education for us. All religions teach their dogma to
people. Hinduism is perhaps the only religion in human history that has com-
pletely banned any sort of education to a section of people. The ban is not
only on learning their Scriptures. It is a wholesome ban and holistic education.
Our dignity was taken away from us violently. Our Ancestors were butchered
and killed and the killing of our ancestors is celebrated as Hindu Festivals, as
a transition from darkness to light, from evil to good. It is ironical that after
pushing us into the darkness of authorized ignorance it is celebrated as the
journey of light by those who impose darkness on innocent people. After
killing our ancestors that evil deed is celebrated as the establishment of good-
ness on the face of the earth.

2.We may go on expanding such evil deeds of the dominant caste people.
But it does not serve any purpose of peace building. Therefore, we are ready
to give up eternally blaming the ‘other’ for everything that happens to us. It is
high time that we build ourselves as a community of people on our strength.
This will call for an assertion of our specificity. The cumulative consequence
of the perennial denial of our rights is manifested in the Dalit people not being
allowed to have any system or structure of internal governance. One of the
most unfortunate things that has happened to our people is the loss of an in-
ternally governing mechanism.

3.Everyday in our life we are governed by the norms that are imposed on us
by the dominant caste forces. Such norms do not come under the purview of
the Constitution of India. In fact the Constitution of India is often brought un-
der the caste norms in actual practice. The Constitution is subverted to the
extent of forcing our people eat human shit and the guardians of the rule of
law turning the other way, often blaming our people for daring to demand their
rights. Shifting the blame on the victims!
 4.It is in the line of a positive assertion of our people that I have written the
books Dalitology, Cosmosity and DALITHINK. These are aimed at integrating
our people into the national stream so that a dialectics may be set in motion.
Our assertion of what we are need not be a judgment on what they are not,
though unfortunately this is how dominant psyche tends to look at human dy-
namics. Our assertions can be looked at for what they are worth and people
can be very critical of our assertions. But they must be ready for a dialogue
and make the dialectic movement possible. Dialectics in India in which Dalit
people can take a ‘subject’ space is problematic for the mainstream society.
The dominant caste mindset easily dismisses Dalit intellectualism whole-
somely. When Dalits make an intellectual assertion another the emergence of
another world, most often in contrast to their world is seen. Dalit worldview is
different from Brahminic worldview. There is no dispute about this. But the
holders of different worldviews can live together in peace and harmony all the
same. This is an essential ingredient of Dalit worldview that differences need
not become the foundations of discrimination, of Superiority and Inferiority, of
purity and impurity discourses. How can 24% of people of a nation be kept
bonded and yet one speak of progress? Our assertion of having a history, a
culture, a religion, political right etc. needs to be respected as the legitimate
right of a people.

5.In order to strengthen ourselves as a community of people we have evolved

the Dalit Panchayat, which is the formal platform of internal governance. This
is neither an innovation nor a discovery. This is taken from the model of the
dominant caste people who have used the traditional village Pachayat to gov-
ern the village community. The significant difference however is this. In the
Dalit Panchayat we do not allow any form of dominance over another people,
including the Brahmins. The Dalit Panchayat will accept them as our brothers
and sisters as long as they do not attempt to impose their dominance over us
in any formal way such as the caste system. We shall govern ourselves as a
community of people and follow the constitutional path of the country. This
way we shall be integrated into the Constitutional governance of the country
as a strong and vibrant people with equal rights and dignity.

6.Treating a people as untouchables cannot be a legitimate ground for lasting

peace. This should stop in the interest of peace. Our struggle for the removal
of untouchability is for the establishment of lasting peace in our land. The
dominant caste forces conveniently escape from this responsibility by spread-
ing the falsehood that this is a thing of the past and that we have a Constitu-
tion which has removed untouchability. This is a heady mix of falsehood and
truth. The truth is that the constitution of India has banned untouchability. The
falsehood is that it is not a thing of the past. Untouchability is still practiced in
India with a religious vehemence.

Conflict Transformation
1.The type of conflict that we see in our country is among the Hindus and
Muslims. However, since it will require a treatise to write about communal
conflicts in our country I shall avoid it as it will be mostly an intellectual exer-
cise on my part. What I shall deal with is how I deal with conflicts in our vil-
lages. I have to focus my attention on the village conflicts as there are hardly
any national conflict between the dominant caste forces and the Dalit people.
Since the Dalit people are an oppressed people and since they are a peace
loving people there is not a national level conflict.

2.However, there are conflicts in the villages whenever the Dalit people begin
to assert their constitutional rights. One of the things the dominant caste
people cannot tolerate is the Dalit people taking recourse to legal solutions.
They never tolerate the Dalit people either going to the police stations or to
the courts. Whenever a Dalit dares to do that there is immediate repercus-
sion. The character of this repercussion needs to be understood. When a
Dalit individual commits a mistake the punishment is for the entire Dalit com-
munity in the form of social boycott or reparatory services by the entire com-
munity. But, when the dominant caste community perpetrates violence on the
Dalit people and it comes for public discourses the punishment is for an indi-
vidual among them and it will be only a nominal punishment.

3.Therefore, often our people are left with no option but to take help from the
police or the courts. Though most of the bureaucrats happen to be dominant
castes there is at least some hope of applying pressure through legal mech-
anisms. That is where the conflict becomes an underlying reality dictating
each and every action and reaction in the village thereafter. When there is an
atrocity on the Dalit people the police usually does not register a case imme-
diately and they come on behalf of the caste people to persuade the Dalits for
a compromise under the garb of safeguarding peace in the village. It is imper-
ative for us that the dominant caste paradigm that all are equal before law
should become the truth in their case. Also if we do not allow the law take pre-
cedence over the caste norms we are doomed. Therefore, we educate the
Dalit people not to agree for compromise immediately. Instead they should
demand the case be booked as per law. It is only after the case is booked that
our people should go to the negotiating table. Till then the question of atrocity
on our people and subsequently booking a case remains non-negotiable. In
serious cases where the atrocity is on our women, our people demand that
the culprits be arrested. Once this is done it is more or less a victory for the
Dalits and a shame for the caste people. Only when this happens the caste
forces realize that the course of law is very different from the course of their
caste norms.

4.At this point both my wife and myself make it a point to enter the scene and
motivate our people to go and sit with the caste people and the bureaucrats
as equals and bargain for their rights. We insist that once their rights are re-
 spected and assured they should not stand on false prestige but instead learn
to respect even the dominant caste people as human beings. After this much
is done we motivate the people to withdraw the case in the interest of the vil-
lage and peace. Such cases are not isolated. In village after village we make
our people to make peace with their enemies but only after they assure that
they will respect the law of the land.

5.Thus a very important paradigm gets established in the course of seeking

legal justice for the oppressed. The paradigm is this: If the Brahmins or others
want Brahminism or caste system let them have it. We have no problem with
them as long as they make it their internal governing system. But let them not
impose their dominance over us. In the same way they should also respect
our right to have our governing systems in the community and we shall not
impose the same on anybody else. What will be common to all of us is the
Constitution of India. I have found the establishment of such a paradigm as
the hardest of my experience. But we cannot give up the struggle.

Violence

The question of justice can often be relative. When a Mother gives more attention
to a disabled child it is possible that one of her other children fees that she is not
giving enough attention to him. One may resent it. What is seen as just by the
mother may not be seen as just by all her children. This is a normal human dy-
namics. Human societies are constructed out of human dynamics. What can ob-
jectively be opposed and dismissed is violence. In our worldview there cannot be
two opinions on violence. All forms of violence are denial of rights. However, a
society that has a reputation all over the world for its non-violence perpetrates
unmitigated violence on the Dalit people and does not let the world know of it. All
religions have this streak of violence in their Scriptures. Societies are owe allegi-
ance to such religions have also indulged in extreme forms of violence in history.
But some religions also have a liberation stream built in their essential dogma.
That is a saving factor in some religious Scriptures. However, from whatever I un-
derstand of the Hindu Scriptures they profess the essentiality of violence as a re-
ligious dogma to the detriment of a liberation stream. Liberation is of the individu-
al soul after many rebirths. The strategy of shifting the responsibility for one’s ac-
tion to the victim himself/herself was wrought thousands of years ago in
Bhagavad Gita. When Arjuna questions Krishna, the incarnated deity of the con-
sequences of his shooting an arrow at his brothers and teachers, Krishna says
that his ‘karma’ (duty) is only to kill in war. The death itself is a consequence of
the ‘karma’ either of his brothers of his teachers. Queer it sounds. But then that is
the way religious dogmas are. How can one expect such a society to be non-viol-
ent. India’s non-violence is one of the most intriguing dramas enacted in the
world theatre of politics.

For me one of the highly disturbing questions about the governance of India is
the production of nuclear bombs. One should never even think of a legitimate
reason for violence of any type. The creation of the ‘threatening other’, which
means the Muslims is a convenient myth to legitimize the production of nuclear
bombs. India should destroy all its nuclear bombs and campaign for a nuclear
bomb free world in line with its professed principles of non-violence. This is not
only in the interest of India but also in the interest of the whole world’s democrat-
ization, peaceful co-existence and establishment of justice.