"इतिहास - दृष्टि बदल चुकी है...इसलिए इतिहास भी बदल रहा है...दृश्य बदल रहे हैं ....स्वागत कीजिए ...जो नहीं दिख रहा था...वो दिखने लगा है...भारी उथल - पुथल है...मानों इतिहास में भूकंप आ गया हो...धूल के आवरण हट रहे हैं...स्वर्णिम इतिहास सामने आ रहा है...इतिहास की दबी - कुचली जनता अपना स्वर्णिम इतिहास पाकर गौरवान्वित है। इतिहास के इस नए नज़रिए को बधाई!" - डॉ राजेंद्र प्रसाद सिंह


01 March 2011

LOOKING WITHIN: DALIT MOVEMENT AT THE CROSSROADS


Caste does not only operate along fault lines between the higher and lower caste. It equally afflicts the Scheduled Castes from within. The Scheduled Castes are as much divided among themselves as the other various twice born castes. The similar situation applies to the Other Backward Castes (OBC) too. Baba Sahib Dr. B.R. Ambedkar highlighted this aspect of the caste system in many of his speeches and writings. He was of the opinion that Scheduled castes were as much divided house within as the division between them and rest of the twice born. Irrespective of the fact that they were socially excluded and relegated out of the boundaries of the suffocating caste hierarchy emanated from the Varna system, the Scheduled Caste themselves follow the same logic of social exclusion and discrimination on the pattern of Brahminical graded inequality. Baba Sahib Dr. Ambedkar reiterated that if the Scheduled Castes wanted to get rid of the social exclusion and untouchability, they have to say first good bye to the social evil of untouchability within. Unless and until the internal social division is not taken care of, the requisite unity among the various Dalit castes is difficult to evolve. Unity among the various communities among the Scheduled Castes is the most necessary requirement for any democratic Dalit movement to come forward to take cudgels with the Brahminical Social Order (BSO).

In Punjab at present there are as many as 39 castes among the Scheduled Castes. In the 2001 Census their number was 38. Later on in 2007, another caste of Rai Sikhs was added to the list of Scheduled Caste in Punjab, thus making the figure thirty nine. Scheduled Castes in Punjab like their counterparts in rest of India are not only divided along caste lines, they are equally splintered into various religions. Scheduled Castes in Punjab are Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists. Some of them claim to be belonging to their indigenous religion Ad Dharm; though after 1931 census Ad Dharm did not figure in the decennial census of India. The 39 Scheduled Castes of Punjab have their peculiar social hierarchical system whereby they have causally arranged themselves on low-high profile parallel to the prevalent Brahminical caste system in the rest of the country. It was against this social division within that Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia, the founder of the famous Ad Dharm movement, addressed almost all the then caste members of the ex-untouchables by their specific caste names to come forward on a single platform forgetting their insidious caste factor and fight collectively the monster of untouchability.

Where are we standing today? Are we not a divided house? Take for example marriages. There is hardly any inter-caste marriage within the Scheduled Castes. Ad Dharmi will prefer to marry within the Ad Dharmi caste. In the matrimonial advertisements it is common to find that marriage alliances are sought strictly within castes. One hardly finds marriages between the Chamar and Balmiki castes. Buddhists Dalits like all other Dalits belonging to different religions equally follow the criterion of caste endogamy in the marriages. All this has prevented unity among the Scheduled Castes. Probably this may be one of the most important reasons behind the failure of the Scheduled Caste in Punjab to come into political power despite their large numbers. Let us think beyond caste and forge a strong unity to empower ourselves.
Posted on January 1, 2011

Courtesy: Editor, Ambedker Times
March 1 at 8:22am “LOOKING WITHIN: DALIT MOVEMENT AT THE CROSSROADS”


5 comments:

  1. समाजिक समूह तो रहेंगे. लेकिन व्यक्ति की पहचान केवल उसके जाति समूह से ही नहीं होती बल्कि उसके धर्म, राजनीतिक दल आदि से भी होती है. यह व्यावहारिक सत्य है. बेहतर है कि राजनीतिक संकट से उबरने के लिए राजनीतिक एकता पर ध्यान दिया जाए और फिलहाल सत्ता में भागीदारी का लक्ष्य रखा जाए. समाज को रिवॉल्व न करके इवॉल्व किया जाए. जहाँ तक शादियों का प्रश्न है अनुसूचित जातियों के समूह बड़े स्तर पर आपस में शादियाँ भले न कर रहे हों परंतु twice born castes में तो उनकी शादियाँ होने की प्रवृत्ति प्रारंभिक स्थिति में तो है ही.

    ReplyDelete
  2. यदि आतंरिक विभाजन पर विजय पा ली जाए , तो आगे का रास्ता स्वयं ही प्रशस्त हो जाएगा । Unity is strength । आपसी एकता के बाद ही किसी समुदाय में विकास की संभावनाएं दिखती हैं।

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dhammachar and thanks dear Bhusanji for post of internal division amongst schedule caste,adarniya-
    Dr Baba saheb Ambedkar was absolutely correct, first annihilation of untouchability amongst in SC caste------
    "I accept as Dharma whatever is in full conformity with impartial justice and equality;"
    Dr nitin Jamnagar--Gujarat

    ReplyDelete
  4. There is a need of Hardcore social awareness movement among bahujans to get rid of this problem of discrimination within. This should be done via modern media and traditional media like saints . Persistent efforts are needed for the same specially the involvement of youth is very much necessary . If our youth will have the knowledge of leaders like Babasaheb Ambedkar , Mahatma Phule and Periyar , Narayan guru and many others , then they will be able to tackle all sort of social problems and will be able to think logically to counter any sort of socio-politico problems .

    ReplyDelete