The 2014 Lok Sabha election is going to be the watershed moment for the Indian democracy for various reasons. The ideological fault lines were never sharpened as before. On one hand there is the debate on the communal-secular divide that gets reflected in the electoral politics; something that has been happening over 30 years now, and has a far wider ramification for the future of the country. Whether the country is going towards a majoritarian state or still has some faith in the much clichéd secular ideals that our founder fathers envisioned. There is an oblivious assertion of what many term as Indian middle class which is mainly interested in setting a certain standard of accountability in governance, reduction in corruption and such issues that denies them the goods as promised by a welfare state. This class which is seen as beyond any identity markers has shown its tremendous potential in even building a very powerful alliance with the poor living in slums and bastis, as we all witnessed in the recent Delhi assembly elections that brought the Aam Aadmi party (AAP) to the fore. A lot of civil society activists, who remained peripheral to the electoral dynamics throughout their lives, some by choice, seem to have sensed a chance and have joined the AAP in large numbers. Many even contesting as its candidates. This is a very fascinating scenario for the Indian democracy.
On the other hand, there is another kind of politics that has been present and acknowledged by all — that of social justice; – whose main plank has been justice and representation for the most marginalised section of the people in this country – the dalits, tribals and other backward classes (OBC). There are a number of political parties that represent this politics, primary being the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). This election is a litmus test for such political groups too. Will their politics be sandwiched between two powerful political narratives is the question before us. Is our politics ready to deal with voters who feel that the identities and identity-based oppression and their representation is not that important before the questions of secularism and fight against corruption? We can only make guesses.
However as a Dalit activist, I do feel that beyond such debates there are few questions that need to be put forward even if it is seen as much maligned identity politics. It is these questions that will keep haunting every political formation despite their denial of existence of caste or any other social/ economic markers. Every political group, even those who explicitly abhor identity politics of any kind, leave no stone unturned to woo dalits and backward caste voters. Every candidate they choose to contest is chosen after a careful consideration of caste calculus of that particular constituency. This is something which no one in this country can wish off. So what about the aspirations of dalits and the likes in this election? Which political group has been responsive to these?
Demands by Dalits
Dalits are not a homogenous group and are as divided as any other community and, most of them also subscribe to local regional identities that impact their voting behaviour as well as their aspirations; but most vocal of them – the educated middle class – is now gravitating to a concrete politics that claim to reflect the aspirations of the entire community. Apart from political formations, dalits now also boast of strong civil society groups that are consistently articulating the demands of the community.
One of the first demands that have been put forward is adequate representation of dalits in every sphere – political, social, cultural, but more importantly economic domain. Reservation in public sector has been historically the only gateway for dalits to not only improve their lot, but also come to terms with their marginal status and create a fighting space to claim a stake in mainstream as well as in country’s imagination. But with increasing population and decreasing opportunities in the era of privatisation, public sector and government jobs are shrinking rapidly hence the demand for adequate representation in the private sector.
The UPA government in the past had pledged its commitment to include private sector reservation in its election manifesto; however it has not shown any inclination to even initiate the process of formulating a bill or having any kind of debates around the issue, perhaps due to fear of immense backlash from a section of Indian population and media. Dalits have been witnessing this flip-flop and are going to raise this question in near future if not in this election directly. None of the political formations despite their public stance of staunch support to reservations for SC/STs are willing to take a stand on this issue and have tried to keep it under the carpet.
Validating reservations
Directly linked with the issue of representation in private sector is one more contentious issue that has been gathering storm since last two years, and which emanated from a UP high court judgement that questioned the validity of providing reservations in promotions in government jobs. The court had asked the state government to provide adequate data in support of their policy of reservations in promotions, but the government could not do so and hence the court decided to scrap the policy. Now the ball is in the court of GOI and, the dalits have been demanding the UPA government to contest the court decision and provide adequate safeguards by making necessary changes in the reservation policy. However, this has also been stalled by the UPA government despite making promises of immediately putting the bill for discussion in Parliament. For many dalits this constitutes a betrayal by a political party whose fortune depends largely on the dalits and other marginalised groups.
Beyond these policies that reflect concerns of only a very small educated dalit class, there is a far more important issue of implementation of Scheduled Caste Special Component Plan (SCSCP) that has an impact on the entire community across the country. This plan was a brain child of the Planning Commission of India that in late 70s that felt the need of a targeted approach in every government department towards the empowerment of the most marginalised i.e. dalits and tribals. The idea is that a certain amount of budget expenditure of every government department has to be spent exclusively for the benefit of dalits and tribals according to their percentage in population. However, none of the g o v e r n m e n t departments in last 30 years or so has implemented this policy. They either diverted the funds to other programmes or kept it unspent. Many dalit civil society organisations in the last five years have taken up this case and have been building pressure on the government to fix this problem and design its policies in a way that all the fixed amount of funds are spent for the benefit of dalits and tribals.
Access to education
Another issue that concerns every dalit household in the entire country is access to quality education. Even after 66 years of independence getting even primary education in a conducive environment has remained a distant dream for a large number of dalits. Now with increasing assertion, they are able to mobilise themselves and are keen to receive quality education and are aware that this is the only way to be a part of the mainstream.
These are few issues that reflect the aspirations of the community and can play an important role in not only this election but in future too. However, it is very important to see that the community does not live in seclusion and the issues of secularism and fight against corruption also factor in their lives and therefore have a huge role to play in the political choices they make during elections. No one, not even the dalit political formations can now take dalit votes for granted, as seen by the shift of their allegiance to a new political party like AAP in New Delhi elections from their traditional voting choices like Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party.
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Anoop Kumar
The writer is a community teacher based in Wardha, Maharashtra and has been a part of Dalit movement since last two decades.[/column]