The Dalit question-Ziyauddin and Sanghmitra.pdf

Contemporary South Asia, 2017

countercurrents.org, 2024

This article argues that a section of mainstream media is downplaying the significance of the victory of Chandrashekhar Azad from Nagina. He is the "Naya Sawera'" of the Bahujan/Dalit politics. An icon of the Bahujan politics has been born. He is the darling of the Bahujan masses, especially the youth. He has acquired the image of the Che Guevara of the Dalit politics in India. His victory is bound to change the future political dynamics of Uttar Pradesh.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR RURAL STUDIES, 2005

In the guise of constitutional equality, there continues to be widespread, though often subtle, caste inequality and caste discrimination persisting in India even today. Why does the high caste judge get his official chair washed with Ganga Jal after he takes over office from his predecessor, who happens to be from a Dalit community? Why did the followers of the all-embracing religion of Hinduism not allow a Dalit to offer puja to the goddess on Mahanavami like others on 6 October 2003 in Bahera village near Patna? Why else are Dalit leaders rated as some sort of mock stock’-be it Shri (not Mr.) Laloo Prasad Yadav or Kum.(not Ms) Mayavati? From their appearance to their involvement in scams, all seem to evoke some sort of scorn which borders on disdain. Mayavati bejewelling herself to celebrate her birthday is scornfully amusing, but Jayalalita’s love for adorning herself with diamonds on occasion…

The political professionals, at the various rungs of power, are men who have been voted into positions of authority and responsibility. By the accepted canons, then, they are representatives of the people. Yet, considering their socio-economic characteristics, they are anything but 'representative' of their constituents. In fact, the higher the public office a professional politician occupies, the greater are his personal assets and resources. If we mean by 'the best' those who have the most of whatever society values, then certainly political professionals are among the very best of us. The gap between the political class and the citizenry is maintained, and may even grow progressively, under the protective cover of democratic rhetoric. Socio-economic resources, moreover, are the base from which political power may be acquired; and this in turn may facilitate acquisition of further socio-economic resources. But one needs to continue to ask: does it really matter if the political class is an 'overclass' and the masses an 'underclass'? Is political life adversely affected if political control vests in the more affluent among us? Does it matter more what this political class does with its power than what its composition looks like? Is 'political equality' a good in itself ? Beyond universal suffrage and its calculus, then, lies the sacred but messy question of govern-ment by representation. It is this issue especially that is likely to occupy prominence in the years ahead; for, this is the one problem which — in practice — remains unresolved everywhere there is organised State power. There are limitations, however, to the inferences we may draw from a socio-economic analysis of this issue, especially if it is largely confined to background data on a sector of the political class. Social background data can tell us, in a systematic manner, who constitutes the described sector and thus the originating point of inquiry. We would need much more information, based on entirely different kinds of data, to answer such questions as: what do they do with their positions? How do they do what in fact they do? Together, the 'who9, 'what', and 'how', constitute the descriptive part of the analysis. The leap from this to an exploration of, why they enter the positions they occupy and behave the way they do, is of a qualitatively different order. It is at the terminal point of inquiry. Seen in this perspective, then, what follows may be considered a contribution to only a beginning — although a necessary one — in the exploration of the nature and functioning of our village political leaders. What we present is a partial profile of the background characteristics of political leadership at the village level The data presented here are derived from a nationwide survey conducted under the auspices of the National Institute of Community Development in 1965. The survey covered 365 villages in 16 states of the Indian Union. From among these villages, 353 political leaders were interviewed; they constitute the sample on which this article is based.

2013

For centuries, Dalits in India have been facing different forms of injustices and exploitation. As the years go by, the forms of atrocities and magnitude of oppression keep changing. They are indeed on the rise. Manifestations of violence perpetuated against the Dalits have been horrendous and appalling and thus continues to grow year after year. There has been no let up. However, since Independence, there has been one common yardstick which is being glaringly seen and followed by almost all the political parties irrespective of ideological slants and political positioning is that of luring the Dalits whenever elections are held. It is a well-known fact to all including the Dalits that during elections the political parties gets engaged in wooing the Dalits with all kinds of incentives/offers. The formula is: At the time of elections lure the Dalits, and after that lynch them-wooing and lynching dyamic. The present dispensation at the Centre and also BJP-ruled states follow this formula meticulously and candidly. BJP in particular is indeed known for this sort of game and is well versed playing its cards to win over the Dalits. It's a known-fact that political parties whether national or regional cannot ignore nor do away the Dalits. It goes without saying that whether the political parties fully committed to the development of the Dalits or not, they need their votes. When it comes to electoral politics it is not varna system, but votes which turns from impure to pure—from pollution to purity. This is why political parties by and large have wooed the sub-identities within the Dalit fold and managed to enjoy their votes for decades. While others offered freebees and promised special schemes for them during elections. The political parties did employ the formula of polarization within the broader domain of Dalit identity and somehow made their votes secured. Nonetheless, some political parties consider the Dalits as their vote banks, while others use them as 'killu kerai', in Tamil it simply means 'pluck like that of plucking greens' meaning 'use and throw'. It is to be acknowledged that Dalits' population in the country is about 200 million or about 20 per cent of India's population which is huge and decisive, and therefore 'most needed' and 'sort after'. Out of many, one classic example is, since 2014, the BJP both in the Lok Sabha elections had and in the Vidanasabha elections did sideline the minorities and the Dalits relatively. BJP per se go by the RSS's analysis of the Indian social order and in that Dalits are regarded as the last and the least. This is why in the BJP-ruled states we hardly see and come across any Dalits holding important portfolios. Some time ago in the party, BJP once had a Dalit president and hardly had he managed to complete his tenure. RSS is out and out against the Dalits because its schema and ideological moorings do not subscribe to accommodating Dalits to its fold. Dalits are antithetical to RSS-BJP's notion of Bharath. RSS is Brahmin-centric organization and BJP is Brahmin-controlled party. So, RSS-BJP for tactical and strategic reasons there have been shifts and turns, but the underlying principles that govern RSS-BJP is Hindu Rashtra premised on gradations of caste system implying homo-hierarchicus.

2021

This book explores the emergence of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as an alternative political force in Uttar Pradesh, India. It focuses on the historical continuity of Dalit social justice movements and organizational politics from pre-to post-colonial India and its subsequent institutionalization as a political force with the rise of the BSP in the state since the 1980s. The volume discusses the new age Dalit-Bahujan politics and its ethnicization of caste groups to create a bahujan samaj. The book analyzes the focused political leadership of Kanshiram and Mayawati, the strong party organization, and how they evolved an empowered Dalit ideology and identity by grassroots mobilization and championing Dalit icons and history. The author also explores the party's strategies, slogans and alliances with other political parties and communities and its political manoeuvrings to retain its influence over the electorate. The book also effectively identifies the reasons for the political marginalization of the BSP in present times in the context of the phenomenal rise of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state. The book will be of great interest to researchers and scholars of political science, sociology, Dalit and subaltern studies, exclusion studies and those working on the intersectionality of caste and class. It will also be useful for policy makers, think tanks and NGOs working in the domain of caste, marginality, social exclusion and identity politics.

A vocabulary has been tweeted in 2017 by a Member of Parliament (MP) belonging to Indian National Congress (INC) representing Trivandrum constituency of Kerala, "snollygoster", an American dialect which means "a shrewd, unprincipled politician" which was first known to have been used in 1845. Even in 2019, the term "snollygoster" is apt to the Indian socioeconomic , politico-religio-cultural settings. What is happening in India in recent times show that there have been total breakdown of constitutional propriety, moral authority and political integrity amongst those who govern and get elected to responsible positions of governance in all spheres of life. Those elected to positions of authority particularly the President, Governors, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister should uphold the constitution and not to deviate from the obligations enshrined in the Constitution of India. Their positions require bi-partisan approaches and should transcend narrow human-made barriers. The office of the President is the most important Constitutional position and he/she happens to be the custodian of the Constitution. Though proposed by the ruling party he/she gets elected by the majority votes polled cutting across the political parties. Once elected, the President of India she or he is being considered as the first citizen of India empowered with numerous responsibilities. Likewise, governors are picked up by the ruling government at Centre and are the constitutional heads posted to the capitals of state governments and union territories and should abide by the constitutional obligations. Similarly the office of the Prime Minister who happens to be the top political executive of the country though represents a political party, once elected to the top office is the PM for all in the country. Equally the judiciary is an important pillar and the Chief Justice of India adds more significance when it comes to interpretation of law and dispensation of justice. India is known for many things and the recent happenings are just incredible. What happened last week was indeed a living testimony, an outright sham and a blatant mockery to our democracy. To substantiate these, Maharashtra is a classic case and has been in the limelight for more than a month. We did witness several twists and turns, political maneuvering and bickering, shunting

MLAs were missing ; this is the case of upto 58% of biographical notes in the 1972 edition, but from 1977 onwards the proportion of missing notes gradually decreases from 26% to 6% in 1996. These missing informations account for the proportion of the « Not ascertained » category, which can be quite high in some tables for informations that depend exclusively on the Who's Whos, such as education and occupation.