An Outpouring of Dalit Angst

Nothing seemed unusual when thousands of Dalits gathered at Bhima Koregaon, a village near Pune, on January 1 to commemorate the bicentenary of a battle in which they had sided with British forces against the Brahmin Peshwas. Local villagers, allegedly instigated by some right-wing groups, have been asserting that the pilgrimage-like event glorified the British and was anti-national. The clashes sparked large-scale protests by Dalit groups and parties across Maharashtra, paralysing towns and cities, including India's financial hub of Mumbai, for the next two days. As normalcy returns to the state, one of the many questions being discussed by political and social watchers is: Will Bhima Koregaon set off a fresh phase of Dalit consolidation nationally?

It was in July 2016 that unprecedented protests by Dalits erupted in Gujarat after four men were flogged for skinning a dead cow in the state's Una. A few months prior to that, Rohith Vemula's suicide at University of Hyderabad sparked turmoil on campuses across India as Dalit students said the young scholar was forced to kill himself because of caste discrimination. Both events altered the prevailing political and caste discourse in the country. The Bhima Koregaon incident too is being seen as a microcosm of a much bigger upheaval in India, where Dalits have suffered thousands of years of exclusion.

The Bhima Koregaon battle has great significance as it is said to have hastened the demise of the Peshwa regime, characterised by caste atrocities against Dalits and non-Brahmins. In 1927, Dalit icon Dr BR Ambedkar paid tribute to the battle and started a tradition that has continued till date. It's regarded as a historical moment of self-assertion by Dalits, who rank at the bottom of India's caste hierarchy.

Maharashtra, whose leaders — including Mahatma Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule, Maharshi Vitthal Ramji Shinde, Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur and Ambedkar — birthed the Indian renaissance and anti-caste movement, has been the epicentre of movements for Dalits, once known as 'untouchables'. Dalit leader and BSP founder Kanshi Ram also cut his political teeth in Maharashtra. But events in the subaltern sphere in the state have much more political resonance than its 14 per cent Dalit population. There are over 200 million Dalits in India, almost a fifth of the population.

Activists and political analysts admit that Wednesday's bandh called by former MP Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of Dr Ambedkar, and the youth's response symbolised a simmering rage that went far beyond the immediate reasons for the conflagration. Like Marathas in Maharashtra, Jats in Uttar Pradesh and Patels in Gujarat have also resented Dalits and sought to be considered as Other Backward Castes (OBCs), often resorting to large-scale violence. Parties have already shifted their focus, strategising for Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Karnataka, where elections will take place this year.

Simmering Dalit angst

Ambedkarite activists admit that the causes for Dalit anger, which manifested itself on the streets on January 3, run deep. They point to how the bandh was enforced by a rainbow coalition of Dalit groups, including Prakash Ambedkar's Bharatiya Republican Paksha, Bahujan Mahasangh and the Left, and say this could lead to a new socio-political coalition. "Street-level assertion in Dalit politics was almost finished. Now, there is a change in attitude," says Surendra Jondhale, Department of Civics and Politics, University of Mumbai, pointing to the youth mobilisation.

He feels that after incidents like Una and Vemula's suicide, Bhima Koregaon will give an impetus to Dalit movements across states. "This may be the beginning of third-front politics. It can fill the Opposition space," Jondhale says, adding that this re-alignment will affect this year's Assembly elections in states, much beyond Maharashtra. Next year, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh will go to the polls, right before the 2019 general elections.

Caste mobilisation

Pravin Gaikwad, former chief of hard line Maratha group Sambhaji Brigade, charges that Hindutva forces were responsible for instigating local villagers around Bhima Koregaon to attack those who had come to pay their respects at the war memorial. Dalit-Bahujan groups were commemorating the occasion as a battle against the 'New Peshwai', namely the rule of right-wing parties in Maharashtra and at the Centre.

Gaikwad alleges that after not-so-good results in Gujarat, Hindutva forces are trying to polarise Marathas against Dalits (especially Buddhist Dalits — erstwhile Mahars who converted to Buddhism with Dr Ambedkar and are seen as challengers to Hindutva orthodoxy). He says that there were lapses in security arrangements at Bhima Koregaon which set a chain of events into motion.

In the past, Maratha groups have tried to forge an alliance with Dalit organisations but Maratha leaders admit that locals from their community were uneasy at the mobilisation by some Dalit groups that had given it a Dalit vs Maratha shape. "An easy way to come to power in India is through emotional mobilisation," says a Maratha leader.

Before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP, which is seen as a conservative party, had managed to woo RPI leader Ramdas Athawale, who is now a Union Minister. The RPI's support among the Buddhist Dalits also helped the BJP in the state Assembly elections, when it snapped ties with the Shiv Sena.

Causes of angst

"The social situation is very volatile… it needed a spark to light a fire. There is little employment generation and the demonetisation of high-value currency notes affected the informal sector in which many Dalits are employed. The nature of caste discrimination has changed but it exists even today," admits former bureaucrat and Ambedkarite activist Subhash Gangurde. He says that Dalits, including the youth, which had voted for the BJP in 2014, were feeling let down. "Their expectations were shattered... Ambedkarites are a politically aware and literate class which can react to developments," Gangurde explains.

Jondhale says the youth took to the streets, though many of them were leaderless. "This means they are frustrated with the established mainstream Dalit leadership. They are miffed at the politics of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar," he notes. He says that though the clash had an undercurrent of Dalit vs Maratha rivalry, it was largely Dalits vs Hindutva groups, including Brahmins. 

These forces, in turn, were uneasy at the assertion by the erstwhile social underdogs (Dalits). Jondhale says post-globalisation, jobs in the government sector, where these weaker sections had quotas, have shrunk while the concept of the welfare state has changed to one that facilitates investments.

Need for re-casting

Dalit movements, which once birthed a new political and social idiom, are a pale shadow of their former self. While the Dalit Ambedkarite movement is largely dominated by Neo-Buddhists, the Dalit middle-class is largely focused on religious and cultural affairs and seeks upward socio-economic mobility. Hindu Dalits like Matangs, Charmakars and Dhors are supporters of parties like Shiv Sena, BJP and Congress.

It was Dalit rights activist and newly elected Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani who hit the nail on its head when he, while speaking at a gathering in Mumbai, stressed the need for Dalit politics to be re-moulded. "The ultimate goal of any Dalit body should be the annihilation of caste. I am very clear that… electoral politics will not help annihilation of caste. That can be achieved by maximum struggle against caste and class in India," said Mevani.

"The fight over economic issues must be strengthened but Dalits are caught in identity politics. The movement is choked up in the rhetoric like Manuwad Murdabad and Brahmanwad Murdabad and things that revolve around atrocities," he said, stressing the need to link the battle for self-respect with issues around food, clothing, shelter, education and health.

"Ambedkarism should be aligned with the times… today, there is no sense of purpose for the movement," says writer-activist Sanjay Sonwani, adding that the movement was becoming orthodox like the caste Hindu elements it claimed to oppose. He says that internal contradictions — like inability to take other oppressed and marginalised communities and classes along — were manifesting themselves.

Rising caste consciousness

Gangurde notes that Hindutva, the honour killing of Dalit Nitin Aage (whose alleged killers were acquitted, causing a furore), the rape and murder of a Maratha girl at Kopardi and subsequent morchas by the Maratha community and counter-mobilisation by non-Marathas sharpened caste divisions.

He says that the millennials, who were earlier estranged from politics, have seen their political consciousness being shaped by these developments. "There are some organisations that work to vitiate the atmosphere. Unemployment and the agrarian crisis have led to youth falling prey to such agendas easily," says socialist leader Subhash Ware.

Admitting that the protests and agitations launched by some Maratha and Dalit groups had a clear anti-Brahmin sub-text, Ware, who is the secretary of the SM Joshi Socialist Foundation, laments that the loss of rational thought and behaviour led to society reaching an inflexion point.

An academician, who is active in social movements, notes that the danger lies in people interpreting events "in terms of binaries" instead of in a nuanced manner. "We will have to take cautious steps. The youth can be easily brainwashed via social media tools, which robs them of the ability to think critically and rationally," says a senior Dalit leader and intellectual who cut his teeth in the Dalit Panthers.