India’s ‘untouchables’ fight back
Beatings of Dalits, who are on the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system, have been common. But their community’s response to the latest mob assault is part of a long, slow change in the way they react to atrocities against them – and a sign that they wil
NEW DELHI // The video footage posted on social media showing four men being beaten up by a mob for skinning a dead cow was the tip of the iceberg. The beating of the men – who belong to the Dalit, the outcast rung of India’s Hindu caste hierarchy – in Gujarat state last month stirred outrage across the country.
Hindus consider cows sacred, but expect Dalits to deal with skinning and disposing of any that have died. The mob that beat up their victims accused them of cow slaughter, even though they tried to convince them that they were skinning a corpse.
After the beating, Dalits in the state refused to remove dead cows in protest, further provoking upper-caste Hindus by telling them to handle the task themselves.
The latest incident highlights how the rigid social hierarchy within Hindu society persists more than 65 years after India instituted laws banning caste discrimination. Every day, newspapers are awash with stories of injustices against Dalits and their oppression by upper-caste Hindus.
But while Dalits – deemed “untouchables” because they are considered impure – are still victims of thousands of attacks every year, there has been a slow change in the way they react to the atrocities, say social scientists and Dalit activists.
The outrage and protests that spread across India following the incident in Una are viewed as signs that the Dalit community will no longer tolerate the injustices they face, said Beena Pallickal of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights.
“Una was a turning point in our fight,” she said. “The Dalit community will no longer stay silent. We will rise in protest against all forms of prejudice.” The 2011 census counted about 204 million Dalits in the country of more than 1.2 billion.
Dalits are finding the rigid caste divisions slowly being eroded because of fundamental changes in Indian society, at least in the urban centres. As India’s booming economy fuels urbanisation, people from other regions and all walks of life are being packed into the cities’ apartments and slums.
Living in such close quarters, people are becoming less concerned with centuries-old caste divisions and traditional prejudices, analysts say.
An emerging class of educated Dalits is demanding an end to caste bigotry and discrimination – demands that sometimes touch off deadly clashes between communities.
India’s National Crime Records Bureau reports that more than 700 Dalits were killed in attacks in 2014, the most recent year for which data is available.
Chandra Bhan Prasad, a Dalit writer, says there is a conflict between the past and the future that younger Dalits envision for themselves.
“This new generation of Dalits cannot tolerate humiliation nor will they accept it,” says Prasad, who has written and lectured widely on Dalit rights.
“They may have done so before because they saw no way out of their subjugation at the hands of upper-caste Hindus, but not any more.”
For centuries, Dalits were assigned the most demeaning jobs, which included cleaning public toilets and sewers. But now they have other options to earn a living.
“The business explosion in India has thrown up many alternative avenues for Dalits to earn a livelihood,” Prasad says.
“They are no longer beholden to their upper-caste landlords for their daily bread.”
But even though the reaction to the incident highlighted changes in how the Dalits view their standing in society, Ms Pallickal says there is still an unwillingness among politicians to enforce the laws.
Knowing the pernicious nature of India’s caste prejudices, early leaders who framed India’s constitution soon after independence from the British in 1947 put in place exceptionally clear and laudable laws that ban all forms of discrimination against caste, Ms Pallickal says.
Still, according to the crime records bureau, more than 47,000 crimes of discrimination against Dalits were registered in police stations across the country in 2014. Udit Raj, a member of parliament from New Delhi and a strong voice for Dalit rights in India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, says the conviction rate for crimes against Dalits ranges from 2 per cent to 8 percent.
“In the more than six decades since India’s independence, political parties have not found the will to enforce these laws,” Ms Pallickal says.
Politicians across the political spectrum say it is not just implementation of laws, but the lack of change in people’s mindsets that leads upper-caste Indians to shun Dalits.
“Even if Dalits are empowered economically, they will not necessarily be accepted socially,” says Raj, who has fought for Dalit rights for the past four decades.
He pointed to injustices that continue to haunt the lower castes and the presence of caste divides. In many cities, Dalits are not allowed to own apartments in upper-caste neighborhoods.
Although inter-caste marriages are on the rise, all Indian newspapers still carry advertisements seeking brides and grooms stating their caste and the castes they will marry into.
“Dalits are not accepted socially. Period,” says Raj.
Access to education and the clout wielded by their vote in local and national elections have empowered Dalits to dream of a better future. But the Dalit aspirations are often resented by upper-caste Hindus.
If their economic progress is modest and their ambitions go as far as obtaining lowly government jobs or small businesses, there is no problem, says Prasad, the Dalit writer.
“A Dalit driving a cheap car can be endured, but a Dalit driving a BMW – that is a problem,” he says.