Dalit discontent rearing its head
Lok Sabha MP Savitri Bai Phule quits BJP, accusing it of "trying to create division in the society"
An increasing disillusionment of Dalits with the BJP on Thursday marked the resignation of its Bahraich (UP) Lok Sabha MP, Savitri Bai Phule, accusing the party of "trying to create division in the society."
Only recently she had embarrassed the BJP by claiming that it was hatching a conspiracy to end democracy and reservation of Dalits. Her sudden resignation as such came as a major setback to the BJP, just on the eve of the Assembly elections in Rajasthan and Telangana on Friday.
Further signs of the Dalits' disillusionment were visible on Thursday in the Parliament House complex where relatively very few people, unlike in the past, came to pay tributes to Dr B R Ambedkar on his 63rd death anniversary. The event was marked by only a few dignitaries like President Ramnath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others paying floral tributes to the maker of the Constitution.
A leader, who has been attending the function for over a decade year after year, said thousands of people used to come to pay homage at the statue of Ambedkar, but it was just a trickle -- some 300 or so – this year.
Announcing her decision to quit the BJP, Phule said: "I am a social worker. I work for Dalits. The BJP is doing nothing for Dalit reservation. Instead, the party is creating division in society." Only two days ago, she had strongly protested at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath calling Lord Hanuman a Dalit who was a slave of the Manuvadi people.
She knew her days in the BJP are numbered as she was told as early as in May that she won't get the party ticket in the next election; the decision was taken after she hailed Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah as a "Mahapurush (great man)" who contributed to India’s freedom struggle. Notwithstanding Phule’s resignation, disillusionment among the community has been steadily rising. Clashes between Dalits and right-wing groups at the Koregaon-Bhima in Maharashtra on the very first day of 2018 were ominous on several counts.
The bicentenary commemoration became the precipitating factor for the clashes in Maharashtra, where Dalits have a recorded long history of protest movement. One of the tallest icons of Dalit identity, Dr B R Ambedkar, and his Republican Party of India are deeply rooted in ethos and history of the state.
Dalit anger has also expressed itself against rewriting of history, right wing interpretation of certain historical events, Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, cow vigilantism around the issue of beef ban, Hindu majoritarianism, attempts to flatten cultural diversity and other similar issues.
This is bringing into open old fault lines existing in Hindu caste ridden society and they are acquiring sharper edges, particularly at a time when the country’s economy is slowing down and employment opportunities are shrinking. Demands for reservation in jobs by Marathas in Maharashtra, Patidars in Gujarat, or Jats in Haryana and UP are evoking fears and apprehensions among the Dalits and other backward castes.
Dalits along with Muslims have become victims of the beef ban politics of cow vigilantism. Dalits have been the integral part of the traditional agrarian economy where milching animals has played a leading role. Strict enforcement of cow slaughter has directly affected the Dalits. There have been violent incidents in UP, MP, Gujarat, Rajasthan and other states in which Dalits have come under attack by groups of cow vigilantes.
In ordinary times, this would have carried no political significance but some violent incidents since assumption of throne by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi in 2014 and coming to power of the BJP in 20 states, the Dalit politics in the country has come under sharper focus. Release of young Dalit leader Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan by the UP government in September this year after a year-long imprisonment is yet another factor that has added to the anger.