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Hindutva
and dalits
Ram
Puniyani
Post
Gujarat riots, many moves have been made by the Hindutva
organizations vis a vis dalits. The latest one being a threatening
letter by Vishwa Hindu Parishad addressed to dalit organizations in
Gujarat to adopt Hindutva. This letter published by VHP, from Paldi,
Ahmadabad, states that, “Let the Ambedkarite Harijans who oppose
the Hindutva ideology understand. We will not let them mix with even
the soil of Hindustan; today time is in our hands. Hindutva is the
ideology of true Hindus (and) it never accepts the Harijans who are
the off springs of the untouchable Ambedkar.
The Ambedkarite
Harijans, Bhangis, tribals and the untouchable Shudra castes who
believe in (respect) Ambedkar do not have any right to give speeches
or criticize the Hindutva ideology in Hindustan, ...Now Hindutva has
become aware and it is time to teach these Ambedkarites, untouchable
Harijans a lesson. Not even the miyans (Muslims) can come to their
aid now.” (Extract from the letter received by Banaskantha Dalit
Sanghthan)
This is a sort of
open threat to Dalilts to toe the VHP line and to politically
subordinate to Sangh Parivar (SP). One has witnessed in the recent
Gujarat carnage that number of Dalits and Adiviasis were used as
foot soldiers of Hindutva to undertake the anti-Minority violence.
Also it was BJP ally Mayawati who came to campaign for Narendra Modi.
What are the portents of this new move on the part of VHP, a
component of Sangh Parivar and a progeny of RSS? As such Dalit
leadership is totally fragmented in Gujarat and the assertion of
Dalit aspirations has been totally weak. Gujarat has witnessed
massive anti-Dalit riots around the issue of reservations (1980 and
1985). After these riots the politics of S P changed the track and
manipulated and unleashed the Dalits against the Muslim minorities.
The Hindutvaisation of Dalits has been a very complex process. It
broadly has aimed to bring the ‘Unity’ of all the Hindus without
disturbing the caste equations, social hierarchies. To achieve this
these has gone on several processes.
On one hand there
has been an urge to move upwards on the part of section of dalits
who have partly benefited from the process of development,
reservations etc. This layer has been looking for the channels of
upward mobility, Sanskritisation, and Hidnutva has provided them
this in abundance. This has come at cultural level by providing
newer community symbols, which have been popularized and accepted by
the section of Dalits. At another level Asaram Bapu, Pandurang
Shashrti and company have been spreading the neutral sounding
sermons, but in depth they do hide the refined version of Manu
Smiriti. This has been one of the major platforms, which has won
over sections of Dalits to the Hindutva. Another factor has been the
floating of Samajik Samrasata Manch, (Social Assimilation Platform)
which aims to bring together all the Hindus, sidetracking the
challenges of the caste system. Projecting the unity of Hindu
society as it is, meaning that the present inequalities are all
right and they are not to be questioned. This added on to the
availability of thousands of dalits who have lost jobs due to
closure of textile mills has provided Hindutva with a vast army of
Dalits whom it could use as the one’s to be the executioners of
the anti-Muslim pogrom witnessed in Gujarat.
So why this new
threat to the Dalit organizations. This letter has been received by
many an organizations, particularly those holding out against the
Hindutva onslaught. The message is clear and loud. In the stage so
far Hindutva has been able to assimilate large sections under its
ideology and tutelage. How come some are still holding back from
getting assimilated? The ‘success’ of Moditva (blatantly
aggressive Hindutva) has emboldened them to lead an assault on the
sections, which have not been assimilated. In this type of scenario,
which exists in Gujarat where Hindutva organizations have a free
hand. The attempt is to combine all the strategies, to lure them by
inducements, and to indoctrinate them through the Asarams Bapus and
Pandurang Shastris. And now to threaten them as a last resort.
Hindutva had a
complex relationship with Dalit question. With the rise of Dalit
consciousness in the elementary form in the middle of 19th century
the reaction came in the form of vague articulation of Hindutva,
which expressed itself in Shuddhi campaign and also in the programs
parties like Punjab Hindu Sabha. The upper caste reaction to Dalit’s
coming to social space, education and industry was to be opposed it
in a subtle way. This opposition was manifested in the attacks on
Mahtma Jotiba Phule who led this process. The same stream of
Landlord-Clergy was also opposed to the emerging politics of Indian
National Congress and the accompanying values of Liberty, Equality
and Fraternity. During early part of Twentieth century the
anti-Landlord-Brahmin movement picked up a great deal along with the
social and political changes, which aimed to change the status of
Dalits. This period saw the consolidation of the of upper caste
revivalist ideology in the form of Hindu Mahasabha and later RSS.
Both these organizations kept the clear goal of Hindu Rashtra. Their
major agenda was to ensure that caste equations don’t change; the
hegemony of Landlord- Brahmin persists.
The challenge for
these organizations was to preserve the status quo while using the
language, which is modern and sounding to be of equality. We are
same because we are Hindus! We are Hindus so lets not talk of our
internal matters, caste etc. lets fight against the external enemy
Muslims and Christians! So during this period on one hand one sees
the rise of Ambedkar and burning of Manu Smriti, on the other hand
we witness the rise of Hindutva as a clear ideology. We see the
coming up of the concept of Hindu Rashtra as the goal of Hindus as
the alternative to the freedom movement, which was movement for free
democratic India. The language and projection of Hindutva sound as
if it has deep anti-Muslim and Anti Christian overtones. In a way
these are incidental and these are there to hide the deeper project
of maintaining hegemony of Brahminical values in the new garb. So
Ambedkar is not opposed directly, some of his agenda against
untouchability is also accepted but his deeper goal of democracy,
which is the only system, which can be libratory to Dalits and
women, is countered in the language of Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra.
The third major
consolidation of this politics of Hindutva occurs in the wake of
Mandal commission implementation in 1990. While the upper caste
crystallization around Ram Temple and other religiosity based Yatra
continues the Mandal commission threatens the status quo in a
serious way. It is at this time that ongoing processes of
crystallization of upper caste-Brahminical values of caste and
gender hierarchy get more fillips to assert themselves as a severe
threat to Indian constitution. Mr. Vajpayee of BJP formulated the
raison de tre of Ram temple movement by saying that ‘they brought
in Mandal so we had to resort to Kamandal (religiosity). The rest is
too well known to be recounted. The use of religion in politics,
Babri demolition, Mumbai riots etc. resulted in rise of BJP in
electoral arena as the big player in the political field. Gujarat
has come as a big lesson to us all. The declining fortunes of BJP
could be reversed by this party resorting to the rivers of blood in
the form of state sponsored anti Muslim carnage. All this has given
big space to the politics of Hindutva, which is now aiming to
manipulate the society from the top. This manipulation is at
cultural, social and political level.
The incident like
this letter to recalcitrant Dalit organisations is an attempt to
browbeat the Dalits into submission. Sangh Parivar cannot afford to
let the intra Hindu identities be the fly in the ointment of Hindu
Rashtra. While on one hand it is merrily getting social and
political certification from its alliance with Dalit leadership like
Mayawati-Kanshiram, the odd ones’ opposing this politics and the
Hindutva hegemony have to be shown occasional stick if necessary. If
not in Modi’s Gujarat where else can they use intimidation to the
Dalits, or for that matter to other layer of society.
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