‘For Dalit middle-class, politics of symbolism has reached expiry date’

Two states where Dalits have numbers, as well as political organisations — Punjab and Uttar Pradesh — are pollbound. What is the Dalit thinking in these two states?

Dalits have three layers or three social classes. The Dalit middle-class, which has turned fearful of a caste-hindu nation, is the least bothered about a ‘Dalit rule’. Instead, it is asking whether the undermining of the Constitution can lead to its outright alteration and whether India’s public sector can survive the caste Hindu onslaught, whether Hindutva will turn the clock back on the rise of Dalits. After seven decades, Dalits have reached a point where there is a Dalit middle-class; Dalits are competing in the private sector, Dalit students are topping in competitive examinations. Should we do away with the gains of the last 70 years? For the Dalit middle-class, Dalit ki beti chief minister-type symbolism does not define their consciousness any longer.

The Dalit middle-class has turned suspicious of iron lady Mayawati. The question in their minds is: Will she once again go with BJP after the polls? After all, she has done that thrice — 1995, 1997, 2002. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)’S move of going with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab is being seen as a warning, given the SAD-

BJP past. To the Dalit middle-class, politics of “symbolism” has reached its expiry date. They are likely to vote for the party that will appear as a solid challenger to the BJP.

Then there is the Dalit underclass. For them, elderly and women, in particular, a re-run of Mayawati as a fifth-time CM of UP is ideal. “Symbolism” still defines their consciousness; they are less worried about ideological issues or Hindu nationalism, and they will stay with the BSP, come what may.

Dalit youth is the third social segment, fascinated by leaders, such as

Chandra Shekhar Ravan who is seen as being combative against caste-supremacists; he is also seen as a visionary leader for his promotion of English, Maths, and Physics in the Saharanpur countryside. He is seen as modern and open to newer ideas. His central campaign point has been — the Constitution is a weapon that protects Dalits, it is the greatest tool in preventing the rise of Hindu nationalism. This is in sync with the thinking of the Dalit middle class. That is probably why he is not hooked to the idea of political power as the prime Dalit agenda.

In Punjab, the BSP has entered into a pre-poll pact with the SAD. What will be the political impact of this alliance on Dalit aspirations in Punjab?

Punjab is an altogether different political planet. Dalits indeed form more than 31 of Punjab, the highest in any state in terms of proportion in population. But while in the 1992 Assembly polls, the BSP won nine seats and secured 16 per cent of the votes, its vote share in Punjab in 2017 declined to 1.5 per cent. The Bspakali alliance is unlikely to be a gamechanger as Dalits by tradition have voted against the SAD.

Besides, Dalits’ 31 per cent -plus share in the population doesn’t make them a big power in terms of vote count. Punjab Dalits are not as badly hit by sub-caste divides as, say, those in UP. But in Punjab, they are divided on the lines of Sikh Dalits, those who are nonsikh, and those who are Buddhist. Punjab Dalits are more in the game of chasing economic prosperity than political power.

In UP, the only state where the BSP has been able to form a government, MLAS are joining the SP. The BSP'S own existence is being challenged by younger Dalit leaders. How do you assess these developments?

The BSP scaled the political Everest, without human oxygen (Dalit support); it can’t sustain at the freezing peak.

Besides, Kanshi Ram’s experimental political project putting ‘Bahujan’ in the seat of power has failed. Also has failed his social theorem that the Bahujan (Sc/st/obcs/minorities) are common social victims, hence, have common interests. Just eight months after his death, Mayawati completely changed the BSP’S slogan of Bahujan to Sarvjan for the 2007 Assembly elections in UP. The very idea of the BSP -- Bahujan -- is in the past now.

A sacrifice all his life, Kanshi Ram went beyond Dr B R Ambedkar. He never had a family, abandoned his relatives and didn’t amass any property. He bicycled in the countryside, telling people - mostly OBCS and minorities -- that they are one with Dalits. But the very opposite happened.

After the Babri demolition, Kanshi Ram formed an alliance in November 1993 with Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party. This was a hairline fracture in his ‘Bahujan’ theorem. He withdrew support from the Mulayam Singh Yadav government, accusing it of elevated attacks on Dalits. Kanshi Ram’s 85 per cent-15 per cent political theorem collapsed when the BSP took the help of the BJP in 1995, and repeated it twice later.

In terms of ideology, Dalits have now entered a post-kanshi Ram era. Old slogans will no longer work. I anticipate that “political power” will no more be the super magnet that Kanshi Ram once romanticised. Something else is replacing it.

“I anticipate that political power will no more be the super magnet that Kanshi Ram once romanticised. Something else is replacing it”