The Hindu : In name only?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 29, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

In name only?

One of their own has become Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh but this has made little apparent difference to the Dalits' plight, says J.P. Shukla.

THE BAHUJAN Samaj Party, senior partner of the ruling coalition in Uttar Pradesh, has zealously appropriated the role of exclusive champion of Dalit interests. The Chief Minister, Mayawati, has sought to deny her political adversaries even symbolic pro-Dalit positions. Her own Dalit constituency has by and large accepted her claims to represent it. But that has made little apparent difference to their plight.

Ms. Mayawati's recent reaction to the Congress' attempts in Amethi to raise the case of the demolition of a Dalit's house points to her attitude. The local Congress leaders had raised the case during the visit of Priyanka Vadra, daughter of Sonia Gandhi. The Dalit's house was on an upper caste Thakur's land. Following a dispute between the two, the Thakur dispossessed the Dalit and his house was demolished. Ms.Vadra announced an agitation to help the Dalit and the story was played up by the media.

Ms. Mayawati not only defended the dispossession of the Dalit but also questioned the Congress' motives. The Dalit, she said, had been allowed to build his house on the Thakur's land in his capacity as a servant. This did not mean that he had got any legal right to the land. The demolition took place after all legal formalities and therefore the administration had no reason to intervene, she said.

The Chief Minister saw a deeprooted conspiracy behind the Congress' actions. The Congress, she alleged, had hoped her Government would side with the Dalit and do an injustice to the Thakur. The Congress move was, therefore, only to create a wedge between the upper castes and the Scheduled Castes and discredit her Government, Ms. Mayawati charged. She then organised a rally at Amethi where she lambasted the "forbearers" of Priyanka Vadra — Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru — for doing nothing in the interest of Dalits when the Congress was in power for about 50 years.

The BSP owes its phenomenal growth in Uttar Pradesh solely to the Dalit consciousness awakened by the party, initially on an agressive anti-upper caste slogan. All the problems of weaker sections were attributed to what the BSP supremo, Kanshi Ram, and Ms Mayawati, described as the "Manuwadi social system". To capture power, the BSP has been, ironically, forced to make common cause with the BJP, earlier condemned as a political force representing "Manuwad".

Instead of attempting to initiate an economic and social transformation of society, the BSP has been constructing memorials and naming institutes after personalities revered by Dalits. Ms. Mayawati has also announced that her Government would henceforth work for the welfare of the "Sarvajan samaj" instead of only the "Bahujan samaj", though the interests of weaker sections would be taken up on a priority basis.

An important decision by Ms. Mayawati after she took over as Chief Minister in May last was to issue a directive to district authorities to see that the provisions of the Anti-Untouchability Act were not misused. A similar directive issued by Kalyan Singh (then in the BJP) after he had taken over from Ms. Mayawati as Chief Minister in 1997 had resulted in parting of ways between the two parties.

In the public perception, the plight of the Dalits has remained more or less the same as before the present Government took office. For the record, cases relating to atrocities on Dalits in Uttar Pradesh might not be as glaring as in some other States. But this does not mean that the Dalits have achieved emancipation in this State. Forces opposing social justice might have become dormant for a while but justice to Dalits remains an unrealised dream.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Opinion

Stories in this Section

Their tomorrow never comes

In name only?

Fear is the key