Author: Chandan Mitra
Publication: Sify.com
Date: May 16, 2005
A few days after the IDBI episode,
the controversial CAPART chief L V Saptharishi alleged he was privy to
some casteist remarks being made by two Election Commissioners.
Fortunately for the ECs, the alleged
comment was about Yadavs and there is no law under which people can be
arrested for saying things about them!
I am not remotely suggesting that
the absence of such a piece of legislation makes non-SC communities fair
game. My argument is precisely the opposite.
All casteist or communal remarks
are reprehensible. None should ever make them. Existing prejudices and
stereotypes, as outlined in the examples I cited from my childhood and
youth, need to be systematically exorcised from people's mindsets.
But, equally, it is patently unfair
to give a dog a bad name and hang it. Unless somebody has made an offensive
caste or community-directed remark in public, in full hearing of several
persons, no cognizance should be taken of such charges.
As a staunch defender of Dalit rights
and a promoter of their advancement, I acknowledge that they need special
protection as well as laws aimed at ensuring their equality in society.
Practitioners of untouchability, for instance, deserve the most stringent
punishment.
But other castes and communities
have their rights too. Did anybody drag the BSP to court for raising the
slogan "Tilak, taraju aur talwar/ Maaro inko joote char"?
When members of the upper castes,
if any, were categorically asked to leave the venue of BSP meetings, was
it not an affront to their rights?
Some years ago, newspapers widely
quoted the then (undivided) Janata Dal in Bihar coining the term "Bhu-Ra-Ba-L"
- shorthand for Bhumihar, Rajput, Brahmin and Lala (Bania).
The underprivileged castes were
urged to combine against Bhurabal and remove their control over the levers
of power.
Although strenuously denied later
by Lalu Prasad, the term gained wide currency and undoubtedly helped him
garner support on caste lines. If the ECs' alleged remarks, as claimed
by Saptharishi, were casteist, what was Bhurabal?
Casteism cannot be defended in any
form, but to eliminate it, double standards too need to be removed. If
a derogatory remark against a Dalit or Yadav is wrong, it cannot be right
against other castes either.
Unfortunately, the compulsions of
vote bank politics have made not just political parties but even the media
and judiciary look the other way.
The all-pervasive influence of political
correctness makes the intelligentsia shirk from calling a spade a spade.
This is not the way to combat casteism and related discrimination.
The issue has to be faced squarely
and a consensus must be reached for the promotion of social awareness across
castes.
Arguably, the downtrodden need more
protection because they are usually at the receiving end of such distasteful
prejudices. But that cannot give them the right to indulge in upper caste-bashing
or use draconian laws to humiliate others.
Also, it has become the norm for
some politicians to accuse people and even institutions of caste bias if
things don't go their way. So, the EC becomes casteist if it orders a repoll
in Chhapra and the CBI the repository of upper caste bias if Mayawati is
quizzed in a case of assets disproportionate to known sources of income.
I fail to understand the insecurity
some of our politicians suffer from when they make such outlandish charges.
But then such wild allegations evidently pay electoral dividends.
It is believed that the Election
Commission was charged with casteism with two aims in mind. First, it would
put the Commission on the defensive and Yadav's cohorts would be treated
with kid gloves when elections happen in Bihar, probably in less than a
year.
Second, the allegation would raise
the hackles of the Yadav community which would return to his fold en masse,
reversing the process of vote fracturing seen last February. If such cynicism
prevails, what's the point of moralising about eliminating the scourge
of casteism?