Do we seriously want to uplift Dalits?

Balvinder
Former principal, Govt College, Sector 11, Chandigarh

WITH regard to the long-suppressed 'Dalit' classes, two contrasting examples have emerged today. One, that we currently have a 'Dalit' person as the President of the Republic of India. Two, the depressing news of 'Dalits' dying — either while undertaking the 'prohibited' manual-scavenging or through murderous killings, on the silliest pretexts — keep pouring rather on a daily basis. 

This arises the question: Are we really serious about the uplift of this long-oppressed social class that we call today as 'Dalit', and still consider, though clandestinely, a certain section as 'untouchables'?

"I have now been in India for over two years and a half after my return from South Africa. Over one quarter of that time, I have passed on Indian trains, travelling third class by choice. I have travelled up north as far as Lahore, down south up to Tranquebar, and from Karachi to Calcutta. Having resorted to third class travelling, among other reasons, for the purpose of studying the conditions under which this class of passengers travel, I have naturally made as critical observations as I could." 

This quote is the opening para of an essay titled "Third class in Indian Railways" penned by Mahatma Gandhi in 1917. In this write-up, he has enumerated many problems: from carrying passengers like sardines in these coaches and unavailability of basic amenities like drinking water on stations. That was the state of affairs in British India, some three decades before our Independence. Gandhi must be turning in his grave as today, more than 100 years later, things do not seem to have changed much for the ordinary rail travellers. 

We being best, perhaps, only in renaming services and places, the only improvement in this regard that the Indian Railways made, during a non-Congress government in 1977, was that it removed the 'third class' nomenclature of rail coaches. It just removed the seemingly derogatory nomenclature. Hence, the slighting tag does not exist today.

While considering the improvement of centuries old downtrodden classes, the authorities should have completely removed the belittling caste identities also. Instead, they have just given them new identities: Scheduled Castes, Dalits, Harijans and so on. 

However, could the mere elimination of a caste identity that is deeply etched on our polluted minds, really help the amalgamation of a lowly placed class into the mainstream of our society? Definitely not. 

The comparison between the rail-coach classifications and a deep-rooted social caste-based structure is both invidious and naive. In the heart of hearts we, in general, do not have the courage or will to uplift the oppressed class. A historical fact vindicates the point. The holy and highly respected Sikh scripture, Adi Granth Sahib, which was compiled by the fifth Sikh Guru, Guru Arjun Dev, in 1604 AD, is an epitome of a classless classy literature. For, it contains verses not only of Sikh Gurus, but also of some spiritual luminaries who belonged to the socially deprived classes. In 1699 AD, following the same unifying spirit, the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, sincerely made an effort to merge all his followers, belonging to varying social sects/castes/classes, into one respectable Sikh class, that he named 'Singhs'. However, his highly humanitarian endeavour to cut class/caste divides could not be sustained much beyond his lifetime. 

Going by the current social status of the Sikhs, it is an open secret that there lie many a sub-social-classes within Sikhism — Jat Sikh, Bhaapa Sikh, Majhabi Sikh, Ramgarhia Sikh, Patit Sikh, Namdhari Sikh, Sehjdhari Sikh and so on. No wonder that many of these groups today run their separate gurdwaras, having specific caste identities.

The continuation of our social divides is, perhaps, the result of our age-old and congealed mindset. No wonder we have failed to let any of the unfairly treated and long-suppressed class enter the respectable mainstream of our society.

However, what is most disturbing today is the sad fact that rather than making efforts to unite caste-based sects, the so-called upper castes/classes have been reinforcing the destructive divide, by adding classifications to the lowly placed identities of 'Dalits'. The recognition of a separate literary genre, called 'Dalit' literature, is one such example. As if the literature churned by the creative minds of a certain class also bears an 'untouchable' status, which makes it unfit to be considered on a par with wider general literature. All this, despite the fact that Article 17 of the Indian Constitution outlaws untouchability! 

The recent celebratory efforts over the warrior status of  Dalits at Pune that were marred by bloody clashes seem to be a part of the same divisive design, lest the Dalit class should lose its demeaning identity.