Strong Dalit political movement essential for a vibrant democracy

Babasaheb Ambedkar wished to elevate the Untouchable castes from the subjugated depressing social location to promote them as equal claimants of social rights and political power. Ambedkarite politics was based on the assessment that the social elites lack ethical convictions when it comes to the emancipation of the socially marginalized communities. The post-Ambedkar Dalit politics emerged as a fearless challenge to the Congress’ parental and moralist appeals and has been admired as a radical transformative force. It has substantiated the democratic churning by elevating the political status of the socially marginalized groups.

Today, though the Dalits’ claims for political and social justice are enlarged in public discourse, they do not have a centralized location to monitor the ruling elites’ tactics that often disturbs the Dalits’ political agenda.

The Dalit assertion is now belittled by the right-wing proponents as a narrow political act and its politics as sectarian rhetoric. Further, Dalits politics lacks ideological or institutional mechanisms to mitigate the growing internal contradictions within the community.

The contemporary Dalit movement has expanded into newer territories with diversified interests and ambitions. Conventional Dalit parties, especially the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in Bihar are now supplemented by the promising activism of Viduthalai ChiruthaikalKatchi (VCK) in Tamil Nadu and the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) in Maharashtra. Though each party claim to serve the Dalit-Bahujan interest, there is no social or political comradeire between them. Interestingly, in states with huge Scheduled Castes populations, such as Punjab and Bengal, there is a visible absence of Dalits ’social or political movements.

Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have a history of vibrant Dalit consciousness. They celebrate the legacy of strong anti-Brahmanical social struggles and are heralded for their radical political programs.

However, the Dalit parties in both the states have nominal success in electoral battles. In the recently concluded Assembly elections, though the VCK and VBA have reignited the Dalit-Bahujan political agenda; both are still feeble forces, having limited influence in transforming the power dynamics of the states.

Importantly, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have witnessed divisions within the Dalit voters and often sections within the Dalits have supported parties that often have been termed as organizations of the conservative social elites.

Though the Dalits in these states wear Ambedkar on their sleeves, they differ when it comes to voting ‘in bloc’ to a Dalit party. Whereas in UP and Bihar, one can witness that the Dalits have offered a committed support base for the BSP and the LJP.

In UP, Kanshi Ram was a maverick leader as he had nurtured a committed Dalit constituency and imagined the possibility of a Dalit-OBC alliance. The Dalit politics utilized distinct political strategies (like anti-upper caste social engineering) and creative local narratives (unearthing caste histories and icons) to make their presence felt. Identical attempts were made by Ram Vilas Paswan in Bihar under populist Socialist slogans.

Though the majority of Dalits here are surviving in precarious social and economic conditions, their political consciousness has been robust and impactful. A committed bloc of Jatav or Dusadh voters has rallied behind the BSP and the LJP, providing them competitive strength in each election, making both the parties influential power holders in national politics.

After an impressive success in UP’s politics (Mayawati becoming the Chief Minister of the state four times), the BSP aspired to emerge as the representative party of the Dalit-Bahujan at the national level but failed to replicate the model in any other state. In the last decade, the BSP’s political strength and social support have decreased, suggesting that significant sections within the Dalits are now been mobilized by the Hindutva party. Similarly, after the demise of LJP’s stalwart leader Ram Vilas Paswan, the party is troubled by intra-family feuds and failed to demonstrate its electoral strength in the last Assembly elections. Importantly, Chirag Pawan, the new leader of the LJP, shows no qualms to demonstrate his affinity with the BJP.

In states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where Dalits have shown commendable political strength, are now demonstrating social ruptures, intra-caste divisions, and mobilization based on caste segmentations. The heterogeneous behavior of the Dalits is seen as social complexity or lack of political consciousness.

It is argued that the Dalit parties have not only failed to form a competent Dalit unity and but also to serve the interests of the lower-rung Dalits. As a result, the parties laden by the social elites have lured the worst-off social groups into their barracks. Interestingly, it is Prakash Ambedkar’s innovative slogan of ‘Vanchit-Bahujan’ that has invited the Dalit politics to ponder over providing legitimate leadership to the most-marginalized sections within the Dalits and OBCs.

With the emphatic rise of the right-wing political force, it is perpetuated that the Dalits have heterogenous political ambitions, rational and pragmatic choices and they are now distanced from the narrow identity-based political mobilization. Under such allegations, the Dalit politics’ radical political agenda is depleting. Without the presence of a powerful Dalit political movement, India’s democracy will not remain vibrant, participative and transformative. The current federal segments of the Dalit politics must deliberate upon its national character so that a unified force can emerge to fight the coercive right-wing power.

(The author is an Assistant Professor, Center for
Political Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)