JOIN USThe caste and conversion flashpoint
The issue of caste and conversion continues to be a flashpoint in Indian public life. A reminder came in the recent act of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) member and former Delhi minister Rajendra Pal Gautam, who participated in a ceremony on October 5, where 10,000 participants repeated the oaths taken by Dr B R Ambedkar on October 14, 1956, when he converted to Buddhism. Gautam is a Dalit social activist, lawyer and Buddhist. An MLA from Delhi's Seemapuri, Gautam resigned after the subsequent uproar, saying he did not want to hurt his party and Arvind Kejriwal. But he would also write in his resignation letter that he was a true Ambedkarite and atrocities against his community broke his heart, and he would continue to fight for rights more firmly without restrictions.
Dr Ambedkar's conversion to Buddhism was a symbolic spurning of Hinduism because of the caste system, about which he had written reams. This act by one of the foundational figures of the Indian republic sits uneasily with the direction in which the nation is currently headed in, appearing to be a de facto Hindu Rashtra. The BJP pays lip service to Dr Ambedkar (it displays his portrait) as an outreach to Dalits as part of the social and political outreach of the RSS. Yet the ideological traditions and goals of the RSS/BJP place it in opposition to what Dr Ambedkar represented and articulated.
Just last week, at an event in Nagpur, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat called for discarding concepts such as varna and jati and said the caste system has no relevance in the current age and should be consigned to the bins of history. No one can disagree with that in theory, but one must ask if it can be put into practice in the RSS itself, where all the sarsanghchalaks have been from the high castes (the BJP has done much better with diverse representation). One must also note the disturbing and frequent reports of atrocities from across India, including by teachers against their Dalit students. Clearly, caste attitudes will not vanish just by willing them to.
How the Hindutva ecosystem responded to the act of Rajendra Pal Gautam is both interesting and revealing. It somehow managed to bring Muslims into the equation, which is actually about the caste system within Hinduism and Buddhism. In Gujarat, where elections take place later this year and where AAP is trying to make a mark, posters appeared in several cities that showed Arvind Kejriwal wearing a skull cap on which it was written in Gujarati that "the anti-Hindu face of the AAP government has been exposed."
The posters sprung up overnight and were signed by an unknown outfit called Hindu Hitrakshak Samiti that "quoted" Kejriwal allegedly slamming Hindu rituals. The words attributed to Kejriwal in these posters are derived from the 22 vows taken by Dr Ambedkar when converting to Buddhism, frequently repeated by members of the Dalit community when participating in the kind of ceremony that the AAP member did.
Meanwhile, let there also be no doubt that if the conversion was to Christianity or Islam, the organisers and participants of the October 5 event in which Gautam participated would currently be in jail. Even the so-called "love jihad" laws in BJP-ruled states are at their heart about conversion through marriage into Islam, even as members of the Christian churches are frequently arrested for allegedly spreading their faith. Because of the fear that members of Indian society lower on the caste scale could convert to another faith, the process has been de-incentivised and virtually criminalised.
But it's a tricky matter when it's an assertion of Dalit rights and invokes Dr Ambedkar, even if it involves conversion to Buddhism. Follow Dalit websites, and one will learn that such conversions continue. The caveat here must be that one view is that Buddhism is part of Hinduism, and the Buddha has been included in the pantheon. Yet, the Ambedkar-style conversions involve a rejection of Hinduism. On October 5, Gautam himself tweeted pictures of the event held to commemorate Dr Ambedkar's conversion and said that more than 10,000 people pledged to join Buddhism and make India free from casteism and untouchability. Presumably, he knew what he was doing, and this act came from his convictions.
The same week that the Gautam episode was playing out, the Centre also appointed a three-member committee to examine extending Scheduled Caste status to converts, that is, all those who have historically suffered discrimination and inequality regardless of the the religion they profess today. It's a complex sociological question. On the one hand, it is known that social stratification exists among the Muslim and Christian communities in India, but on the other hand, these are "religions of the book" where the faith or ancient texts do not legitimise inequality. An earlier commission headed by retired Chief Justice Ranganath Mishra had in 2007 been in favour of extending SC status to all Dalits, regardless of religion.
To return to the implications of Gautam's resignation on AAP, it must be noted that he has been a trusted and diligent figure in the party that has struck roots among Dalits and the poor of Delhi, the city from where the AAP wellspring emerges. The second state the party rules, Punjab, has the largest percentage of Dalits in the country. Besides, for a while now, Kejriwal has been doing his politics with images of Dr Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh behind him, the first a convert out of Hinduism and the second an agnostic revolutionary.
Landing in Gujarat after posters emerged of him wearing a skullcap, Arvind Kejriwal declared that he was born on Janmashtami (Lord Krishna's birthday) and sent by God to finish off the children of Kansa. All the Rakshas (demons) are ranged against me, but I am a bhakta of Hanumanji, he said. Even as BJP supporters had surrounded the Delhi residence of Gautam, where they shouted Jai Shri Ram and other slogans, in Gujarat, Kejriwal offered an all-expenses-paid pilgrimage to Ayodhya if AAP was voted to power. Surreal, but all quite real.
AAP argues it is playing in a field where the bowlers, fielders, umpire and commentators are set by the BJP, and therefore it must pander to a certain sentiment. But a more profound question is how it would cope eventually with the issue of Dalit rights. Would Gautam be sent into the political wilderness, or has his resignation been nuanced in a manner to give Kejriwal room for manoeuvre?
(Saba Naqvi is a journalist and author)
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.