BY CHOOSING TO OPEN THEIR SCHOOLS IN PUNE, THE PHULES WERE SENDING OUT A CLEAR MESSAGE THAT THEY WERE STRIKING AT THE VERY ROOT OF BRAHMANISM

Savitribai Phule, born on 3 January 1831 at a village called Nayagaon in Satara district of Maharashtra, planted a little sapling on the barren land of women’s education and nursed it till it turned into a lush green tree. Education had been kept out of reach of the exploited and deprived Dalit tribals and women of the country for centuries. Her simplicity, selfless love, hardwork and commitment stood out as Savitribai, in partnership with her husband Jotiba Phule, secured the right to education for these communities. She demolished the conspiratorial monopoly of the upper castes on education. In a country where awards are instituted in the name of the person who demanded Eklavya’s thumb as ‘gurudakshina’ (gift to the guru), where the slaying of a Shudra ascetic like Shambuk was a tradition, where thescriptures prescribed that hot mercury be poured into the ears of Shudras-Atishudras and women trying to acquire education, where the poet of the so-called Brahmanical society prescribed that ‘Dhol, Ganwar, Shudra, Pashu, Nari; Yeh Sab Taadan Ke Adhikari’ (Drum, rustics, Shudras, animals and women deserve to be beaten) – in such a country, it was nothing short of a miracle that a Shudra woman became the first non-missionary citizen to ignite the light of education for women and the Dalits. Unfortunately, in a countrywhere ‘Jati Na Pucho Sadhu Kee, Puch Lijiye Gyan’ (Don’t ask the caste of a sadhu, ask how wise he is) is a maxim, education has come to be inextricably linked with one’s caste. If that is not so, why is Teacher’s Day celebrated in the name of Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan and not Savitribai Phule? Isn’t Savitribai’s contribution to the field of education momentous? Savitribai Phule was not only the first non-missionary Indian woman teacher and headmistress but also a great social reformer and an enlightened poet and thinker. She has become a source of inspiration to many.
In Savitribai’s time, religious superstitions, bigotry and untouchability ruled the roost. Dalits and women were subjected to all sorts of mental and physical torture: Child marriage, sati, female infanticide and inhuman treatment of widows were common. Young women were married off to much older men and polygamy was the order of the day.Against this backdrop, Savitribai and Jotiba standing up to the unjust society was akin to stirring a cesspool of stagnant,stinking water.Education Savitribai Phule kicked open the doors of education, which were closed for Shudras-Atishudras and women for hundreds of years. The Sanatanis of Pune did not take kindly to the news of these doors being thrown open. They mounted murderous assaults on Savitri and Jotiba Phule. To extinguish the lamp of education lit by the Phule couple, they provoked Jotiba’s father Govindrao to turn the couple out of his home. They hurled cow dung and stones at Savitribai whenever she left her home to teach the girls. Upper caste goons stopped her on the way and abused her. She was threatened with death. Many
attempts were made to close the school for girls. The Sanatanis wanted Savitribai to confine herself to her home. One goon followed Savitribai daily and taunted and harassed her. One day, he crossed all limits - he blocked her way and tried to hit her. Savitribai courageously retaliated and slapped him hard thrice. The man was so embarrassed that he never again came in her way. And so Jotiba and Savitribai continued with their work. Under the Brahmin Peshwa rulers untouchability had taken on the most cruel, inhuman forms in Pune and the surrounding areas. By choosing to open their schools in Pune, the Phules were sending out a clear message that they were striking at the very root of Brahmanism. That in such a casteist context a Shudra couple like the Phules were able to start and sustain several schools for girls of all castes including from the untouchable communities was nothing short of a social revolution. This kind of sweeping change had no precedent in India’s history. Despite their seminal contribution to social change, the arrogant upper castes have not given them their due place in our history. It is a matter of great satisfaction and joy that the Dalit-OBCs are rewriting history and making the world aware of the contribution of the Phules. The Phules’ selfless mission has become the guiding light of many a member of the deprived classes. Inspired by them, schools and colleges are being established in their names, thus extending financial, social and emotional support to the students of these classes. Six girls took admission in the first school opened at Bhide Wada, Budhwar Peth, in Pune in 1848. They were aged between four and six. Their names were Annapurna Joshi, Sumati Mokashi, Durga Deshmukh, Madhavi Thatte, Sonu Pawar and Jani Kardile. While Savitribai started classes for these six girls, she also began going from door to door, requesting parents to educate their daughters. Her campaign was so effective that the number of students in the school grew and soon it became necessary to appoint one more teacher. Vishnu Pant Thatte agreed to teach in the school for free. In 1849, Savitribai established an adult education centre in the house of Usman Sheikh, again in Pune, for Muslim women and children. Soon she started new schools in Pune, Satara and Ahmednagar.
India’s first feminist Savitribai’s contributions were not only limited to the field of education. In 1852, she established the Mahila Seva Mandal (Women’s Service Organization) with the objective of improving the lot of Indian women. She was thus the first leader of the Indian feminist movement. The Mandal strongly opposed various social practices that were detrimental to the wellbeing of the women. One such practice was the tonsuring of widows among the Hindus. To put an end to this, she launched a campaign urging the barbers not to cut the hair of widows. A large number of barbers took an oath to stop doing so. There are few, if any, instances in the history of the world of men in large numbers enthusiastically joining a movement against the physical or mental torture of women, that too at financial loss to themselves. Many organisations of barbers made common cause with Savitribai’s Mahila Seva Mandal. She and her comrades in the Mandal launched several such movements with great success. Our history, religious scriptures and social reform movements show that women were valued even less than animals. If a woman became a widow, the men in her family, including brothers-in-law, father-inlaw and others, exploited her physically. Sometimes, such women used to become pregnant. Their tormentors took no time in disowning them and to save themselves from ignominy, they were left with only two options: either to commit suicide or to kill their illegitimate child. To ensure that women
stopped taking either of the two paths, Savitribai established the country’s first Bal HatyaPratibhandhak Griha (home for infanticide prevention) and also a home for destitute women. She persuaded a Brahminwidow Kashibai – who had become pregnant – not to commit suicide and took the woman to her own home where, in due course, she delivered a baby boy. Savitribai adopted the boy and named him Yashwant. She educated him, and he went on to become a doctor. Then he married a woman of another caste in what was the first recorded inter-caste wedding in Maharashtra. Savitribai and Jotiba Phule practised what they preached. In fact, they started the process of social reform from their own home. Savitribai organized and conducted inter-caste marriages all her life with the objective of establishing a casteless and classless society. For almost 48 years, she worked unceasingly for the Dalits and the exploited and suffering women, inspiring them to lead a life of dignity and self-respect.
Poet of liberation India’s first woman teacher and the harbinger of social revolution, Savitribai Phule was also a famous poetess. In one of her well-known poems she urges all to study, break free from
the bondages of caste and throw away Brahmin scriptures. Go, Get Education Be self-reliant, be industrious Work-gather wisdom and riches. All gets lost without knowledge We become animals without wisdom. Sit idle no more, go, get education End misery of the oppressed and forsaken.
You’ve got a golden chance to learn So learn and break the chains of caste. Throw away the Brahmin’s scriptures fast. As a thinker, Savitribai argued that social inequality was not the creation of God; it was the selfish humansthemselves who pronounced some greater than others. Caste, she said, had been created by some to secure their future and to lead a life of luxury. When Savitribai supported inter-caste marriages, her brother wrote to her: “You and your husband have been boycotted. The work you do for Mahars and the Mangs is corrupting your family. That is why I tell you to do what the Bhatt says and work within the caste system.” She hit back at her brother’s conservative views. “My brother, you have a weak brain and it has been further weakened because of the teachings of the Bhatts,” she wrote.
In another letter, she gives a heart-rending description of the famine of 1877. In those difficult times, Savitribai andJotiba Phule not only started Anna Satra but also appealed to the people to donate foodgrains for those affected by the famine. After the death of Jotiba Phule in 1890, Savitribai
continued to serve the needy. In 1897, when plague assumed epidemical proportions in Maharashtra, Savitribai attended to the patients without caring for her own safety. She contracted plague while trying to save a Dalit child, and passed away on 10 March 1897 at the hospital run by her son Yashwant.
Savitribai Phule has become immortal. For the last couple of years, the depressed and exploited classes, for whose rights she struggled all her life, have been observing her birth anniversary as Indian Education Day and her death anniversary as Indian Women’s Day.
                                                            (Published in  Forward Press, January, 2014 Issue)


Forward Press.

Demand to build national memorial at Ambedkar's Parinirvan bhoomi

NEW DELHI: On 6 December, the death anniversary of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, a national Samman rally was held at 26, Alipur Road– the place where he had passed away. His followers, Bhim Sainiks and workers reached here in large numbers to join the rally and raise the demand for the construction of a memorial at Parinirvan bhoomi. On this occasion, Dr. Satyanarayan Jatia, Charan Singh Atwal, Ramdas Athavale, H.Hanumanthappa, Satya Behen, Udit Raj, TM Kumar and Indresh Gajbhiye urged the UPA government to build a memorial at the place. They alsodemanded to know what had become of the Rs 100 crore allocated by the NDA government in 2003 for the construction of the nationalmemorial. The work is
yet to begin.
            -Sohan Singh
                                                    (Published in  Forward Press, January, 2014 Issue)

Forward Press.

समग्र विकास के लिए कबीर और रैदास की जरूरत

विकास के लिए सबसे पहले समाज में आई जड़ता को दूर करना होगा। समाज में जागृति और जनजागरण से ही विकास की किरण पहुंच सकती हैे। जब तक हम यथास्थितिवाद को समाप्त नहीं कर देते तब तक समानुपाती विकास केवल सपना ही है।
आज समाज ं एक ऐसे जन आंदोलन की जरूरत है, जिसमें समाज के सभी वर्गों की समान भागीदारी हो। रविदास और कबीर जैसे महात्माओं के विचारों से प्रेरणा लेकर ही समाज में व्याप्त आंतरिक गतिरोधों के 'घूंघट के पट खोलÓ (इंदर सिंह नामधारी के उपन्यास का शीर्षक) को खोला जा सकता है।
मसलन, आज समाज में आरक्षण एक ऐसा मुद्दा है जो गंभीर विमर्श की मांग करता है। विभिन्न समुदायों के बीच खुदी खाई को पाटने के लिए संविधान में आरक्षण का प्रावधान किया गया लेकिन अफसोस कि कुछ लोग इसे हमेशा के लिए अपना समझ बैठे हैं। समाज में बराबरी लाने के लिए आरक्षण को एक रेखा मानकर प्रयोग किया गया था। माना गया था कि समाज के विकास की मुख्यधारा यानी रेखा से पीछे छुटे लोग रेखा के माध्यम से समाज के अन्य विकासशील लोगों के साथ पहुंच जाएंगे तब समाज में समानुपातिक विकास का वातावरण पैदा होगा और उसके बाद सभी वर्ग के लोग अपनी बेहतरी के लिए एक साथ काम कर सकेंगे, लेकिन ऐसा नहीं हो सका। आज समाज का स्टेट्स बदल चुका है। सभी तबकों के लोग मुख्यधारा में शामिल हो रहे हैं लेकिन दूसरी ओर, भारतीय संसद में बहस का स्तर गिर रहा है। देश की प्रमुख समस्याओं पर कोई भी बहस नहीं करना चाहता। सब लोग किसी तरह सत्ता प्राप्त करने की जिजीविषा पाल बैठे हैं। राजनीति में तो बस 'जिसकी लाठी, उसकी भैंसÓ की स्थिति हो गई है। वास्तव में, सबसे बड़े लोकतंत्र का तमगा पहनने वाले इस देश की हालत 'ऊपर से फिट-फाट, भीतर से मोकामा घाटÓ वाली है। ऐसी स्थिति में समाज को विकसित करने के लिए प्रतिभाशाली लोगों को आगे आने की जरूरत है। आज का समय पूर्वग्रह से ग्रसित होकर काम करने का नहीं है, बल्कि समाज के सभी लोगों को साथ लेकर चलने का है।

(इंदर सिंह नामधारी, चतरा, झारखंड से निर्दलीय सांसद हैं। उनसे यह आलेख फारवर्ड प्रेस के संवाददाता अमरेंद्र यादव से बातचीत पर आधारित है)

                                                                  (Published in  Forward Press, May 2013 Issue)

Forward Press.

बदलते हालात ने भिखारी बना दिया

बांदा : यूं तो शहर और गांवों को सजाने-संवारने के लिए अनगिनत प्रयास किए जा रहे हैं। लेकिन हैरत तब होती है जब अपने ही शहर के वीआईपी परिक्षेत्र में भूख से टूटती किसी जीवन प्रत्याशा को देखकर। बांदा जनपद की सिविल लाइंस के नुक्कड़ पर रहने वाली इस वृद्ध महिला की जीवनकथा किसी उपन्यास के कथानक से कम नहीं है।

कुसुमकली, जिसकी उम्र 80 वर्ष है। थाना कबरई की निवासी है और जाति से विश्वकर्मा, लोहार है। यह जाति अन्य पिछड़े वर्ग में आती है। 15 वर्ष पूर्व उसका पलायन कबरई से बांदा हुआ था। कभी चलती ट्रेनों में भीख मांगकर गुजारा करने वाली इस निरीह महिला के पीछे अब जवान भतीजों की युवा पीढ़ी है, जिन्हें न तो खून के रिश्तों का एहसास है और ना ही उसके बूढ़े हृदय में पनप रहे दर्द की परवाह। शुरू में अपने भाई किशोरी के सहारे इस महिला ने जीवन को काटने का साहस किया पर बड़े भाई की शादी होते ही घर आई नई-नवेली भाभी के तानों और उत्पीडऩ को बर्दाश्त न कर पाने के बाद यह महिला लगातार 10 वर्षों तक चलती ट्रेनों में भीख मांगकर जिंदगी बसर करने लगी। लेकिन भूख बड़ी हत्यारन होती है। थक-हारकर इसका बांदा आना हुआ। घरों में काम करना और इसके बदले 100-150 रूपये मासिक मिलने के बाद जो कुछ बचता वह उसकी किस्मत का हिस्सा बनता। शहर के इन्दिरा नगर, वन विभाग, बिजली खेड़ा के घरों में बर्तन मांजने वाली कुसुमकली बाई के रूप में जानी जाने लगी।
आशीष सागर बताते हैं कि कभी उसने उनके यहां भी बर्तन मांजने का काम किया था। जब कभी मुहल्ले में शादी-ब्याह होता तो उसकी किस्मत थोड़ी मेहरबान होती। मसलन, बारात का बचा हुआ खाना और परजों को मिलने वाली हल्की धोती से उसका बदन ढक जाता। शरीर जर्जर हो गया और घरों में काम करना बुढ़ापे एवं आंखों की कम होती रोशनी के साथ छूटता चला गया। अभी कुछ दिन पहले ही वो कबरई गई थी। लेकिन अब पीहर में पूछता कौन है। भतीजों ने मार-पीटकर घर से चलता कर दिया। उसके एक दिन बाद जब धर से निकलते हुए इस बदहवास महिला को अपनी टूटी हुई झोपड़ी बनाते देखा तो सहसा कदम आगे नहीं बढ़े। उसने बुझी आंखों से जो कुछ भी दिल का गुबार था कह डाला-बिटवा मोर कौनो निहाय, सब मर गये हैं, कोऊ खांवै का नहीं देत आय। उसकी यह हालत देखकर बरबस ही यह सोचना पड़ता है कि वृद्धावस्था पेंशन आखिर क्यों और किनके लिए बनी है। अब कहीं न कहीं एक मौन प्रश्न रह जाता है समाज में तिरस्कृत हुए उन तमाम बुजुर्गों की ओर से जो गांवों और शहरों के बीच की दूरी नापकर स्वयं के मातृत्व मोह में अपने परिवार से दूर नहीं जाना चाहते लेकिन विषम परिस्थितियां और बदलते हालात उन्हे भिखारी बना देते हैं, उन्हीं लोगों के कारण जिनके लिए उन्होंने सारा जीवन अर्पित कर दिया।

                                                  (Published in  Forward Press, May 2013 Issue)

Forward Press.

वासेपुर की कहानी : कौन सुनेगा, कैसे सुनाए?

झारखंड में धनबाद के निकट बसे असली ‘वासेपुर’ की तासीर  फिल्‍म निर्माता अनुराग कश्यप की फ़िल्म “द गैंग आफ़ वासेपुर” (वन और टू) से बहुत अलग है।  यहां के लोगों की आखों में आज की रोजमर्रा की सामान्‍य चिंताएं और भविष्‍य के सपने हैं, न कि वह हिंसा और दशहत, जिसकी कल्‍पना  वासेपुर फिल्‍म देख चुकने के बाद हमारे मन में होती है। और हर पल जीते-मरते वासेपुर को देखती हैं। वास्तव में, अनुराग ने पर्दे पर सच्चाई दिखाने के नामपर आंचलिक  शब्दों का उपयोग कर हिंसा और सेक्स के जरिए वासेपुर के दर्द को ताजा कर दिया है। खनिज संपदाओं के मामले में समृद्ध होने का दर्द झेल रहे झारखंड प्रदेश के महत्वपूर्ण शहरों में एक प्रमुख शहर है धनबाद। एक कभी न बुझने वाली आग में पल पल जलने वाले धनबाद (धन + बाद)  का नामकरण निस्संदेह इसी कारण हुआ होगा कि इस शहर की धरती के नीचे कोयला का अकूत भंडार है। कुछ और खनिज इसके गर्भ में है, लेकिन मुख्यतः इसकी पहचान कोयले के कारण ही है। इस शहर की इधर-उधर बिखरी समृद्धि अनायास ही दिख जाती है, जब आप इसके करीब पहुंचते हैं। धनबाद शहर की सीमा में अवस्थित है वासेपुर। इसकी सीमा कहां से शुरु होती है, यह कहना मुश्किल है। इसकी वजह यह कि यह धनबाद स्टेशन के पास है। केवल चंद मिनटों की दूरी पर। वैसे आजकल जबसे कश्यप की फ़िल्म ने पूरे देश में डंका बजाया है, धनबाद शहर के इस छोटे से हिस्से की लोकप्रियता इतनी बढ गई है कि यहां जाने के लिए आपको इसे ढूंढने की जरुरत नहीं है। मैं भी जब बस पर सवार होकर धनबाद पहुंचा तब मैं उलझन में था। पता नहीं, यह वासेपुर कितना दूर होगा। वहां टेम्पो जाती है या नहीं? लेकिन जब बस से उतरा तब जानकारी मिली कि आप वासेपुर में खड़े हैं। मेरी आंखें फ़टी की फ़टी रह गईं।

अच्छी सड़कें, देखने योग्य अच्छी इमारतें और शहर की भीड़भाड़ वाला शहर अनुराग कश्यप के वासेपुर से अलग लगा। सुबह-सुबह एक रोड छाप दुकान पर चाय पीने के दौरान मैंने वासेपुर के बारे में जानना चाहा। चाय दुकानदार ने कहा कि यही बगल में वह बस्ती है, जिसे वासेपुर कहा जाता है। मुसलमानों की बस्ती है। जब मैंने बताया कि मैं दिल्ली से आया हूं तब उसने हंसते हुए कहा कि आप भी देख लिजीए हमारे वासेपुर की गुंडई।

मेरे कदम आगे बढते जा रहे थे। मैं आते-जाते लोगों को देखता और उनमें कश्यप की फ़िल्म में दिखने वाले चेहरों को खोजने की कोशिश करता। आगे बढने पर कुछ लोग मिले, जिनके पहनावे ने मुझे अहसास करा दिया कि वाकई मैं वासेपुर में हूं। नूरी मस्जिद के पास पहूंचा तब दिल को तसल्ली देने के लिए मैंने एक शख्स से पूछा। जवाब सकारात्मक था। रमजान का पवित्र महीना होने के कारण नूरी मस्जिद का नूर अधिक आकर्षक दिख रहा था।

आगे बढा तो कुछ बुजुर्गों से बातचीत हुई। वह एक लोहे के ग्रिल बनाने की दुकान थी। लोग वही बैठे थे। मैंने अपना परिचय दिया तब बातचीत शुरु हुई। उनकी जुबानी वासेपुर की असली कहानी यह है कि इस पूरे इलाके में अभी भी फ़हीम खान की बादशाहत बरकरार है। संभवतः इसी फ़हीम खान के कैरेक्टर को पर्दे पर जिया है नवोदित कलाकार फ़ैजल खान के रुप में नवाजुद्दीन सिद्दीकी ने। फ़हीम के पिता शफ़ी खान की बादशाहत के किस्से आज भी मशहूर हैं। करीब 80 वर्ष के बुजुर्ग राशिद खान ने बताया कि वासेपुर का संबंध बादशाह मीर कासिम से जुड़ा है, जिसने जंग के मैदान में अपने दुश्मनों के दांत खट्टे कर दिये थे। उस समय वह इसी वासेपुर में ठहरा था। संभवतः उसके यहां रहने के कारण ही इस जगह का नाम वासेपुर पड़ा था।

फ़हीम खान और उसकी बादशाहत के बारे में बताने में किसी को कोई परहेज नहीं है। बुजुर्ग राशिद ने बताया कि फ़हीम के पिता शफ़ी खान की छवि गरीबों में राबिन हुड वाली हुआ करती थी। पहले वह भी एक खदान में मजदूरी किया करता था। एक बार मजदूरी को लेकर कुछ कहा-सुनी हो गई तो कंपनी के आदमी को उठाकर पटकने के बाद छाती पर चढ बैठा। फ़िर मजदूर शफ़ी खान  दबंग शफ़ी खान बन गया। कंपनी वाले उसे बैठाकर पैसा देते थे और वह तरह-तरह के काम करता। उसने रंगदारी वसूलना शुरु किया। एक से एक रायफ़लें रखना उसकी शौक में शुमार हो गया था। फ़हीम खान उस समय कम उम्र का था जब उसके बाप को किसी ने गोली मार दी थी। लोगों का कहना है कि उसने अपने पिता के हत्यारों को उनके किए की सजा दी और फ़िर खुद डॉन बन बैठा।

वासेपुर की खुली और विस्तृत गलियों से गुजरते हुए मैं उस इलाके में पहुंचा जहां आज के खदान मजदूर रहते हैं। एक पीपल के पेड़ के नीचे। परिचय देने पर जुगेश्वर शर्मा ने बताया कि वह मूलतः छपरा के रहने वाले हैं। करीब 30 वर्षों से यहां नौकरी कर रहे हैं। फ़हीम खान और देशी-विदेशी हथियारों के जखीरे के बारे में उन्हें जानकारी नहीं है, लेकिन उसका  रईसी ठाठ-बाट अवश्य ही किसी फ़िल्मी कहानी के जैसे लगते हैं। उनका कहना है कि खदान कंपनियों और स्थानीय अधिकारियों के संरक्षण में फ़हीम आज फ़हीम खान बन चुका है। आज भी धनबाद के धन में उसकी हिस्सेदारी तय है।

कश्यप की फ़िल्म देखने वाले बीएससी पार्ट 2 के छात्र जाहिद बताते हैं कि फ़िल्म अच्छी है, लेकिन इसमें केवल 10 फ़ीसदी ही सच्चाई है। इन्होंने यह भी कहा कि आप ही देखिए, अपनी ही आंखों से। क्या आपको यहां गुंडे देखने को मिले हैं, जो राह चलती लड़कियों को उठा लें? क्या आपकी आंखों ने हम वासेपुरवासियों की आंखों में वह भय देखा है, जो फ़िल्म में दिखने वाले लोगों की आंखों में दिखायी देता है?

जाहिद बताते हैं उनका वासेपुर उपेक्षित इलाका है धनबाद शहर का। लोग उसे मिनी पाकिस्तान कहते हैं। हमारी देशभक्ति पर सवाल खड़े किए जाते हैं। शहर में कहीं भी घटना घटती है, सबसे पहले सवाल हमसे पूछा जाता है। जबसे फ़िल्म आयी है तबसे लोग हमारा अधिक उपहास करने लगे हैं। खदानों में अब काम नहीं मिलता है। बेरोजगारी बढ गयी है। कुछेक लोगों ने वासेपुर का परित्याग कर अन्य शहरों में अपना घर बना लिया है। वे चैन से जी रहे हैं।

वासेपुर के एक हिस्से में वे लोग भी रहते हैं, जिन्हें आदिवासी कहा जाता है। यह हिस्सा भी वैसा ही है जैसे देश के अन्य हिस्सों में गांव की सीमा के बाहर लोगों को बसने दिया जाता है। उनके जिम्मे शहर को साफ़ रखने और अन्य कार्यों को करने की जिम्मेवारी है। वासेपुर के बारे में पूछने पर सुखु मुर्मू ने बताया कि वे तो यहां परदेसी की तरह रहते हैं। वोटर कार्ड मिल गया है और अनाज वाला  बीपीएल  कार्ड भी। आजतक जमीन नहीं मिली है। बाप-दादाओं ने बहुत पहले जिस तरह  झोपड़ी बनायी थी, उसी तरह हम आज भी रह रहे हैं।   

बहरहाल, वासेपुर के लोग न तो अनुराग की फ़िल्म से खुश हैं और न ही दुखी। खुश इसलिए नहीं कि इस फ़िल्म ने उनके आशियाने को बदनाम कर दिया है और दुखी इसलिए नहीं कि कम से कम अनुराग ने तो उनके वासेपुर की सच्चाई को दुनिया के सामने लाने का साहस किया है। वे इस बारे में न तो कुछ कहना चाहते हैं और न ही कुछ सुनना। वे कहते हैं कि कौन सुनेगा, कैसे सुनायें…?

                                                    (Published in  Forward Press,  Setember 2012 Issue)

Forward Press.

Where should the Bhagana Dalits go?

Representatives of the boycotted Dalit and Backward communities of Bhagana village are sitting on a ‘dharna’ outside the Hisar Deputy Commissioner’s office for the last six months. Neither the state nor the central government is paying any heed to him. The National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the National Human Rights Commission have failed to settle the issue.

Recently, Vedpal Singh Tanwar, who extended support to the Bhagana protest, was framed in a concocted case.

Tanwar, it may be mentioned here, has been patronising the Dalits of Mirchpur and Bhagana, who were victims of atrocities of the Jats. The Mirchpur Dalits are still forced to take shelter in Tanwar’s farmhouse.

How the local administration is trying to play dirty tricks is evident by a recent incident. On the night of 14 August 2012, Suman, a 30-year-old woman was bitten by a snake at Tanwar’s farmhouse and next day she died. The local police immediately registered a case under sections 342, 304 and 297 of the IPC on the ground that Ved Pal Singh Tanwar deliberately did not arrange Allopathic treatment for the woman was therefore responsible for her death. Tanwar was arrested and thrown behind the bars. Pinki, the husband of the deceased told the court that he had not got any case registered against Tanwar. Mother Mela Devi, father Bishna and brother Rajesh of the deceased also vouched for Tanwar’s innocence in the court. Ultimately, the court, on 10 Sep 2012 granted bail to Tanwar on a personal surety of Rs. 10,000.

Hisar’s Deputy Commissioner Amit Agarwal has a different take on the issue. Talking to FORWARD Press on phone, he dubbed Tanwar as “an inconsequential leader”. He said that ‘Tanwar’s sole preoccupation was to fan casteist issues”. As for the Dalits sitting on a dharna under open sky outside his office, Agarwal says that the administration has been trying to arrive at a compromise with them for the last several weeks. But every time, the protesters come out with a new problem. He said that a permanent police post has been set-up in the village for the protection of the Dalits.

Anyway, the question before the boycotted Dalits is where do they go. 
                                                        (Published in  Forward Press,  October 2012 Issue)

Forward Press.

Progress-Prone and Progress-Resistant Societies Why Real Change Is So Hard

                                                                                                                   THOM WOLF   

“All societies are sick, but some are sicker than others.” Did Gandhian Anna Hazare say that in New Delhi, or did UK Prime Minister David Cameron say that in London in 2011?

Neither. Actually, an anthropologist at University of California Los Angeles, Robert Edgerton, said that in 1991. But once it is said, it seems so obvious: all societies are sick, but some are more sick than others. Every society has it weaknesses. But it seems that some exist in a kind of serious and persistent dysfunctional condition. And in fact, various international organizations document that truth every year.

For example, Transparency International publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index. The TI report measures the perceived levels of public-sector corruption. The TI 2010 reports on 178 countries. On a scale from 10 (highly clean) to 0 (highly corrupt), 75% of the countries in the index score below 5: “These results indicate a serious corruption problem.”

Three nations tied for first place with a 9.3: Singapore, Denmark and New Zealand. The UK made the top 20 with score 7.6. For the first time, USA was not in the top 20, at 22 with 7.1. 

Last in line was Somalia 178, with a score of 1.1.  India ranked 87 with a score of 3.3 – as did Albania, Jamaica, and Liberia. China was 78 (3.5), tied with Columbia, Greece, Serbia and Thailand.

Other areas of societies are regularly monitored and reported. The Economist Intelligence Unit measures the state of democracy in 167 nations.

The Annual Health Survey of India measures health profiles by districts, as do many other nations. The UN World Health Organization (WHO) monitors the six diseases that worldwide cause 90 per cent of infectious disease deaths every year: pneumonia/influenza, AIDS, diarrhoea, TB, malaria and measles.

Thus, WHO documents the observation that while all societies have literal sicknesses, some are much sicker than others. Infectious diseases are plain to see. And sadly, they are fairly uncomplicated to document.

Pathology is the study of disease, its origin, nature, and manifestations. Literally “pathology” is the study (logia) of suffering (pathos).

Once diagnosed, prescriptions can be given for the cure of the disease or suffering.

Progress-Prone Progress-Resistant Societies

This series, Progress-Prone, Progress-Resistant Societies, is about the pathologies of and the prescriptions for India’s suffering.

Four doctors are consulted. Eight tests are run. The four doctors are Ambedkar, Marx, Gandhi and Phule. The diagnosis of each is given for a healthy society. India is particularly used as a case study.

In the vocabulary of cultural anthropology, Progress-Prone, Progress-Resistant Societies examines what makes a society progress-prone – inclined towards progress; and what makes a society progress-resistant – inclined away from progress.

While all cultures may theoretically be equal, in real life, it is fairly obvious to most that some cultures are actually more equal than others. That is, not all societies are equal in their ability to help persons and peoples to live and flourish. And flourishing does not mean to just prosper economically. Life flourishing encompasses prospering physically, economically, socially, politically and culturally.

My thoughts here on Progress-Prone, Progress-Resistant Societies began as a lecture in 2006 for the sociology department, University of Lucknow. It was published in the University’s Journal of Contemporary Social Work (2007), and later appeared in another version in Oikos Worldviews Bulletin (2007).

I know what you are about to hear is a minority voice. But I must say, the response has been remarkably united. Whether the audience is in South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Eastern and Western Europe, Canada, the United States of America, or the Gulf States, again and again, people say that this is something we must talk about. Also, many have said that the approach I present here gives them handles to examine and compare with facts, not just opinions.

They have all only deepened my original sense that this is a topic many are interested in. And they are interested because it deals with matters that effect us all.

Mahatma Phule

For India, Jotirao Phule (1827–1890) is the national “father of social revolution”. In 1888 at a Bombay felicitation, Mahatma Jotirao Phule called people to follow the path of “truth, equality, and freedom.”

Phule had a picture that he drew of India. In two words, Phule described his homeland.

He would be called Mahatma by Gandhi and Ambedkar. But Phule minced no words. For Phule Brahmin-conceived andcaste-kept India, his India, was a “prison house”.

G. P. Despande, former professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, cautions us: “The blunt, polemical style of Phule is unmistakable. His work is seminal.”

In other words, Phule is blunt. He is in your face – he will argue into a corner. And he plants thoughts in your mind that stick and grow the more you think about them.

He is the father of the Indian social revolution. And he said that superstitious devotions, Brahmin discourses, and caste dictates have made India a “prison house”. For Phule, it was that simple, that straight, that sad.

But especially remember this. If in the 19th century, Phule called India’s social system a “prison house”. In the 21st century, social scientists refer to such a system as a “progress-resistant” culture.

Phule made a single point: to become truly progress-prone, Indians must be lifted-from themselves, not left-to themselves.

By comparing societies, Phule concluded that other people had also once lived in cultural “prison house” like India. But other societies had learned how to move out of their “prison house” and move into a “pleasant house”. Phule was convinced India could do the same.

Media India – Majority India: Discussed and Undiscussed India

India arrived on the world stage in the 21^st century. In the summer of 2006, in a single week India was highlighted internationally in cover issue editions of the newsweekly Time, the prestigious The Economist, and the authoritative journal Foreign Affairs. These three prominent portrayals of dynamic-India engendered Pankaj Mishra’s reminder of difficult-India in The New York Times. 

According to Foreign Affairs, India today is a roaring capitalist success story and an emergent strategic partner of the U.S. After the Indian economy was liberalized in the early 1990s India emerged as a world leader in information technology and business outsourcing. Growing foreign investment, easy credit, and even international education ventures have fuelled an urban consumer revolution. Slogan “India Everywhere” dominated the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Mishra, however, reminds us that not long ago, India was largely viewed as a poor, backward, communally violent country. She was saddled with an inefficient bureaucracy, softly aligned with the former Soviet Union; definitely on the wrong side of history.

Mishra contrasted investment-India with experienced-India. His New York Times article argued that the “increasingly common, business-centric view of India suppresses more facts than it reveals”. In fact, the business-centric view barely mentions Other India.

But anyone who lives in India clearly understands Mishra’s motivation for exposing Other India, the barely mentioned India. The business-centric mindset is too ready to discount Other India. But that is a serious mistake. And it is the India that Mishra refuses to not see.

I have become convinced that Westerners would do well to listen to the insider voices of the Mishras, the Manis, the Mungekars, and others who invite us to look more closely at Other India. It is the India that Barbara Harriss-White, Cambridge University economist, refers to as “India of the 88 percent.”

And look we must. We must look, consider, and fully factor in what business-centric New India seldom seems to see.

For Other India, majority India, is an India more than 70 notches below Cuba and México in human development indices. And this Other India, Majority India’s gdp, is only slightly higher than sub-Sahara Africa, just two rungs above Myanmar.

And it is this Other India that is the largely undiscussed and the too-often-unfactored-in India. It is not the publicity-India of the media. But it is the persistent-India of the masses.

The questions here are: “Why does persistent-India so tenaciously endure?” and “Why is India so little different from what Mahatma Phule 150 years ago called “prison house” India, a social construct of a comprehensive and reinforced worldview?” And lastly, “Why does this “prison house” so painfully and persistently flourish as the India we see every day – the 88 per cent India?”

Point-Counterpoint: Indians Left-To Themselves and Indians Lifted-From Themselves

Indian intellectuals and leaders, including Phule, Ambedkar and Gandhi, have been pained and perplexed by the issue of India’s nagging poverty. I call it the difference between Indians left-to themselves and Indians lifted-from themselves.

Indians left-to themselves plod, even pollute. But such a situation is not fate. It is not the “karma” of India. For there is an alternative possibility.

Indians lifted-from themselves tend to prosper. Indians lifted-from themselves rather persistently present a profile of development, even distinction. It is this alternative possibility that is  inadvertently made by Thomas Friedman in The World is Flat.

Friedman comments on British historian Paul Johnson’s essay in Forbes about Uganda’s Indian population, now immigrants in the United Kingdom. In the U.K., there are more millionaires among Ugandan Indians than in any other recent immigrant community in Britain. Johnson makes the point that “when left to themselves,” Indians “always prosper as a community.” Obviously, that is a contradiction to Cambridge University’s professor Harriss-White’s “88 percent India”. She finds that Indians left to themselves struggle just to exist. Friedman and Johnson say Indians “left to themselves” prosper.

Actually, Friedman and Johnson precisely make my point: globally successful Indians are extracted Indians, not embedded Indians. It is Indians lifted-from themselves, transported into a cultural framework other than traditional India, who tend always to prosper as a community.

And that is actually what Friedman and Johnson noted of the Ugandan Indian community in the UK. For the UK Ugandan Indian population is not an Indian population left-to-themselves. The UK Ugandan Indian is an Indian lifted-from-himself. And that two times: once, from India; and again, from Uganda.

The UK Ugandan Indian is a certain kind of Indian, an Indian lifted-from-himself/herself. Professor Joel Kotkin, the author of Tribes: How Race, Religion and Identity Determine Success in the New Global Economy, has described what happens to the Indian lifted-from Manu India, Majority India. “Cast apart from the setting of his village and [caste-determined] clan,” Kotkin writes, “the overseas Indian has begun to adopt a broader identity that increasingly cuts across traditional [Hindu caste worldview] sectarian lines.” That special kind of Indian almost forms a “new caste”, the world India, “the greater India”.  

Exactly. It is that “broader identity” that makes the difference. And it is these Indians who prosper. They have been culturally transformed by a worldview extraction. Ugandan Indians were extracted from the Indian caste system. There, in a foreign land, even though poor and bonded, they found ways to prosper. And when lifted from the caste system even further, into the freedoms of England, they prospered even more.

So then, Indians who most often demonstrate an excellence in the global world are not those who remain embedded and left in their traditional culture. Instead, they are Indians lifted from what Phule called a “prison house”. And their prosperity is realized by a cultural extraction, by some alternative catalytic means. In other words, by being lifted from themselves.

There are many who see this. Jay Dubashi of Value Research, for example, says, “Indians are getting rich, but not in India.” That is, Indians are getting rich, but not if left-to themselves.

Dubashi explains: “It’s the Indian Diaspora that is minting money hand over fist, all the way from London, England, to San Diego, California, and producing millionaires by the dozen.”

And then he asks the nagging and painful question, “If Indians can make millions in England and New York, why can’t they do so in Mumbai or Delhi or Kolkata? Why don’t we have as many millionaires per square mile as in those countries?”

The answer lies somewhere in the history and mindset of embedded India. Traditional India as a whole community, is a brahmanic Chaturvarnya world.

Embedded India, India left to itself, is a world that over long centuries has consistently created a recognizable signature. It is the signature of Manu.

And according to Pavan K. Varma,  author of The Great Indian Middle Class, “there can be no real assessment of some of the identifiable traits of the Indian middle class without taking into account the legacy that [Manu] Hinduism – the religion of the overwhelming majority of the middle class – has bequeathed and the influence it continues to have.”

It has been a culture of political despots, economic destitution, social castes, and spiritually dubious sadhus. Varma, for example, in Krishna: The Playful Divine, also addresses the moral and social consequences on Indian society of Lord Krishna as a model personality.

J. Varenne, Yoga and the Hindu Tradition; S. M. Dahiwale, Understanding Indian Society: The Non-Brahmanic Perspective; and Dolf Hartsuiker, Sadhus: India’s Mystic Holy Men, all examine the cultural person, , the ideal person, the sadhu. And Prasenjit Chowdhury, Kolkata analyst, asks the hard question:

“Is it a typical South Asian trait or is there something wrong with the religion we practise, which gives precedence to purity of the soul and not the environment? Many of our temple towns, such as Benares and Ajmer Sharif, where the priestly class calls the shots, are the dirtiest.”

That is a question that refuses to go away, and it is more than just about the physical environment. For over the thousands of years available, the Manu world has never generated a society of political justice, economic dynamism, social equality or spiritual integrity. Instead, it has only and always signed with a single signature. And the signature culture that it has persistently produced is a life situation where those left to themselves inside it, do not prosper.

Historically then, it is the Indians who have been lifted from themselves who have become transforming catalysts.  But that is precisely the point: they have consistently been extracted Indians.

Their way out has most often been education, immigration, conversion, or some combination of these transformative three. This pattern of extraction appears to hold true in a very consistent pattern.

Think of Indian heroes. They are all lifted-from-themselves Indians: the Phules, the Ambedkars and the Nehrus; the Tatas, the Ambanis and the Birlas; and Sun Microsystems’ Vinod Khosla, Pentium chip creator Vinod Dham and U.S. astronaut Kalpana Chawla – all of them and so many like them.

They all have one thing in common. They are all Indians who have not been left to themselves, embedded inside the caste system. They are all Indians who have been lifted from themselves.

And their roads out have been along three main routes: education, immigration, conversion or a highway with multiple lanes that combines two or three together – education and conversion, education and immigration, or education, immigration and conversion, etc.     

Next month we will look at four different prescriptions by four different doctors for how India can be lifted-from the Manu malady – because, while all societies are sick, some are sicker than others. §
                                          (Published in  Forward Press,  September 2011 Issue)

Forward Press.

Corruption Rooted in Our Culture What about honest leaders of Bahujan communities?

Astatement made by sociologist Ashis Nandy at Jaipur Literature Festival has generated a lot of  heat. In the course of a discussion, answering a question of journalist Tarun Tejpal, Nandy remarked that most of the corrupt came from OBCs, SCs and STs s. Nandy later clarified that he never intended to humiliate these classes and thathe actually wanted to say something else. I hold no brief for Nandy but I would like to believe him when he says that he did not intend to say this. I will not join the crowd baying for Nandy’s blood. I would not have demanded that Nandy be punished even if he had stood by his statement or would have said that his statement had been interpreted rightly. The French philosopher Voltaire had said, “I may disapprove of what you say but I will defend to death your right to say it.” Nandy has the natural, unalienable and constitutional right to say what he wants to. Kicking up a storm on the issue is meaningless. Yes, but I would like to use Nandy’s statement as a launching pad for a debate. Those who filed cases against Nandy or demanded that he be punished should have put forth facts and arguments to prove him wrong. It is unfortunate that very few cared to do so. Corruption is not a new issue for Indian society. Our history and, even more so, our mythology, brims with instances of corruption. Of late, it has become a trend to link corruption only with money-making. If only those amassing ill-gotten wealth are corrupt then where would you slot the Clinton–Lewinsky case? Then, what name would you give to the phone-tapping case? May be, those who are of humble means have an attraction for earning money by hook or by crook. After all, a starving person will steal
bread and a seeker of knowledge will steal books. Whenever there is talk of economic offences, the names of Bangaru Laxman, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mayawati and Madhu Koda invariably crop up. But is
economic corruption in the country only limited to corruption allegedly indulged in by these leaders? (Allegedly, because barring the Bangaru Laxman case, the charges against all others are yet to be
proved). How many Bahujans are the owners of the tonnes of money stashed away in palace-like houses in the country and abroad (for instance, in Swiss bank accounts). In the executive and the judiciary, the Bahujans still have only a marginal presence. Their representation in the legislature has gone up but they are yet to get their fair share in the cabinets – whether at the centre or in the states.
Even if a majority of Bahujans is corrupt, still, India would have been a sacred land of the honest because they simply do not have a sizeable presence in the top echelons. In the central government
services, their share is barely 7 per cent; in the judiciary, their numbers are negligible. But these sectors are a beehive of corruption. Then, who is indulging in corruption? Nandy is a sociologist well versed in social psychology. What is our social psychology? Who are our ideals? Our ideals are Raja Ram and Dwarikadheesh Krishna. Even Mahatma Gandhi had included “Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram” in his daily prayer. When Raja Ram and Raja Krishna are our ideals, our objects of worship, then why
would the Bahujan leaders not want to become like them? The saints and mahatmas of the Bahujans had dismissed the symbols of Raja Ram and Dwarikadheesh Krishna. The Ram and Krishna of whom
Kabir and Raskhan were diehard fans were not the sons of Dashrath and Vasudev respectively. They were entirely different Ram and Krishna. Raskhan’s Krishna was the one whose object of desire was
as simple as a fistful of buttermilk. But once we start worshipping and idolising kings and emperors then the ordinary folk would also desire to join their ranks. When buffalo-grazer Lalu tries to become
Dwarikadheesh (the King of Dwarika), corruption becomes the inevitable outcome.The symbols of Raja Ram and Dwarikadheesh are not the contribution of Kabir and Raskhan. They have been projected by the upper castes. So, unless the very definition of success is changed, we cannot hope for any fundamental social reform. Even today, success means a big house, a luxury car, fat bank balance and an army of lackeys. It is natural for everyone to strive for success. The Bahujan chief minister knows that once he loses his office, he would have to go back to his hut. The chief ministers of upper castes also lose their offices but they go back to the mansions of their forefathers. They arlandlords.Whenever there is a demand for land reforms, the big landowners talk of their natural rights. The wellestablished elite class, which mostly comprises members of the upper castes, is not interested in land reforms. The Bahujan leaders do not own properties. But they do have an opportunity to build their properties. For this, they have to just ignore their conscience. And they do it once in a while. Still, we never talk of the honest Bahujan leaders. We must talk about them also. I will like to give only one example – of Nehru and Ambedkar. Both were widowers and both were scholar-politicians. But if one takes into account what all has been written about Nehru's relationships with women, what idea does one form about his personality. Ambedkar, on the other hand, never indulged in these kinds ofactivities. A woman came into his life. He married her, made her his wife publicly. Periyar Ramasamy Naicker did the same. Why Nehru, Vajpayee or Narayan Dutt Tiwari could not display such courage? Would Nandy like to respond? Nandy can see Lalu, Mulayam,  Mayawati and Koda. But why can’t he see Karpoori Thakur,  Chaudhary Charan Singh, Bhola Paswan, Jaglal Chaudhary, Narendra Modi, Nitish Kumar, Shivraj Singh Chauhan and dozens of others? About 20 years back, Bihar witnessed a
scam - the Fodder Scam. Nitish Kumar and the BJP posed a political challenge to Lalu Prasadprimarily on the basis of this scam. Today, Nitish Kumar and BJP are in power in Bihar. But barring Lalu and some other small-time Bahujan leaders, all those involved in the Fodder Scam were from the
upper castes. Former chief minister Jagannath Mishra was one of them. Today, Jagannath Mishra, Jagdish Sharma and other savarna leaders are in top positions in Nitish Kumar’s party and government. Since Lalu Prasad is an OBC, he continues to be the villain of the piece. This is the way we look at corruption. The sages used to say, “Vaidiki Hinsa, Hinsa Na Bhavti” (Violence approved by Vedas is not violence). We seem to be saying that the corruption by the upper castes is no corruption. There is a Sanskrit maxim which says “Mahajano Yen Gatah; Sa Panthah” (The way on which great men tread, is the right way). Our social path has been paved by the upper castes. Eklavya was deprived of his thumb through deceit. Bali was murdered hiding behind seven trees. Sita was turned out of her home through deception. Such stories abound in our history. What kind of society can we hope to build with this kind of background?

                                                            (Published in  Forward Press,  March, 2013 Issue)
Forward Press.

Journalist Kanshi Ram: Addressing One’s Own People

The writings of its founder or leader are one of the best means to understand a movement or ideology. Besides, speeches and interviews given by him to the media can also tell us a lot in this respect. In this context, this compilation of the editorials writtenby the founder of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Bahujan leader Kanshi Ram is an important publication. It has been edited by AR Akela and translated by Vijendra Singh Vikram. Few are aware that besides Bahujan politics, Kanshi Ram was also the pioneer of Bahujan journalism. In the 1980s, Kanshi Ram began publishing the weekly Bahujan Sangathak in Hindi and the monthly The Oppressed Indian in English. He was the editor of both. This book contains the Hindi translation of the editorials written by Kanshi Ram in English and has been published under the title Manniya Kanshi Ram Saheb Ke Sampadakiya Lekh (Editorial Articles of the Honourable Kanshi Ram Saheb). The preface of this book is written by formar cabinet minister Daddu Prasad. Seventy-seven editorial pieces of Kanshi Ram have been compiled in the book. The first is on Samachar sevaon kee awashakta (Need for news services) in which Kanshiram has raised a valid point that the casteist brahmanical press blacks out the news pertaining to Dalits and exploited classes. He writes that Ambedkar started Mooknayak(The voiceless hero), in 1920, Bahishkrit Bharat (Boycotted India) in 1927, Janata (The people) in 1930 and Prabhuddha Bharat (Englightened India) in 1955 because Ambedkar realized the importance of having one’s own news media. Talking about the launching of The Oppressed Indian, he writes that “the need and opportunity have inspired us to accept the challenge and take a plunge in the field of news”. At the end, he expresses his determination to
ensure that the publication reaches every nook and corner of the country within the next two years. Though both journals ceased publication in Kanshi Ram’s lifetime, today newspapers and magazines of Dalits and the exploited classes are being published from all parts of the country. In the April 1979 issue, he shed light on Ambedkarite ideology. In the article entitled Kya Ambedkarvad punarjivit
aur dirgajeevi hoga? (Will Ambekdarite ideology revive and be durable?) he writes, “The mission which was respectable in Baba Saheb’s times is the subject of ridicule today”?. Explaining the reason thereof, he writes that the RPI founded by Baba Saheb was divided into eight groups and there
were six factions of Dalit Panthers. In these circumstances,he asks, how can Ambedkarite ideology be revived. When Kanshi Ram wrote this article, he was the leader of BAMCEF; before the Bahujan Samaj Party was yet to be formed. He says that BAMCEF had taken up the responsibility of fulfilling Ambedkar’s mission on itself. In the same issue, Kanshi Ram had also commented on the anti-Conversion bill, which was moved in Parliament in 1979 by OP Tyagi. The objective of the bill was to bar the Christian missionaries from converting Dalits and tribals. Kanshi Ram writes that the Buddhists should have opposed the bill tooth and nail because, according to him, “the bill would hurt the Buddhists more than the Christians because the Christians never resorted to mass conversions”. He says “The abject failure of Ambedkarite ideology had also adversely impacted conversions. The deadlock is such that the so-called supporters of Ambedkar did not oppose the Tyagi legislation”.
Although almost all editorial articles of The Oppressed Indian basically talk about the programmes, policies and activities of BAMCEF they also show how Kanshi Ram was drawing up the contours of his future politics in consonance with Ambedkar’s political movement. To begin with, he talked
of the need for arranging funds with reference to Ambedkar’s mission. In his April 1979 editorial he wrote, “Crores of rupees must have been spent on running the (Ambedkar) movement for 40 years. Dr. Ambedkar arranged this huge fund without loosening his grip on the movement even a bit and ensuring
that the missionary character of the movement remained intact. But his followers could not collect even a fraction of that amount and in the process, from missionaries they turned into mercenaries. The need for money is too important to be ignored and so, those who want to revive Ambedkarite ideology would have to arrange crores of rupees using their own resources.” And it is well-known that Kanshi
Ram did arrange crores of rupees for his movement. BAMCEF was a non-confrontationist organization because it was an organization of government employees. But without confrontation, without struggle, Kanshi Ram could not have built a support base for himself at the ground level. That is why, in 1981, he constituted the “Dalit, Shoshit Sangharsh Samiti” (DS-4). Haryana was the first state where DS-4 made its foray into the field of politics. In his June 1982 editorial he writes, “The Haryana experiment gave us an opportunity to put our theories to practice. After the Haryana experiment, we are quite optimistic and confident that DS-4 will be able to give the Dalit-exploited class its own national political party before 30 June 1983.” In his editorials, Kanshi Ram has also talked of the history
of the Dalits and their present condition. In the July 1982 editorial, he has referred to the Namasudra movement of West Bengal, which became a people’s movement in the beginning of the 20th century. He makes a very significant observation. He writes that when the British quit India, the Namasudra
movement was at its zenith. The movement was so powerful that the Namasudras of Bengal, by sending Baba Saheb Ambedkar to the Constituent Assembly, proved their commitment towards the oppressed and exploited classes. Kanshi Ram goes on to make a precise analysis of their present condition. “The division of Bengal also divided the Namasudra movement so that today they are rootless. Their roots are in Bangladesh while their branches are in India.” Raising a very pertinent question he says that “the division has indeed dealt a deathly blow to the movement but how long will they cry over their loss?” Then, answering the question himself, he says that the Namasudras should rebuild their movement.
“This issue is devoted to the problems of the Namasudras and their movement and is thus very important.” In the October 1982 issue, Kanshi Ram bitterly criticized Maharashtra’s Dalit Panthers describing them as “male prostitutes”. What he reveals next is an eye-opener. “In Pune, I was
shocked to see that after the failure of the movement, some of  them have started brewing country liquor. Others have opened gambling dens.” So much so that in some places “they have turned pimps and by paying a regular tribute to the policemen have started sending prostitutes to other areas. Thus, they are now under the thumb of the police. Now, it is the responsibility of the community to deal with
such Panthers. As far as my opinion goes, I would say that one should be cautious of these male prostitutes, who call themselves Dalit Panthers.” The bitterness of Kanshi Ram  shows that Dalit Panthers had become a stumbling block for him in Maharashtra. In March 1982, writing about Babu Jagjivanram, he says that Jagjivan Ram had no objective in life barring contesting
elections. In the November 1983 issue, he tries to raise the political awareness of the backward classes. On 6 December 1983, Kanshi Ram launched “Samajik Karyavahi Yatra” (Social action yatra), which began from Kanyakumari touched Kargil, Kohima, Puri and Porbandar and culminated into a huge rally at the Boat Club in New Delhi. He has written special editorials in the March and April 1984 issues, which help us understand his political growth. It was after this yatra that Kanshi Ram founded the Bahujan Samaj party on 14 April 1984. For the next five months, the publication of The Oppressed Indian remained suspended. In the October 1984 issue, he wrote an editorial on the suspension under the heading “We apologise”. In the editorial, he presents an account of his social activities from the beginning till date. The book contains editorials written up to June 1986, which can be considered the last issue of the journal. In one of the write-ups in July 1985 issue, he talks about his visit to England. The article contains a very frank description of what he went through during his visit. This book is an important document in as much as it helps one understand the times of Kanshi Ram and his socio-political activities. The book is a readable and collectable compilation to get introduced to
Kanshi Ram’s journalism.
                                                      (Published in  Forward Press,  March, 2013 Issue)

Forward Press.

Kanshi Ram – A Failed Messiah?

In early 1982 a quiet and hesitant government employee came to me in Chhatarpur (MP) and asked: “Could a group of us visit you next Sunday morning?” Eight of them cycled 13 km to meet with me. They had been tracking my activities since 1980, when I was thrown into Tikamgarh Jail for serving the victims of a hailstorm. They introduced themselves as members of BAMCEF (Backwards and Minority
Community Employees Federation). I had never heard of a trade union whose primary purpose was
to change their world, rather than get favours for its members. The dream to change the world, however, was in the air. I had seen radical slogans painted everywhere in the city by an unknown group called DS4 (Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti, Dalit and Exploited People’s Struggle Committee). My visitors told me that they were the ideological force behind the boys who were painting the city blue. Their objective was to awaken a sleeping giant – the victims of an oppressive social system
labelled “feudalism” by my socialist friends, and “Manuwad” by these new friends. The visitors described their Sahab in Delhi. He used to be an officer in the Ministry of Defence; but he gave up his secure job andrenounced marriage to be free to  serve the victims of the Hindu caste-system; he had cycled from Kanyakumari to Delhi with a group of young people to educate the Dalit (SC/ST) and Shoshit (Backward Castes and Minorities) communities. He was uniting and organizing them to become the Bahujan – the democratic majority. BAMCEF, they said, was Sahab’s intellectual and financial bank. It grew his ideas and funded them. They learned Ambedkarism from Sahab and taught it to their communities. The Sahab was out to build a cadre-based movement, financed by the Dalits and ‘shoshits’ themselves. Like most Indians I had experienced and come to believe that government employees were out to extract bribes from everyone. Therefore, it was astonishing to hear about an Indian officer who was determined to give up his office and mobilize ordinary clerks to give their time, talents, and money to change society. It is true that – if unaccompanied by moral regeneration – any large-scale political awakening of the downtrodden of the sort that Kanshi Ram intended, could end up destroying democracy itself – as had happened in France. It had happened also in every South and
Central American nation and Caribbean that followed the French Revolution. And it could happen in India. Yet, even if that became the final upshot from Kanshi Ram’s efforts, his worst critics will have to concede that awakening the oppressed is his successfuland enduring legacy. “So, do you teach Buddhism?” I asked my visitors. “No, we are non-religious. Sahab did start a Buddhist Research
Foundation, but he realized that Buddhism is about inner, religious peace – not social liberation. Therefore, his philosophy was never intended to be an agent of socio-political change. Politics, not religion, the Sahab says, is the key that will open every lock.” As it turned out, exclusive reliance on politics became the crucial factor behind Kanshi Ram’s ultimate failure. The visitors became my friends. They invited me into their homes, and initiated me into the underground Ambedkarite literature.
The mainstream media never reviews this literature; therefore, it does not comprehend why Ambedkar’s name moves more people than Gandhi’s. This literature generated the intellectual awakening that Kanshi Ram and Mayawati harnessed so effectively. Unexpected twists and turns in my life did not allow me to meet Kanshi Ram until 1987, until after I was thrown in jail in an attempt
to rescue a Scheduled Caste doctor from unjust imprisonment. His appointment as the head of a government hospital in a small town in Bundelkhand had triggered a volcanic eruption of caste prejudices. The upper castes could not tolerate the fact that an untouchable – a chamar – had acquired the right to examine upper-caste women! Normally no Hindu would confess that dark casteist predispositions simmer in his heart. It is so much a part of our cultural consciousness that we do not own personal responsibility for the evil within us. I was drawn into the caste-conflict because, in order to retain her vote bank, an upper-caste Congress Member of Parliament had the doctor beaten up and thrown in jail on a fabricated charge of rape. A Muslim member of the BJP urged me to do something
for the poor doctor, who had been locked up in a non-bailable case. His promising career ruined at a time when his wife was expecting their first baby. My DS4 friends agreed that something ought to be done. When I called for a public meeting in the doctor’s defence, he was moved to another jail and I was thrown into his cell in his place! Kanshi Ram heard about the episode and invited me to meet
with him. We met in Banda and Jhansi in BSP rallies, where he was preparing his cadre-based army for the Allahabad by-election. He had decided to fight against the media’s darling, India’s future prime minister, V. P. Singh. I was impressed by this, then unknown, “Sahab’s” unusual organizational skills. He displayed an amazing ability to come up with detailed plans to mobilize thousands of highly motivated and well-informed workers from all the districts around Allahabad. Equally impressive was the sheer brilliance of his strategic audacity to take on the combined opposition’s candidate, who had
embroiled Rajiv Gandhi – up to then regarded as Mr Clean – in the Bofor scandal. A few months before the by-election, Kanshi Ram and I met for lunch in a five-star hotel in New Delhi. He explained that the upper castes were only 15 per cent of India. They were ruling and exploiting the 85 per cent because the democratic majority, the ‘Bahujan’, was divided into thousands of sub-castes. His mission
was to unite them into one party, so that they could acquire political power which was, in fact, theirs for the taking. Kanshi Ram finished third in Allahabad, but the dedication of his followers amazed the media. The downtrodden saw him as their hope, their messiah. It became obvious to me that he, in fact,
had the message and the ability to win UP, if not India. So, for the sake of my friends, for the sake of people like that doctor abused by a Congress MP, I accepted Kanshi Ram’s invitation to serve in
his headquarters in Delhi and to organize the BSP in Khajuraho constituency. Soon after that, in 1989 the BSP won 13 MLA seats in UP, but far from uniting the Bahujan, Kanshi Ram could not keep
his elected leaders together. His rivals found it easy to buy his lieutenants who knew him well. Eventually, the BSP did win UP, first by forging an alliance with a backward-caste leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav, and then by making peace with the very upper-caste brahmanical forces Kanshi Ram had portrayed as the villains of Indian history and society. An alliance with Brahmins can be accepted as political realism or pragmatism, yet, it is sadly true that Kanshi Ram’s political success came at the expense of the failure of his social vision. Instead of joining hands with each other, each backward caste in North India began to organize itself as separate party. My father’s caste – the Kushwahas – who had followed Kanshi Ram, began using a new dictum, “Jiske pas dal nahin, uske pas bal nahin”
(The caste without a political party is without power.) His lofty vision of uniting
SC/ST/OBCs/minorities into one political force failed. This, I believe, was partly because his
theory did not match ground realities. It has been hard for the 75 per cent Shudras (OBCs and SCs) to unite because in daily life they oppress each other, perhaps even more so than the Brahmins do. It is true that Brahmins were never Kanshi Ram’s enemies. His enemy, he said, was Brahminism. Yet, the idea that the Shudras, (OBCs and SCs) hate and oppress each other because Brahminism has corrupted them all is simplistic and false. That argument exposes the heart of Kanshi Ram’s problem: Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar may have made a mistake in embracing Buddhism, but Kanshi Ram’s decision to ignore religious/philosophical issues prevented him from coming to terms with the evil in every human being’s heart – Brahmin or non-Brahmin. If the root of our problems is religious – Brahmanism – then how can politics be the solution? Ambedkar’s mission was annihilation of caste. Using caste to capture power became Kanshi Ram’s mission. Politics could not unite the Bahujan because Kanshi Ram’s experience had taught him that he should not trust his own followers. What makes us so untrustworthy? How can a messiah save us, unless he saves us from the sin in our hearts? Kanshi Ram attacked inequality, but his refusal to explore the spiritual dimension of reality prevented him from explaining why caste hierarchy is false – or indeed whether human beings are equal. Should Chamars in UP love Yadavs? Why? Why do we despise and oppress each other? Is politics really the key that can change our hearts? Kanshi Ram was a great politician. He could not offer a realistic solution for India’s deep social problems, because he did not care to think about serious philosophical and spiritual issues raised by our social reality.
                                                (Published in  Forward Press,  March, 2013 Issue)

Forward Press.