Playing the Dalit card

T he communist leader Jyoti Basu was once asked by a visiting American academic — “Who represents the Dalits in your party?” The veteran looked at the visitor icily and replied, “I do”. The communists believe in class and not caste and are above identity politics. Dalit, upper caste, Muslim, all are the same, as long as they belong to the working classes and want to shed off their chains.

That was of course way back in the past. Since then Indian communists have come to fully appreciate the harsh realities of India. They have pandered to minority sentiments and have tried their best to link up with Mayawati in the hope that it will get them some Dalit votes, as well as to create a joint front against the much-reviled Congress. Both initiatives came to naught; Mayawati was not going to waste her time with a party that had nothing to offer.

In her time though she has freely hobnobbed with the BJP which had some clout among the upper castes of Uttar Pradesh, but when she saw their influence wane, she jettisoned them too. Mayawati’s calculation is simple: I will do whatever it takes to consolidate the Dalit vote and to expand my market share by bringing in new customers into the fold.
But if there is one party she will never join hands with it is the Congress. For her, the Congress is the enemy. Yet, it is not as if Dalits have moved en masse to the Congress; she still retains her electoral base. Then why is she attacking Rahul Gandhi?Why worry about a baba-log kind of urban politician who wants to spend a night or two in a Dalit hut?

The last election results provide a clue. From languishing in the fourth place not too long ago, the Congress roared back with 21 seats. Mayawati, who was dreaming of becoming the prime minister (a dream fed by her urban supporters) managed to get just 20, only 1 more than in 2004. Moreover, the BSP made no impact outside UP, where the Dalits have not yet made up their mind about Mayawati.

In short, she has reached saturation point while the Congress is in expansion mode. Probably the biggest worry for Mayawati is that her carefully constructed coalition of Dalits and upper castes and other groups may be gradually unraveling, while the Congress is busy bringing back all those who left the fold.

The old Congress used to be a broad church that at once represented everybody and nobody. Upper castes, Dalits, minorities, everyone felt they had a stake in the Congress. The legacy of being a party that fought for freedom helped, but its leadership continued that tradition well into the 1980s. The Nehru-Gandhi family was the symbol of that pan-Indianness; they belonged nowhere yet everywhere.

Obviously this formula did not work in all states. In Tamil Nadu for example Dravidian politics had long rejected the Congress idea. In Andhra Pradesh, NTR successfully raised the banner of Telugu pride and snatched the state away from the Congress in the 1980s. The biggest blow to the party came in the mid-1980s when VP Singh split the party and joined hands with OBC leaders in UP and Bihar. The BJP repositioned itself as a party of upper caste Hindu interests. One by one the pieces were falling away. And when the Dalits finally had a party of their own, the Congress hegemony was over.

It needed a widely accepted leader with no previous baggage to once again put together that patchwork quilt. Sonia Gandhi began the process and Rahul Gandhi is continuing it. He is trying to bring back each group, slowly but systematically to the Congress. The Muslims have come back and Hindu upper castes too are drifting Congress-wards. The urban vote is fully in the bag. The Dalits are important, especially in UP where they account for 22%.

Hence his forays into the hinterland where he meets and breaks chappatis with ordinary village folk (most of whom Dalits). Mayawati knows Rahul is getting a response. While she has been busy picking up fights with the Supreme Court over erecting statues of herself for Rs635 crore, young Rahul is chipping away at her core constituency. She realises the dangers of losing the sole agency for the Dalit vote; without that she would be nothing.

It’s a fight that has just begun. Mayawati’s bastion is nowhere near tottering, but it is certainly under threat. There is no other party that can possibly challenge her Dalit fief the way the Congress can. Throwing insults at Rahul Gandhi will not make much difference; she should be concentrating on consolidating her base. And erecting ghastly and expensive statues is not the way to do it. In the battle of symbolism, Rahul Gandhi is definitely inching ahead. The battle is not for an election here or there; it is for her survival.