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Ssc SOCIAL STUDY CIRCLE di (ESTD
1982) www.dalitindia.com ssc@dalitindia.com *********************************************************************** |
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Februay
25, 2001
THE FUTURE OF
SC&ST DALITS
What is the Future of
Dalits?
Well,
this is a Question that has never been asked, never seriously contemplated, and
hence never really answered.
Some
say that it will be better, or bound to be better. A few say that the Future belongs to the Blacks all over the
World, and in this Country to the SC&ST Dalits. Some even say that the Twenty First Century India would belong to
the SC&ST Dalits, and Baba Saheb Dr Ambedkar would be the real Father of
Future India. Are they Dreaming or
making tall Claims or just Hoping for the Good? No, No, No! They are all
thinking rationally and making cool calculations. Their logic runs like this – We all now live in a Free and
Independent Country. Our Nation is
Great, with a Great Tradition, Long History, Tolerant, Spiritual and
Secular! It is a Democracy. It is successful vibrant and alive! We have a great reformist liberal Republican
Constitution. We have almost a
Representative Peoples’ Govt. We regularly
have Elections to choose our Representatives.
We thus can form our Govts! We
think that the Govts are really ours, and will work for our Social Good,
Welfare and Development! We also think
that the Elections are all reasonably free and fair! We have a modern liberal Education System, open to every section
of the society. SC&ST Dalits form a
big significant section of the society, and are a strong force of 250 million
plus population. That is really one
fourth of the Indian Population today.
Nobody can afford to neglect and antagonize such a large section,
particularly in the open rapidly shrinking small world, as we enter the Twenty
first Century; and still live comfortably or survive in a Democracy! It is not easy for anyone to physically
eliminate such a large population. Even
a cold genocide can’t lead to such a cruel end of the SC&ST Dalits in
today’s World. With modern Education, a
Liberal Constitution, Regular Elections, Secular State, Welfare Govt,
Democratic Governance, Republican framework of Administration, Representative
Bureaucracy, and other great features which We as a Nation Claim, the Peoples’
Will will have to Prevail! That means
the SC&ST Dalits would always be in the Lime Light at the Center Stage of
National Affairs, and would be taking a leading role in the Governance and
Administration of the Country – But these are all Logic, may be an honest but a
wishful Straight Thinking, not suited and realistic in a cold calculating
Country like ours!
In
this Country, no Logic applies anytime anywhere! And no Straight Thinking survives for long! True, we are a Democracy. That is in form, not content! That Democracy is only ritualistic! That may be functional, busy with rituals
and private agendas, but not meaningful or in reality useful to the People! Yes, that is Successful! Only because it has somehow survived for
more than five decades without making the Govt Republican and the Country truly
Democratic! Nothing more than that to
talk about. Yes, that is also
Vibrant! Since the small dominant
castes and associated political groups have been freely fighting it out, and
actively slugging at each other at the hustlings! But, that is nothing more than a shadow boxing, and a squabble
over sharing the loot!
So, what is the Future for the Dalits?
Very
Optimistic are, at least were all mainstream Dalit Leaders! Only their Approach and Strategies were
different! So were their Options and
the Routes they had taken! Many
Congress Leaders like Babu Jagjivan Ram, Jagannath Pahadia, Makhwana, Buta
Singh… felt that they can work things out from within the omnibus elitist
party. Those anti-Congress Leaders in
the Opposition, like Ram Vilas Paswan in Janatha variants thought that they can
fight the brahmin forces symbolised by the Congress, change things from
outside, and make the Govt really the Common-Mans’ and restore the Country to
the People! At last, the Janatha
Outfits crumbled and split split split and collapsed now, and RVP had gone
where he should not have been and where one should never be – to that Party
which he had opposed openly and bitterly!
Few sincere ones like Suraj Bhan, are from the beginning, at the wrong
end. But they genuinely feel that by
being in RSS and BJP, they can make those groups see logic and reason, and coax
them to do something for the miillions and millions of the poor Dalits of this
Country. They count on the ultimate
good of the human heart, forgetting the cold criminal mind of the hard core
rabid communal and fundamentalist groups.
There were that positive promising silver linings in the dark clouds, as
Baba Sahib’s RPI and Kanshi Ram’s various Platforms like BAMCEF, DS4 and BSP
made lots of reasonable noises. Baba
Sahibs followers as usual let down that Great Man, and betrayed his Objectives
and Goals. True to this sad tradition,
Kanshi Ram who carefully calculated the strengths and weaknesses of the
Bahujans – the SC&ST Dalits, Backwards and Backward Minorities, and
painstakingly worked with them, mobilizing them, organising them, awakening
them, conscientising them, nudging them to action, strengthening them and
uniting them, is failing today, almost like the RPI Leaders who failed Baba
Sahib and the SC&ST Dalits. Sadly
today, he his painstaking long patient efforts and hard work, careful
calculations, strategies and the BSP itself are almost in the dust. They are all in the grip and at the mercy of
those individuals who do not understand the SC&ST Dalis, Dalits’
Problems, Dalit Aspirations, Dalit
Struggles, Dalit Options and Dalit Future, and those who have little respect
for Dalit Logic, Dalit Thinking and Dalit Intellectuals.
All
Dalit Leaders, ultimately compromise themselves and their future. In the process they Compromise the Dalit
Society, Dalits’ Interests and Dalits’ Future.
It is therefore, that the Future of SC&ST Dalits, today looks dim,
bleak and hopeless. That is really shocking, painful, threatening and
dangerous!
When
RVP was the Railway Minister, everyone in the Country was happy. For that important Ministry came to the
hands of a Dalit for the secondtime in the history of the Country – decades
after Babu Jagjivan Ram, who had done wonders in Railways for the SC&ST
Dalit Officers and Staff. Yes,he was
very openly for the Future of SC&ST Dalit Employees, though outside he did
not have the full support and backing of the SC&ST Daits in Delhi very
sensitive and conscious of sub-caste and regional origins of the Officials and
Leaders. This is a sad negative and
divisively destructive reality. Though
he belonged to the Chamar SC Dalit, he was not fully acceptable to the
SC&ST Dalits of Delhi, because of his origin from Bihar, and his grooming
in the Congress. But the fact is that
he had done wonders for the SC&ST Dalits in Railways. Because of this reality, almost everyone
looked up to him, with much expectation.
Though he was also not from Delhi and the surrounding areas, and he had
the added disadvantage of not being a Chamar, SC&ST Dalits almost from
allover the Country had a very very large faith in him and had Great
Expectations, though many local Dalits had deserted him sometime before the
Elections. This because of his unique
qualities of quick grasp, effective oratory, convincing articulation, bold
projections of Dalit Problems and his Capacity for hard and continuous
work. Railways, with a large Railway
Network, wide spread across the length and breadth of the Country, huge size of
having almost half the Employees of the Govt of India, its own Budget.
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