April is Dalit History Month and also marks the birth anniversary of two most important Dalit social reformers Mahatma Jotiba Phule and Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar. Ambedkar considered Jotiba Phule as one of his three gurus. He said, “ I’m certain that any party that comes to power – whatever its name – and cares for the all-round development of the masses would have to follow Jotiba’s visionary approach, ethical principles, and philosophy to move forward. This is the only way to achieve democracy.” Babasaheb considered himself the most honest follower of Mahatma Jotiba Phule.
But even after so many years, this goal is far from the reach of Indian society and each party has failed to work truly for the welfare of the Dalits. Dalits have long faced segregation everywhere, be it in housing, schools, and access to public services. They are often denied owning land, forced to work in demeaning situations, and frequently by both the police and members of higher castes who are shielded by the government.
THE OPPRESSIVE EDUCATION SYSTEM
The Indian education system has witnessed many incidents of caste-based discrimination. Babasaheb on inequalities in the education system said, “What is the use of crying and making noise about freedom, when more than 80 percent of the masses are denied access to education and kept, so openly, in a perpetual state of social, economic, and political slavery? Everyone must get the fruits of freedom”.
Many incidents such as the institutional murder of Rohit Vemula; a professor from the Indian Institute of Technology verbally abusing students belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe, and many Dalit students committing suicide facing harassment show the discrimination in educational institutions. The report by the HRD Minister stated that over 19,000 students from SC, ST, and OBC categories dropped out from central universities, IITs and IIMs between 2018 and 2023. Approximately, 33 students have committed suicide in various IITs across India since 2018, as per the report. After the Ministry of Education presented this report in Rajya Sabha on 29th March 2023, the Union Government denied it claiming that “no caste of caste discrimination has been reported from IITs in the last 5 years”.
Education is believed to be a source of emancipation but its unequal access and negligence by the concerned authorities and government is perpetuating the inequalities and discrimination.
EXPLOITATION IN WORK
In December, two Dalit workers from the University of Hyderabad died, one of them committed suicide. Many other Dalit workers from the university are facing issues from the administration, their working conditions are terrible. The University of Hyderabad’s (UoH) Student Union and sanitation workers held two protests on December 18 and 19, following the death of K Praveen, a sanitation worker who died by suicide on December 12 on the campus. Another worker who was a contractual office attendant, died of a heart attack on December 11. It was reported that he was not allowed to receive medical help even though he was showing symptoms of breathlessness, moments before he died.
Manual scavenging, a caste-based hereditary occupation reserved for Dalits is not just a discriminatory practice but a question of human dignity and is equated with slavery. The Union Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry has reported that between 2018 and 202, 339 people have lost their lives due to the life threatening work of manual scavenging. This job is dangerous for humans as they are exposed to viral and bacterial infections that affect their skin, eyes, limbs, respiratory and gastrointestinal systems.
Journalist Sukanya Santha filed a petition in the Supreme Court alleging that Inmates belonging to Dalit communities and denotified were assigned menial jobs and labor-intensive work inside jails also.
A CRIME OF ACTIVISM IN INDIA
Amit Singh, a PhD Candidate, from the University of Coimbra, writes in an article “Hindutva Fascism threatens the world’s largest democracy” that Hindutva fascism has so far evaded the serious scrutiny of scholars and activists. Scholars and critics observed that dissent has a huge price in India. Human rights defenders including professors, lawyers, journalists, and poets are arrested without credible evidence and trial, after being labeled as Maoist terrorists or ‘urban Naxals’. Recently, the Supreme Court granted bail to activist and former Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen in the Bhima Koregaon case. The bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and AG Masih passed the order considering her medical condition, advanced age, and the delay in framing charges.
At least 14 activists were arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case and they were also accused of links to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). Some of the arrested persons include activists such as Rona Wilson, Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Stan Swami, Arun Fereira, Gautam Navlakha and Veron Gonsalves.
The Supreme Court granted Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira bail in July 2023. Lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj, arrested in the case, was granted bail in December 2021 while Varavara Rao, an 82-year-old, was granted bail on medical grounds in August 2022. Stan Swamy, a respected tribal rights activist died of a cardiac arrest in hospital in July 2021. The 84-year-old had been denied bail twice despite failing health. His condition deteriorated rapidly in prison.
BHIMA KOREGAON
Bhima Koregaon in Pune, Maharashtra, is a tiny village that holds significance in Maratha history. On January 1, 1818, a few hundred Mahar soldiers of the East India Company, led by the British, defeated the Peshwa army, led by Peshwa Bajirao II, in Koregaon. Over the years, as the battle came to be seen as a victory of the Mahars against the injustices perpetrated by the Brahmanical Peshwas, thousands of Ambedkarites have been gathering in Bhima Koregaon on 1 January to pay their respect at the Vijay Sthamb (victory pillar).
On 1 January 2018, during the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Koregaon, violence erupted among the crowd.
Police arrested many activists for inciting violence but it failed to look at the angle of caste violence in the incident. The protesting Dalits were attacked by the mob and it was alleged that Hindutva leaders Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide had instigated the mob against the Dalit procession. The police gave a clean chit to Bhide but arrested Ekbote for two offenses related to the violence. But Ekbote was released on bail.
BRAHMINICAL FASCISM
Indian society is trapped in the chains of a caste system dominated by Brahmins. Many scholars describe the Indian political system as “Brahminical Fascism”. Phule and Ambedkar use the term “Brahmanism” instead of Hinduism to explain the oppressive nature of the caste system.
Kancha Ilaiah, a professor and a writer of the book ‘Why I Am Not A Hindu’ said in an interview that ‘Dalitisation’ alone can effectively challenge the threat of Brahminical fascism parading in the garb of Hindutva. He added that the real threat that Brahmanism faces is not from the Muslims or Christians but from the growing awakening of the Dalit-Bahujans, who now refuse to accept Brahminical supremacy.
Critics and activists have opined that the current government is fascist in nature and is reshaping and institutionalizing a new form of social contract that is based on Brahminical social order, discriminating and alienating Dalits and other minority groups.
BRAHMINICAL PATRIARCHY
Famous scholar and Sociologist Uma Chakravarti coined the term “Brahmanical Patriarchy”. She argued that the caste hierarchies and gender hierarchies have together built a Brahminical social order. This concept may seem old and outdated but it is still prevalent in Indian society. This subordination is shaped by powerful social institutions such as religion and religious books written and interpreted by men.
Dalit women being victims of heinous crimes such as rape and murder by upper caste men are in the news very often. Many such cases do not get registered and others have tardy investigations. The rape case of Hathras in Uttar Pradesh showed the failure of the state which is mainly ruled by upper-caste people. The government and police deliberately covered up the evidence by cremating the victim’s body in the middle of the night.
National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), a federal agency, has reported that in 2019, there were over 405,861 cases of assaults on women. The crimes include beating, stripping, kidnapping and rape. Of these, 13,273 assaults, which included 3,486 cases of rape, were against women from Dalit communities.
Many media outlets and netizens especially from upper caste often raise the question of why sexual violence is linked to caste. They fear that this link is polluting their “caste purity”. It is misinterpreted by most that the fight is against “Brahmins” or the upper caste but in reality the struggle is against the oppressive structure dominated by the upper caste or Brahmins. This structure is described by scholars as Brahminism.
Dalit History Month is an attempt towards a justiciable society as our society for so long continues to discriminate, harass, and exploit the Dalits. This hierarchy as being ascribed in nature can not be changed and the lower castes from birth till their death face the discrimination of this inhumane caste hierarchy.
