HVK Archives: Good for himself, yes, but for Dalits?
Good for himself, yes, but for Dalits? - The Indian Express
Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr
()
12 September 1996
Title : Good for himself, yes, but for Dalits?
Author : Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr
Publication : The Indian Express
Date : September 12, 1996
In the labyrinth of Indian power politics, Bahujan Samaj
Party supremo Kanshi Ram has emerged as a veritable
Minotaur. He is the dominating figure, and all paths seem
to lead to his no-nonsense and-threatening presence.
This is the scene in that ostensible cockpit of Indian
politics: Uttar Pradesh. All major political parties,
former prime ministers, V. P. Singh and P. V. Narasimha
Rao, and even Prime Minister Deve Gowda, are willing to
pay any price to be in his electoral company. Political
pundits are overawed by his clout. Is Kanshi Ram really
the big, strong man that he is perceived to be?
Observers of liberal persuasion seem to celebrate Kanshi
Ram's ascent into the higher realm of power behind the
scenes. They think that it is the ultimate glory of
Indian democracy that the Dalit leader is forcing leaders
of all national parties to kow-tow to his dictates. And,
in a strange way, they also infer that the empowerment of
Kanshi Ram is the empowerment of Dalits who were
oppressed in the most inhuman fashion through the
centuries. Therefore, it is a kind of social nemesis
being visited upon the upper classes of Hindu society.
Such is the fascination of Indian politicians and pundits
with power games that they forget to ask the basic
question: is the rise of Kanshi Ram to power a positive
indicator of the rise in Dalit power and fortunes? When
Mayavati, Kanshi Ram's trusted lieutenant, became the
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1994, did it really
herald the arrival of Dalits on the Indian political
stage in a big way? For many the answer is unambiguous:
Dalits have become a power to reckon with, thanks to the
ruthless and unscrupulous tactics of Kanshi Ram.
Here is a man who would strike an alliance with the
Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav as easily as he
would join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party. And,
as inexplicably, he would make a deal with the Congress.
Again, he would arrive at another deal with a Muslim
communalist leader such as Imam Bukhari of Delhi's Jama
Masjid. Kanshi Ram seems to display the quality which
ineffective people, including the intelligentsia, admire
in others: immense cunning, and no questions asked. Of
course, admiration for Kanshi Ram will last as long he
succeeds. When he fails, and fades, not a word will be
wasted on him. Such are the simple ways of the world.
But beyond the excitement of Kanshi Ram's politics is the
drab and sad truth that there is no change in the
situation of Dalits. They remain educationally backward
and socially oppressed. The play of power politics is
not likely to change their lot. It is a false hope
generated by dishonest messiahs, mainly from the
political Left, that political empowerment is the prelude
to setting right all wrongs.
Political freedom and power have only helped people who
are both educated and wealthy. It was so in the case of
the French middle class at the time of the celebrated
1789 revolution. It was so with the Indian middle class
which was in the vanguard of the freedom movement, and
which took the reins of power at in time of independence.
A major reason for the success of Indian democracy is the
presence of an educated middle class. It is another of
those unpalatable facts which liberals will find hard to
accept. The middle class, for all its faults and sins,
has served as the sheet anchor of Indian democracy.
It is the absence of this educated middle class among
Dalits which will make it difficult for the community to
get rid of its traditional shackles. Ambedkar is the
lone shining, example of what intellectual prowess can
achieve. Dalits could not have done anything better than
follow his life achievement even more than his politics.
But they were trapped by the political palliative of
affirmative action in the form of reservations, which did
not in any way help improve their status. Dalit leaders
like Jagjivan Ram, and now Ram Vilas Paswan, failed to be
the right role-models for the community. They were mere
politicians. And Kanshi Ram only turns out to be a more
successful politician than either of them.
Kanshi Ram's success is good for Kanshi Rain and the BSP,
but it does not follow that it is good for Dalits. Dalit
salvation lies in social, not political, empowerment.
And that requires a radically different kind of
leadership from the bluster of a Kanshi Ram. The best
example is that of the Ezhavas under; Narayan Guru. The
Ezhavas became powerful and influential through
knowledge, not slogans and rallies.
Back
Top
|
