Renaming and its political echoes

On January 14, 1994, the then chief minister Sharad Pawar decided to rename Marathwada University after Dr BR Ambedkar. The move alienated the Congress’ Maratha vote bank in the Marathwada region, and the party lost power in the ensuing assembly elections in 1995.

Seventeen years later, the Pawar-led NCP is once again treading into familiar territory by talking of renaming Dadar railway station after Ambedkar. The party is trying to kill several birds with one stone.

Firstly, it is evident that the most important political motive is to win the support of the Dalits. Secondly, the NCP’s political managers are trying to put the Shiv Sena in a catch-22 situation. The Sena is opposed to the renaming, but it is also in an alliance with Dalit leader and Republican Party of India (RPI) chief Ramdas Athavale. Thirdly, the NCP knows that such tricky issues will befuddle Athavale, who will have to weigh the pros and cons before making any commitment to new agitations. Fourthly, the NCP wants to outsmart the Congress by hijacking the Dalit agenda. The Congress itself has been quick to point out that MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre had written to the then railway minister Mamata Banerjee and prime minister Manmohan Singh 18 months ago about renaming of Dadar station.

Under the present circumstances, the Congress and the NCP may not succeed in playing the Sena against Dalits. Athavale knows it is pointless to fall prey to the Congress-NCP’s political mind games. No matter what the provocation, the Dalits under his wings are more concerned about reaping the benefit of the new alliance instead of playing into the hands of power brokers who have always used and discarded them.

While renaming is just a pretext, the larger issue is the manner in which political parties have started bending over backwards to expand their vote banks. While dismissing Athavale’s ability to make a dent in their social base, the Congress and the NCP are also cautioning their workers not to be caught napping. All of a sudden, the NCP is giving special attention to its backward class netas, as it needs them to mobilise the people from rural Maharashtra to strengthen the NCP. The Congress has already begun its year-long ‘Samajik Samrasta’ campaign aimed at bringing the backward classes into the mainstream.

While parties project such progressive faces for political gains, there is still a deep-rooted bias against Dalits and OBCs within their rank and file. When Sushil Kumar Shinde, a Dalit, was made chief minister of Maharashtra, a senior Maratha cabinet minister had complained, “How long are we going to tolerate this backward?” Discomfort about Chhagan Bhujbal, an OBC, being made the deputy chief minister was an open secret in the NCP. Such prejudices among the ruling and higher classes cannot be overlooked in a progressive state like Maharashtra.

The second-rung leadership in the state has to make renewed attempts to make its politics more inclusive. OBCs, Dalits and tribals are unlikely to remain prisoners of ideological barriers any longer if they are deprived of their legitimate share in state politics and economics.