Why PM Modi Should Stamp Out Caste
The year 2018 began on a rather angry note for many Dalit youths in Maharashtra (Bhima Koregaon being the trigger), and earlier in Gujarat. For many Dalits, suffering state indifference and apathy, Jignesh Mewani – the newly minted MLA from Gujarat – symbolises hope. The anger that was seen in Gujarat, and more recently on the streets of Maharashtra, has the potential to mobilise the sizable Dalit population in the country against PM Narendra Modi in 2019, warn many social commentators.
If Dalit angst is something that is on the rise and something that goes unaddressed, why doesn’t the Modi government get pro-active on this? Indeed, what are the Modi government’s social philosophy and vision?
For all attempts to polarise the Dalit voters against the BJP in Gujarat, Modi’s staple answer was his Vikas slogan. He says that Vikas or development is an all-encompassing idea that benefits the lowest rungs.
But is that enough to address the Dalit issue today that has taken the centre stage?
Mewani sought to challenge Modi by asking him to spell out what he has done to annihilate the caste – in keeping with Babasaheb Ambedkar’s philosophy.
For the ruling BJP-RSS, the “solidarity” or “oneness” of Hindu identity is paramount.
Dalit intellectual and Rajya Sabha MP Narendra Jadhav recently said that he wanted to pilot a bill to end the system of caste surnames – in a bid to end the caste system. The RSS, in fact, already follows a practice where its members do away with the caste surnames and address each other by the first names. But then, its critics argue, the RSS model of emancipation for Dalits is not revolutionary enough. It’s Sanskritisation -- the RSS may support social churn like Dalit priests, but its critics say it ends up upholding Brahminical Hinduism.
Among other forms to fight the stranglehold of caste has been the philosophy of Dalit Capitalism. Today fora like DICCI have helped create a new Dalit middle class that is well off, entrepreneurial, and wears its Dalit identity proudly. In the marketplace, where talent and skills are exchanged for wages, caste is pushed to the background. Capitalism is a great leveller, say the proponents of Dalit capitalism. The Modi government, like its predecessor UPA government, supports Dalit entrepreneurship.
Ambedkar himself had argued that one potent way to annihilate the caste was inter-caste marriages. According to an estimate, about 11 per cent of all the marriages in India is inter-caste. Inter-caste marriages involving Dalits (either as bride or groom) are fewer.
At a policy level, the Modi government has modified a UPA scheme that all inter-caste marriages, involving at least one Dalit spouse, would be entitled to a sum of Rs 5 lakh. The number of couples availing of this Ambedkar Social Integration award, however, has been minuscule – 72 in 2015-16 and 400-odd such proposals have come last year. In other words, the acceptability of a Dalit-non-Dalit marriage in India is abysmally low.
The Modi government enjoys immense goodwill with the Hindu clergy. Why can’t it involve the Hindu organisations and godmen to promote inter-caste marriages, involving Dalits?
PM Modi likes to work in a mission mode. Whether it’s “Housing for all”; or “doubling the farmers’ income”; or the “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”, the government has put deadlines to all such missions. It’s time the Modi government put the programme to stamp outcaste in a mission mode. This alone would be a true tribute to Ambedkar.
