Ironies in BJP's Struggles with Dalit Politics

News headline: "Dalit Members Cleanse Ambedkar Statue After Tributes by BJP Leaders". 

Looking at the news headlines hyped by media during last few weeks, it appears that the BJP is struggling hard trying to defend itself as a pro-dalit party. Smaller, niche and regional 'pro-dalit' political parties are giving it a run for its money. Recently its own 5 dalit MPs have written letter to PM accusing Govt of not doing anything for the dalits. And after Supreme Court's decision restricting immediate arrests in casteist cases, whole anger from the dalit protesters was diverted towards BJP as if BJP was the Supreme Court! This whole trend is full of ironies. 

From our recent memory, it was BJP and Modi who snubbed a veteran like LK Advani to make Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit, India's president (second dalit president of India). Before that, BJP had inducted Udit Raj in its fold; who had spent his whole life advocating caste-based quota system in India (Irony: Still, BJP is accused of conspiring to remove quota!) Uma Bharti has been a popular dalit face in BJP for long. BJP has long history of association with dalit parties like Ramvilas Paswan, Mayawati etc. The manner in which BJP's own Dalit MPs are allowed to openly speak against the govt, tells how much the party respects them. And the BJP has 40 Dalit MPs! During last general elections of 2014, out of the 66 reserved Dalit Lok Sabha constituencies, BJP had won 40 seats. Almost 15% of BJP’s Lok Sabha strength consists of Dalit MPs. It is ironical that the BJP is still accused by media of being anti-dalit. 

On the other hand, Congress does a “fasting with chhole-bhature” and yet the news is subdued in a few days and no media house accuses Congress of being ‘anti-dalit’. And media has been doing nothing to expose those leaders who have long played dalit politics without doing anything for the community. 

Getting to the basics also tells a story full of ironies. “Conceptually”, the Congress party before India’s independence was a pro-poor, pro-dalit party; because of the influence of Mahatma Gandhi and other great nationalist leaders who genuinely wanted development of these ignored sections of society. On the other hand, “conceptually”, the Congress party post India’s independence has been an elitist and progressive party; majorly due to influence of Nehru who was always elitist and progressive. Despite that, the party maintained its ‘pro-poor’, ‘pro-dalit’ image, because whenever needed, it just drew imagery and inspiration from the ‘pre-independence era’. It helped that people still considered it “Gandhi’s party” and only after a long-long time people realized what the party had become – a “dynasty of Nehru family”. That is why the BJP and Modi kept chanting “dynasty” “dynasty” in order to make people realize the truth about what the Congress party had become. Once people realized that, they made sure that Congress won less than 50 seats from total 543 seats in Lok Sabha in 2014. 

The smaller regional fringe ‘pro-dalit’ parties have proven enough that they do not want complete development and progress of Dalits; because if Dalits become highly educated and rich, they would start behaving like the other Hindus; ignoring their ‘caste appeals’. Hence, all that these smaller regional dalit parties want to do is, first, to keep accusing the government of being anti-dalit, so as to keep getting dalit votes due to ‘anti-incumbancy’; and secondly, keep negotiating and getting better beneficial positions for their own Party Chiefs. 

Coming to the BJP. “Conceptually” the BJP looks like best fit party to work for dalits’ advantage. It is so because “conceptually”, the BJP is predominantly two things: a nationalistic party; and a party drawing inspiration from Hindutva. As a nationalistic party, BJP would definitely like those sections at the bottom of pyramid to come to the forefront. Because of lower denominator effect, this has potential to propel our nation to a higher growth path in the least time. (This is also the reason why regional parties from the poorest corners of India are so scared of the BJP; e.g. Nitish Kumar as he was and Mamata Banerjee as she is. To improve India’s GDP quickly, it makes sense for the Center to focus on and turnaround the poorest and most regressive states first. And hence these regional leaders were scared to death of losing their privileged positions if BJP succeeded.) As a pro-Hindutva party as well, it makes sense for BJP to win the hearts and minds of the Dalits because the Dalits have a very high trend of converting to other religions. First the Islamists forced them away, then the Christian missionaries lured them away and now the Buddhists are cajoling them away. As a pro-Hindutva party, it makes sense for the BJP to try best to integrate Dalits with the mainstream nation; break all caste barriers in order to unify Hindus into a single set; and to make all sections strong and powerful. (And this is also the reason BJP will never scrap caste-quota even in its dream!) The BJP won’t succeed in its vision of creating a strong great nation if there are communities still living in the medieval times; if there are caste-based discrimination running deep and wide; and if Dalits are still downtrodden. 

Another news headline tells that yesterday, PM Modi helped a tribal woman wear her chappals with his own hands. 

Conclusion: It seems so unjustified and unfair that the BJP is accused by media of being anti-dalit while a party like Congress still enjoys ‘pro-dalit’ image. It just tells that our media is not fair. The worst possible repercussion of all this can be that the BJP might lost its sight on its “development agenda” and remain engaged in such unproductive image management exercises. That would be very unfortunate. 

A Wedding and Two Hypocrisies: Tina Dabi and Athar Amir-ul-Shafi

Earlier this week, a wedding made news; especially on the internet news. Tina Dabi, IAS topper of Batch 2015 got married to the runner up of the same batch, Athar Amir-ul-Shafi. Media hailed this marriage; calling it breaking of a social "taboo" and what not. Rahul Gandhi congratulated the couple calling them "inspiration to all Indians in this age of growing intolerance and communal hatred". That was the 'tone' most media also reported the wedding. 

Why was this wedding highlighted by media? Because the bride was a Dalit Hindu and the groom was a Muslim - that was so unusual and path-breaking for the media that it could not stop singing in its praise. If we look at the fine prints, this case is peculiar due to entirely different reasons.

First, was it really a new trend? "Muslim boy and Hindu girl" tie the knot in a "love marriage" - is it really a new trend? This trend is as ancient as arrival of Muslim invaders in India. When male Afghan mercenaries came as part of armies and if their leader chose to get settled in India (e.g. Mughals), it was natural that they would be able to find only Hindu girls to marry. Speaking of love - Akbar married Jodhabai; and from most recent 'filmy' memory, Alauddin Khilji waged a war in an attempt to marry 'Padmavati'. History is sick of this trend for those who care about history. And some people were so sick of this old trend that they called it "love jihad" and brought the matter to the court. I am mentioning all this just to prove how old and boring trend this has been. A real new "inspirational" (for Rahul Gandhi) trend would have been if a Hindu boy married a Muslim girl and if they actually got to liveand their marriage survived till they die of natural causes). 

Secondly, Tina Dabi was hailed as a 'Dalit' girl and inspiration for the community. Let us see how 'Dalit' she had been. Her mother is a former Indian Engineering Service (IES) officer and her father is a serving IES officer. She did her education in Carmel Convent School and graduated from Delhi’s Lady Shri Ram college. Tells that she is from a high-class family and got top education and then if she topped IAS entrance exam, we should salute her talent, not her caste. There is nothing 'dalit' about her; as the media reports. If people from privileged background like her are called 'dalit' (downtrodden); it is an insult to the real 'dalits'. 

For me, these two hypocrisies are more interesting than the wedding. 

Who is causing caste riots in India?

Looking at the trends of caste based riots happening in India, it looks like an organized one where some forces are trying to destabilize the government at the center.

This is being done with General Elections 2018 in the mind. Needless to say this is dangerous for our democracy and all Indians must expose those who are creating this environment of conflict. India must focus on development alone. 

Here is a cartoon which very aptly frames it:

Thug Life of Arvind Kejriwal

Thug Life was an American hip hop group. It released their only album in 1994 called Thug Life: Volume 1. Today, we all know 'thug life as an urban slang. It stands for many things including the philosophy of not following any rules and trying to succeed somehow against all odds. In India not many can qualify as leading a 'thug life' for very long. Vijay Mallya led a 'thug life' for some time; today he is hardly successful and hence he became just a 'criminal' instead of a 'thug'. There is only one great 'thug life' title awardee in my opinion currently - and that is Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.

That was a time when the "honesty gang" was trying to gain much wider audience. It chose a strategy of hurling shoes at big people, getting beaten up, and becoming famous in the process. At that point of time there was an "empty space" in Indian political landscape. BJP as primary opposition party had already lost that space after gaining power at the center. Congress which ruled the country for so long, did not quality as opposition (it is still trying hard to make people believe that it is an opposition party despite having lost power everywhere). Media, anti-national people and chronic skeptics looked at Kejrwal and his gang as the "right choice" for taking that empty space of a "spoiler".

Kejriwal and his gang alleged financial irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association when Arun Jaitley was its president. The massive army of part time Aam Aadmi party members and full time skeptics took his words as a gospel. BJP supporters kept calling them "blind supporters" and more urban slang like "Aaptards" were born but it just did not fade. Thug Life succeeded against all odds.

But today, Kejriwal has apologized to Arun Jaitley.

"These allegations made by me were based on information and papers furnished to me by certain individuals who represented to have first-hand insight into the affairs of DDCA. However, I have recently discovered that the information and the imputations contained therein are unfounded and warranted and I was clearly misinformed into making these allegations," wrote Kejriwal in the apology to Jaitley.

"I offer my sincere apology to you and your family members for any harm caused to your reputation as a consequence of my allegations," the apology further said.

Just like Kejriwal was on "allegation spree" back then, he is on "apology spree" now. Kejriwal's apology spree consists of his apologies to BJP's Nitin Gadkari, Congress party's Kapil Sibal and Akali Dal's Bikram SIngh Majithia.

"I made certain statements, without regard to its verifiability, which seem to have hurt you. I have nothing personal against you. I regret the same. Let us put the incident behind us and bring the court proceedings to a closure." wrote Kejriwal to Gadkari.

I remember that due to Kejriwal's allegations, Gadkari had gained really bad name and was considered a corrupt man in the popular psyche by most people outside Maharashtra.

One interesting fact is also that these apologies are actually the final nail. You would remember that Kejriwal had shrewdly hired Ram Jethmalani as a lawyer to represent himself against Jaitley in the later's defamation case. He knew that Ram Jethmalani was immensely angry against the BJP; and he wanted to use that anger in winning that defamation case. But sadly, his experience also did not go well as he had a spat with Jethmalani over the controversy around payment of fees from the state treasury.

So where do these apologies stand in the overall 'thug life' of Arvind Kejriwal? I think these are just a new feather in his cap. He is the greatest thug of our time - he first fooled people with his allegations against these established political leaders and he has fooled people by his apologies against the same leaders. He meant nothing personally against those leaders when he alleged corruption charges against them. He means nothing now when he says "my sincere apology" to them. There is nothing "sincere" in the psyche of Arvind Kejriwal. There never was; except a very deep motivation to become a bigger man than he is by riding over shoulders of other men.

That is how I would always remember him - a man who stood over shoulders of poor old Anna Hazare and made his own name and bucks. He brought deep distrust among the masses against any possibility of an honest "non political" alternative to the current political landscape.

The reason I don't like Kejriwal is not because he has flaws. Everyone has "flaws" - but not everyone lives a "thug life".

- Disclaimer: Views are personal