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| Dr.Ram Puniyani |
Religion and politics have become extremely interviewed in
India, Indeed, one could say that what is being witnessed is right-wing
politics of the majority community, the Hindus, in the name of religion.
Currently the term that is used to describe these phenomena is Hindutva, and it
has held sway over society since the last two decades. It aims to stifle the
democratic liberal space, and to impose a short of status quo in societal
relations. It projects itself as a savior of Hindu society, making us believe
in exists to save the nation from internal and external enemies. This then is
the politics of nation building.
The rise of Hindutva began since the 1980s, when the
presence of dalits and woman in society came into focus. Its first political
expression came in the form of the anti-reservation riots in Gujarat, gaining
momentum in the wake of the Mandal Commission’s recommendations coming into
face. It is against the interests of the Hindutva ideologues to let caste and
gender relations revolve.
There were major social reform movements challenging the
severe social, economical and political oppression of dalits, led by leaders
like Phule, Periyar and Ambedkar, which received a boost when industrialization
took off India. India’s independence, the rights laid down in its Constitution,
and its industrialization allowed dalits to move out of their traditional
occupation and habitations and enter never vistas of society. New opportunities
in education – reserving seats in academic institutes, job quotas and electoral
constituencies – ensured that a section of dalits would gain and become ‘equal’
to others. It is not that these processes were not sabotaged from within the
system., All the same, a sort of slow revolution shook society. The policies of
Jawaharlal Nehru and the principles of B R Ambedkar ensured this transition
came to the fore.
Many viewed the changes in status of dalits unfavorably. The
rise of the affluent middle classes in cities and small towns, added a new
twist to this opposition. Religiously formed the base of this reaction: Yatras,
Jai Matadi, a type of religiously around mother worship, more popular in north
India, visit to Hindu pilgrimage sites like Vaishno Devi and Thirupati, started
assuming an importance not seen in the first three decades since India’s
Independence. The response to the Mandal Commission was most certainly aimed at
showing the lower castes/classes their place in society. Hindutva primarily is
a club of the moneyed and upper – caste people who use the opium of religion to
draw the unemployed and the deprived into their fold. The social issues that
matter are forgotten while employee/mosque came to the fore, and in the way of
social progress, which is the bace of dalits’ liberation, which is thus halted.
While grappling with the issues pertaining to religious
fascism, I did realize that primarily the exponents of Hindutva wanted to
ensure the status quo of social relations, rather than attack the minorities.
They want the dalits, adivasis and laboring classes to remain subjugated. The
idea is to restore the traditional structural hierarchy of caste and gender. I
realized that the caste issues which failed to get resolved, persisted in
modified forms. Most of the chapters of this book were written as response to
the onslaught of Hindutva ideologues., their subtle ways of glorifying and
retaining the caste equations under more attractive labels. Hindutva ideologies
have been multifarious in their approach. Sometimes they are blatant and
assertive, sometimes subtle and persuasive, changing their stance according to
political climate. Their political agenda remains the same irrespective of the
ruling government. Many of their assertions have changed according with the
change government ruling at the center. The electoral politics in a way has
forced the Hindutva/RSS formation and more so the BJP to talk in the language
of which apparently talks about development and issue of poor. It also does
take up few issues related to price rise also. But at core it still revels in
taking up identity issues . The one’s like Tipu Sultan’s legacy, Baba Budan
Giri in Karnatakas, Bhojshala Maula Masjid in MP and one’s related to Vande Matram, terrorism all over. Terrorism
is a good arsenal in the BJP arsenal lately. The myth that all terrorists are
Muslims had broadly been percolated with the result that it is enough to say
that we want to deal with terrorists firmly and that may act as an intimidating
signal to minorities and a focus of consolidation for sections of Hindus.
The book - Dalits and social Justice – is sequel to our
earlier effort, Communal Politics-A Illustrated Primer, and a similar
wavelength. It is meant to introduce the reader to all the aspects of social
justice in as simple a way as possible. Also we understand that the Indian
democracy cannot be protected without the dailits, workers, woman and adivasis
coming together to fight for economic, social and gender justice.
Meena Kandasamy, Milind Bhavar, Dilip Sieon, Sudhanva
Deshpande, Pradeep Deshpande and Satyakam Hoshi have helped me immensily in
putting this book together. I owe a debt of gratitude to KP Sasi, some of whose
illustrations I have used in this book, also Kali Sengupta and Arun Inamdar did
some illustrations, especially for this book.
From the preface of the book, Dalits and Social Justice,
written by Dr. Ram Puniyani. He was teaching in IIT Mumbai till 2004, when he
took voluntary retirement. Is associated with various secular initiatives and
has been part of various investigation reports on violation of human rights of
minorities. Has been conducting workshop in different parts of the country on
the themes related to, threats to democracy; the agenda of communal politics;
myths about minorities and politics of terror. Contributes a fortnightly
article in e bulletin, Issues in Secular Politics, has written several books.
In recipient of Maharashtra Foundation, Association for Communal Harmony and
Fr, Machio Memorial Humanitarian awards.
Can be contacted at ; ram.puniyani@gmail.com,
web:pluralindia.com
The book is published by Mythri Books thiruvanamthapuram.
E-mail: mythribooks@gmail.com
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