Major Causes of the Dalit Movement The Dalit Movement is the result of the

constant hatred being generated from centuries from the barbaric activities of the
upper castes of India. Since Dalits were assigned the duties of serving the other
three Varnas, that is all the non– Dalit, they were deprived of higher training of
mind and were denied so- cial-economic and political status.

The division of labour led to the division of the labourers, based on inequality and
exploitation. The caste system degen- erated Dalit lifes into pathogenic condition
where occupations changed into castes.

For centuries, Dalits were excluded from the mainstream society and were
only allowed to pursue menial occupations like cleaning dry latrines, sweeping etc.

They lived in the Hindu villages hence did not have advan- tage of geographical
isolation like tribes. They were pushed to the outer areas of villages whereas, the
mainland was oc- cupied by the Brahmins. They were barred from entering into
those mainland areas in every sense, they were prohibited to wear decent dress and
ornaments besides being untouchable. Many of the atrocities were committed in
the name of reli- gion. Besides, the system of Devadasi they poured molten lead
into the ears of a Dalit, who happened to listen to some man- tra. To retain the
stronghold on people, education was mo- nopolized.

The most inhuman practice is that of untouchability, which made the Dalits to live
in extreme inhuman situations. This has made the Dalits to rise and protest, against
the inhuman practices of Brahmanism. The Dalits began their movement in India
with their basic demand for equality.

The Dalit movement that gained momentum in the post in- dependence period,
have its roots in the Vedic period. It was to the Shramanic -
Brahmanic confrontation and then to the Bhakti Movement.

With the introduction of western language, and with the in- fluence of the Christian
missionaries, the Dalits began to come across the ideals of equality and liberty and
thus began the Dalit Movement in modern times. The frustrated Dalit minds when
mixed with reason began confrontation against the atrocities of Brahmanism.
Dalit movement was fundamentally the movement to achieve mobility on part of
the groups which has logged behind. They were a reaction against the social,
cultural and economic pre- ponderance and exclusiveness of other class over them.

Educated Dalit , gradually begin to talk about the problems of poor and about
exploitation and humiliations from the up- per castes. They also got a fillip through
British policy of divide and rule in which census operation played a sufficient role
(British policy of classifying caste). This provided an opportu- nity for making
claims for social pre-eminence through caste mobilisation.

Improved communication network made wider links and com- bination possible;
new system of education provided opportu- nity for socio-economic promotion,
new administrative system, rule of law undermined certain privileges enjoyed by
few and certain economic forces like industrialization threw open equal
opportunities for all dismantling social barriers.

All these factors contributed to the shift in position of un- touchables. Social
reform movement such as those of Jyoti- ba phule in Maharashtra and Sri
Narayan Guru in Kerala also began to question caste inequality.

Gandhiji integrated the issue of abolition of untouchability into national

movement and major campaign and struggles such as Varkom and Guruvayur
Satyagrahawere organized. Gandhiji’s effort was to make upper caste realise
severity of injustice done via practice of untouchability.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar emerged as major leader of Depressed Classes by late 1920’s.
He formed All Indian Scheduled Caste Federation in 1942. He also cooperates with
colonial govern- ment on understanding that he could get more benefits for SCs.
The All India S.C. Federation also contested election, but its candidates lost to
Congress.Others strands also emerged in different regions in Pun- jab the Adi
Dharm, in U.P.the Adi Hindi and in Ben- gal the Namashvedsas.

In Bihar, Jagjivan Ram who emerged as the most important Congress leader
formed Khetmajoor Sabha and Depressed Class League.In early 1970’s a new
trend identified as Dalit Panthers
merged in Maharashtra as a part of country wide wave of radical politics. The
Dalit Panthers learned ideologically to Ambedkar’s thought. By 1950’s Dalit
Panther had developed serious differences and the party split up and declined.

In North India new party BSP emerged in 1980’s under Kan- shi Ram and later
Mayawati who became the chief minister of U.P.

Acharya Ishvardatt Medharthi (1900–1971) of Kanpur supported the cause of the

Dalits. He studied Pali at Gurukul Kangri and Buddhist texts were well known to
him. He was initiated into Buddhism by Gyan Keto and the Lokanatha in 1937.
Gyan Keto (1906–1984), born Peter Schoenfeldt, was a German who arrived in
Ceylon in 1936 and became a Bud- dhist. Medharthi strongly criticised the caste
system in India. He claimed that the Dalits (“Adi Hindus”) were the ancient rulers
of India and had been trapped into slavery by Aryan in- vaders.

Dynamics of Dalit Movement: Sanskritization The strategies, ideologies,

approaches of Dalit movement var- ied from leader to leader, place to place and
time to time. Thus, some Dalit leaders followed the process of ’Sanskriti- zation’ to
elevate themselves to the higher position in caste hierarchy. They adopted
Brahman manners, including vegetari- anism, putting sandalwood paste on
forehead, wearing sacred thread, etc. Thus Dalit leaders like Swami Thykkad
(Kerala), Pandi Sunder Lai Sagar (UP), Muldas Vaishya (Gujarat), Moon Vithoba
Raoji Pande (Maharashtra) and others tried to adopt established cultural norms and
practices of the higher castes. Imitation of the high caste manners by Dalits was an
assertion of their right to equality.

Adi-Hindu movement Treating Dalits as outside the fourfold Varna system, and
de- scribing them as ‘outcastes’ or ‘Panchama’ gave rise to a movement
called Adi-Hindu movement. Thus, certain section of Dalit leadership believed that
Dalits were the original inhab- itants of India and they were not Hindus. That
Aryans or Brah- mins who invaded this country forcibly imposed untouchability on
the original inhabitants of this land. They believed that if Hinduism was discarded,
untouchability would automatically come to an end.

That Dalits began to call themselves Adi-Andhras in Andhra, Adi- Karnataka in

Karnataka, Adi-Dravidas in Tamil Nadu, Adi-Hindus in Uttar Pradesh and Adi-
Dharmis in Punjab. Dalits also followed the route of conversion with a purpose of
get- ting rid of untouchability and to develop their moral and fi- nancial conditions.

Conversions A good number of Dalits were converted to Christianity, espe- cially

in Kerala. Some of the Dalits, especially in Punjab were converted to Sikhism.
They are known asMazhabis, Nam- dharis, Kabir Panthis etc.

Dalits also got converted to Buddhism. Dr. Ambed- kar converted to Buddhism
along with his millions of followers at Nagpur in 1956.

Finding Sects As a protest against Hinduism some of the Dalit leaders founded
their own sects or religions. Guru Ghasi Das (MP) founded Satnami Sect.
Gurtichand Thakur (Bengal) found- ed Matua Sect. Ayyan Kali (kerala) founded
SJPY (Sadha Jana Paripalan Yogam) and Mangu Ram (Panjab) founded Adi
Dharam.

Ambedkar’s activism Attempts were also made to organize Dalits politically in or-
der to fight against socio-economic problems. Dr. Ambed- kar formed
the Independent Labour Party in 1936. He tried to abolish the exploitative Khoti
system prevailing in Kokan

part of Maharashtra, and Vetti or Maharaki system (a wage free hereditary service
to the caste Hindus in the local admin- istration). He tried to convince the
Government to recruit the Mahars in Military. Ultimately he became successful in
1941 when the first Mahar Regiment was formed.

With the growing process of democratization, Dr. Ambed- kar demanded adequate
representation for Dalits in the leg- islatures and in the administration. Government
of India Act, 1919, provided for one seat to the depressed classes in the central
Legislative Assembly. In 1932, British Government headed by Ramsoy Macdonald
announced the ‘Communal Award’. The award envisaged separate electorate for
the De- pressed Classes. Mahatma Gandhi went on a historic fast in protest against
Communal Award especially in respect of de- pressed classes. The issue was
settled by Poona Pact, Septem- ber 1932. It provided for reservation of seats for
depressed classes out of general electorates sets. The Constitution of In- dia now
provides for reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes in proportion to their
population in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sab- ha under Article 330 and 332.
Dalit Literary Movement At a time, when there was no means of communication to
support the Dalits, pen was the only solution. The media, newspapers were all
under the control of the powerful class – the Brahmins. Given that the
Brahmins would never allow the Dalits voice to be expressed, as it would be a
threat for their own survival, the Dalits began their own magazine and began to
express their own experiences.

Dalit literature, the literature produced by the Dalit conscious- ness, emerged
initially during the Mukti movement.

Later, with the formation of the Dalit Panthers, there began to flourish a series of
Dalit poetry and stories depicting the miseries of the Dalits the roots of which lies
in the rules and laws of Vedas and Smritis. All these literature argued that Dalit
Movement fights not only against the Brahmins but all those people whoever
practices exploitation, and those can be the Brahmins or even the Dalits
themselves. New revolutionary songs, poems , stories , autobiographies were
written by Dalit writers. All their feelings were bursting out in the form of
writings.

Educated Dalit and intellectuals begin to talk about the prob- lems without any
hesitation and tried to explain to the other illiterate brothers about the required
change in the society.Dalit literature tried to compare the past situation of Dalits to
the present and future generation not to create hatred, but to make them aware
of their pitiable condition. Power as Means to Attain Dignity Power can be cut by
only power. Hence, to attain power, the first thing required is knowledge. It was
thus, Phule and Ambedkar gave the main emphasis on the education of the Dalits,
which will not only bestow them with reason and judgement capacity, but also
political power, and thereby so- cio—economic status and a life of dignity. They
knew that the political strategy of gaining power is either an end in itself or a
means to other ends. In other words, if the Dalits have pow- er, then they do not
have to go begging to the upper castes. Also they will get greater economic and
educational opportunities.

The upper castes enjoy social power, regardless of their indi- vidual circumstances
with respect to their control over material resources, through their linkages with the
other caste fellows in the political system –in the bureaucracy , judiciary and leg-
islature. And so , the Dalits require power to control the eco- nomic scenario and
thereby the politics of the country.Phule thus added that without knowledge,
intellect was lost; without intellect, morality was lost; without morality, dynamism
was lost; without dynamism, money was lost; without money Shudras were
degraded, all this misery and disas- ter were due to the lack of knowledge. Inspired
by Thomas Paine‘s ―”The rights of Man”, Phule sought the way of ed- ucation
which can only unite the Dalits in their struggle for equality.

The movement was carried forward by Ambedkar who con- tested with Gandhi to
give the Dalits, their right to equality. In the words of
Ambedkar, Educate, Organize and agitate. Edu- cation, the major source of reason,
inflicts human mind with extensive knowledge of the world, whereby, they can
know the truth of a phenomena, that is reality. It therefore, would help to know the
truth of Brahmanism in Indian society, and will make them to agitate against caste
based inhuman prac- tices. Only when agitation begin, in the real sense, can the
Dalit be able to attain power and win the movement against exploitation.

Gandhis politics was unambigously centring around the de- fence of caste with the
preservation of social order in Brah- manical pattern. He was fighting for the rights
of Dalits but was not ready for inter-caste marriage.

Post-Independent Dalit Movements B.R. Ambedkar and Buddhist dalit Movement

Babasaheb Ambedkar has undoubtedly been the central figure in the epistemology
of the dalit universe. It is not difficult to see the reason behind the obeisance and
reverence that dalits have for Ambedkar. They see him as one who devoted every
moment of his life thinking about and struggling for their emancipation; who
sacrificed all the comforts and conveni- ences of life that were quite within his
reach to be on their side; who conclusively disproved the theory of caste based
superiority by rising to be the tallest amongst the tall despite enormous odds, and
finally as one who held forth the torch to illuminate the path of their future.

Upon India’s Transfer of Power by British Government on 15 August 1947, the

new Congress-led government invited Ambedkar to serve as the nation’s first Law
Minister, which he accepted. On 29 August, he was appointed Chairman of the
Constitution Drafting Committee, charged by the Assembly to write India’s
newConstitution.The text prepared by Ambedkar provided constitutional
guarantees and protections for a wide range of civil liberties for individual citizens,
including freedom of religion, the abolition of untouchability and the outlawing of
all forms of discrimination. Ambedkar argued for extensive economic and social
rights for women, and also won the As- sembly’s support for introducing a system
of reservations of jobs in the civil services, schools and colleges for members of
scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, a system akin to af- firmative action. India’s
lawmakers hoped to eradicate the so- cio-economic inequalities and lack of
opportunities for India’s depressed classes through these measures.

Ambedkar resigned from the cabinet in 1951 following the stalling in parliament of
his draft of the Hindu Code Bill, which sought to expound gender equality in the
laws of in- heritance and marriage. Ambedkar independently contested an election
in 1952 to the lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha, but was defeated in the
Bombay constituency by a lit- tle-known Narayan Sadoba Kajrolkar. He was
appointed to the upper house, of parliament, the Rajya Sabha in March 1952 and
would remain as member till death.

Conversion to Buddhism Ambedkar had considered converting to Sikhism, which

saw oppression as something to be fought against and which for that reason
appealed also to other leaders of scheduled castes. He rejected the idea after
meeting with leaders of the Sikh community and concluding that his conversion
might re- sult in him having a “second-rate status” among Sikhs.

He studied Buddhism all his life, and around 1950, he turned his attention fully to
Buddhism and travelled to Ceylon (now

Sri Lanka) to attend a meeting of the World Fellowship of Buddhists. While

dedicating a new Buddhist vihara near Pune, Ambedkar announced that he was
writing a book on Buddhism, and that as soon as it was finished, he planned to
make a formal conversion to Buddhism.

Ambedkar twice visited Burma in 1954; the second time in or- der to attend the
third conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists in Rangoon.In 1955, he
founded theBharatiya Baud- dha Mahasabha. He completed his final work, The
Buddha and His Dhamma, in 1956. It was published posthumously. Af- ter
meetings with the Sri Lankan Buddhist monk Saddhatis- sa, Ambedkar organised a
formal public ceremony for himself and his supporters in Nagpur on 14 October
1956. Ambedkar completed his own conversion, along with his wife. He then
proceeded to convert some 500,000 of his supporters who were gathered around
him. He then travelled to Kathmandu in Nepal to attend the Fourth World Buddhist
Conference. His work on The Buddha or Karl Marx and “Revolution and coun-
ter-revolution in ancient India” remained incomplete.

His allegation of Hinduism foundation of caste system, made him controversial

and unpopular among the Hindu commu- nity. His conversion to Buddhism
sparked a revival in interest in Buddhist philosophy in India and abroad.
Ambedkar’s po- litical philosophy has given rise to a large number of political
parties, publications and workers’ unions that remain active across India,
especially in Maharashtra.

The Buddhist movement was somewhat hindered by Dr. Ambedkar’s death so

shortly after his conversion. It did not receive the immediate mass support from the
Untouchable population that Ambedkar had hoped for. Division and lack of
direction among the leaders of the Ambedkarite move- ment have been an
additional impediment. According to the 2001 census, there are currently 7.95
million Buddhists in India, at least 5.83 million of whom are Buddhists inMahar-
ashtra.This makes Buddhism the fifth-largest religion in India and 6% of the
population of Maharashtra, but less than 1% of the overall population
of India.TheBuddhist revival remains concentrated in two states: Ambedkar’s
native Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh — the land of Acharya Medharthi and their
associates.

Acharya Medharthi retired from his Buddhapuri school in 1960, and shifted to an
ashram in Haridwar. He turned to the Arya Samaj and conducted Vedic yajnas all
over India. His fol- lower, Bhoj Dev Mudit, converted to Buddhism in 1968 and set
up a school of his own.

Rajendranath Aherwar appeared as an important Dalit leader in Kanpur. He joined

the Republican Party of India and con- verted to Buddhism along with his whole
family in 1961. In 1967, he founded the Kanpur branch of “Bharatiya Buddh
Mahasabha”.

The Dalit Buddhist movement in Kanpur gained impetus with the arrival of
Dipankar, a Chamar bhikkhu, in 1980. Dipankar had come to Kanpur on a
Buddhist mission and his first pub- lic appearance was scheduled at a mass
conversion drive in 1981. The event was organised by Rahulan Ambawadekar, an
RPI Dalit leader. In April 1981, Ambawadekar founded the Dalit Panthers (U.P.
Branch) inspired by the Maharashtrian Dalit Panthers.

Dalit Panthers Dalit Panther as a social organization was founded by Namdev

Dhasal in April 1972 in Mumbai, which saw its heyday in the 1970s and through
the 80s.

Dalit Panther is inspired by Black Panther Party, a revolution- ary movement

amongst African-Americans, which emerged in the United States and functioned
from 1966-1982.The name of the organization was borrowed from the ‘Black
Panther’ Movement of the USA. They called themselves “Panthers” be- cause they
were supposed to fight for their rights like panthers, and not get suppressed by the
strength and might of their oppressors.

The US Black Panther Party always acknowledged and sup- ported the Dalit
Panther Party through the US Black Panther Newspaper which circulated weekly
throughout the world from 1967-1980.

Its organization was modelled after the Black Panther. The members were young
men belonging to Neo-Buddhists and Scheduled Castes. Most of the leaders were
literary figures .The controversy over the article “Kala Swatantrata Din” (Black
Independence Day) by Dhale which was published in “Sadhana” in 1972 created a
great sensation and publicised the Dalit Panthers through Maharashtra. The
Panther’s full support to Dhale during this controversy brought Dhale into the
movement and made him a prominent leader. With the publicity of this issue
through the media, Panther branches sprang up spontaneously in many parts of
Maharashtra.

The Dalit Panther movement was a radical departure from ear- lier Dalit
movements. Its initial thrust on militancy through the use of rustic arms and
threats, gave the movement a revolu- tionary colour.

Going by their manifesto, dalit panthers had broken many new grounds in terms of
radicalising the political space for the dalit movement. They imparted the
proletarian – radical class identity to dalits and linked their struggles to the
struggles of all oppressed people over the globe. The clear cut leftist stand
reflected by this document undoubtedly ran counter to the ac- cepted legacy of
Ambedkar as projected by the various icons, although it was sold in his name as an
awkward tactic.

The pathos of casteism integral with the dalit experience es- sentially brought in
Ambedkar, as his was the only articulate framework that took cognisance of it.
But, for the other con- temporary problems of deprivations, Marxism provided a
sci- entific framework to bring about a revolutionary change.

Although, have-nots from both dalits and non-dalits craved for a fundamental
change, the former adhered to what ap- peared to be Ambedkarian methods of
socio-political change and the latter to what came to be the Marxian method which
tended to see every social process as the reflection of the ma- terial reality. Both
caused erroneous interpretations. It is to the credit of Panthers that the assimilation
of these two ideologies was attempted for the first time in the country but unfortu-
nately it proved abortive in absence of the efforts to rid each of them of its
obfuscating influence and stress their non-con- tradictory essence. Neither, there
was theoretical effort to integrate these two ideologies, nor was there any practice
combining social aspects of caste with say, the land question in the village setting.
This ideological amalgam could not be acceptable to those under the spell of the
prevailing Ambed- kar-icons and therefore this revolutionary seedling in the dalit
movement died a still death.

The reactionaries objected to the radical content of the pro- gramme alleging that
the manifesto was doctored by the radi- cals – the Naxalites.

There is no denying the fact that the Naxalite movement which had erupted quite
like the Dalit Panther, as a disen- chantment with and negation of the established
politics, saw a potential ally in the Panthers and tried to forge a bond right at the
level of formulation of policies and programme of the latter. But even if the
Panthers had chosen to pattern their programme on the ten-point programme of
the Black Panther Party (BPP) in the USA, which had been the basic inspiration for
their formation, it would not have been any less radical. The amount of emphasis
on the material aspects of life that one finds in the party programme of the BPP
could still have been inimical to the established icon of Ambedkar.
Radicalism was the premise for the very existence of the Dalit Panther and hence
the quarrel over its programme basically reflected the clash between the
established icon of Ambed- kar and his radical version proposed in the programme.
The fact that for the first time the Dalit Panther exposed dalits to a radical
Ambedkar and brought a section of dalit youth nearer to accepting it certainly
marks its positive contribution to the dalit movement.

There were material reasons for the emergence of Dalit Pan- thers. Children of the
Ambedkarian movement had started coming out of universities in large numbers in
the later part of 1960s, just to face the blank future staring at them. The much-
publicised Constitutional provisions for them turned out to be a mirage. Their
political vehicle was getting deeper and deeper into the marsh of Parliamentarism.
It ceased to see the real problems of people. The air of militant insurgency that had
blown all over the world during those days also provided them the source material
to articulate their anger.

Unfortunately, quite like the BPP, they lacked the suitable ide- ology to channel
this anger for achieving their goal. Interest- ingly, as they reflected the positive
aspects of the BPP’s contri- butions in terms of self-defence, mass organising
techniques, propaganda techniques and radical orientation, they did so in the case
of BPP’s negative aspects too. Like Black Panthers they also reflected ‘TV
mentality’ (to think of a revolutionary struggle like a quick-paced TV programme),
dogmatism, ne- glect of economic foundation needed for the organisation, lumpen
tendencies, rhetoric outstripping capabilities, lack of clarity about the form of
struggle and eventually corruptibili- ty of the leadership. The Panthers’ militancy
by and large re- mained confined to their speeches and writings.

One of the reasons for its stagnation was certainly its incapa- bility to escape the
petit bourgeois ideological trap built up with the icons of Ambedkar. It would not
get over the ideo- logical ambivalence represented by them. Eventually, the pet- it-
bourgeoise ‘icon’ of Ambedkar prevailed and extinguished the sparklet of new
revolutionary challenge. It went the RPI (founded by Ambedkar) way and what
remained of it were the numerous fractions.

The Dalit Panther phase represented the clash of two icons: one, that of a radical
‘Ambedkar’, as a committed rationalist, perpetually striving for the deliverance of
the most oppressed people in the world. He granted all the freedom to his follow-
ers to search out the truth using the rationalist methodology as he did. The other is
of the ‘Ambedkar’ who has forbidden the violent methods and advocated the
constitutional ways for his followers, who was a staunch anti-Communist, ardent
Buddhist. As it turned out, the radical icon of Ambedkar was projected without
adequate conviction. There was no one committed to propagating such an image of
Ambedkar, nei- ther communists nor dalits. Eventually it remained as a verita- ble
hodgepodge.

Phenomenon of Kanshiram and Mayawati (Bahujan Sa- majwadi Party) In 1971

Kansiram quit his job in DRDO and together with his colleagues established
the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Minorities
Employees Welfare Association.Through this association, attempts were made to
look into the problems and harassment of the above-men- tioned employees and
bring out an effective solution for the same. Another main objective behind
establishing this associ- ation was to educate and create awareness about the caste
system. This association turned out to be a success with more and more people
joining it.

In 1973, Kanshi Ram again with his colleagues established the BAMCEF:
Backward And Minority Communities Employ- ees Federation. The first operating
office was opened in Del- hi in 1976 with the motto-“Educate Organize and
Agitate“. This served as a base to spread the ideas of Ambedkar and his beliefs.
From then on Kanshi Ram continued building his network and making people
aware of the realities of the caste system, how it functioned in India and the
teachings of Ambedkar.

In 1980 he created a road show named “Ambedkar Mela” which showed the life of
Ambedkar and his views through pictures and narrations. In 1981 he founded
theDalit Soshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti or DS4 as a parallel association to the
BAMCEF. It was created to fight against the attacks on the workers who were
spreading awareness on the caste system. It was created to show that workers could
stand united and that they too can fight. However this was not a registered party
but an organization which was political in nature. In 1984, he established a full-
fledged political party known as the Bahujan Samaj Party. However, it was in 1986
when he declared his transition from a social worker to a politician by stating that
he was not going to work for/with any other or- ganization other than the Bahujan
Samaj Party. Later he con- verted to Buddhism.

The movement of Kanshiram markedly reflected a different strategy, which coined

the ‘Bahujan’ identity encompassing all the SCs, STs, BCs, OBCs and religious
minorities than ‘dalit’, which practically represented only the scheduled castes.

Kanshiram started off with an avowedly apolitical organisation of government

employees belonging to Bahujana, identifying them to be the main resource of
these communities. It later catalysed the formation of an agitating political group
crea- tively coined as DS4, which eventually became a full-fledged political party
– the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

Purely, in terms of electoral politics, which has somehow be- come a major
obsession with all the dalit parties, Kanshiram’s strategy has proved quite
effective, though in only certain parts of the country.

He has given a qualitative impetus to the moribund dalit poli- tics, locating itself
into a wider space peopled by all the down- trodden of India. But he identified
these people only in terms of their castes and communities. It may be said to his
credit that he reflected the culmination of what common place icon of Ambedkar
stood for.

Kanshiram shrewdly grasped the political efficacy of this icon that sanctioned the
pursuit of power in the name of down- trodden castes. The religious minorities
which potentially rears the sense of suffering marginalisation from the majority
community could be easily added to it to make a formidable constituency in
parliamentary parlance. Every one knew it but none knew how to implement.
Kanshiram has seemingly suc- ceeded in this task at least in certain pockets.

The careful analysis will show that the combination of certain historical
developments and situational factors has been be- hind this success. As Kanshiram
has amply experienced, it is not replicable elsewhere. It is bound to be short-lived
and illu- sory unless this success is utilised to implement a revolutionary
programme to forge a class identity among its constituents. If not, one will have to
constantly exert to recreate the compul- sions for their togetherness and allegiance.
In absence of any class-agenda, which is certainly the case of BSP, these
compulsions could only be created through ma- nipulative politics for which
political power is an essential re- source. BSP’s unprincipled pursuit of power is
basically driven by this exigency. It is futile to see in this game a process of
empowerment of the subject people as could be seen from the statistical evidence
of the cases of atrocities, and of overall situation of the poor people under its rule.

The imperatives of this kind of strategy necessarily catapult the movement into the
camp of the ruling classes as has ex- actly happened with BSP. BSP’s electoral
parleys with Con- gress, BJP, Akali Dal (Mann) that reached the stage of directly
sharing State power in UP recently, essentially reflect this pro- cess of
degeneration and expose its class characteristics today.

It seems to have sustaining support from the icon that BSP it- self created, where
Ambedkar was painted as the intelligent strategist who could turn any situation to
his advantage, who used every opportunity to grab political power to achieve his
objective.

Kanshiram’s reading of Ambedkar ignores the fact that Ambedkar had to carve out
space for his movement in the crevices left by the contradictions between various
Indian po- litical parties and groups on one side and the colonial power on the
other. For most of his time, he sought maximisation of this space from the
contending Muslim League and Con- gress, and eventually brought dalit issue to
the national polit- ical agenda.

Kanshiram stuffs his Ambedkar icon entirely with such kind of superfluity that it
would look credible to the gullible dalit masses. This icon approves of his sole
ideology that politi- cal power to his party could solve all dalit problems. He did
not care for democracy. To some extent this non-democratic stance spells his
compulsions to have unitary command over his party structure as without it, his
adversaries would gobble it up. He did not have any utility for any programme or
man- ifesto, his sole obsession is to maximise his power by whatev- er means. In
the rhetoric of empowering Bahujans, he does not even feel it necessary to
demonstrate what exactly this empowering means and what benefits it would
entail them. The obsession with capturing power robbed him of certain
fundamental values that Ambedkar never compromised.
The underlying value of the movement of Ambedkar was rep- resented by liberty,
equality and fraternity. Kanshiram does not seem to respect any value than the
political and money power.

For Ambedkar political power was a means, to Kanshiram it appears to be the end.
Notwithstanding these broad differ- ences, he has succeeded in luring the dalit
masses in certain pockets of the country by projecting an Ambedkar icon that
sanctioned his unscrupulous pursuits of power.

The crux of Kanshiram can be traced to his superfluous at- tempt to replicate
Ambedkar’s movement of 1920s. When Ambedkar realised the potency of political
power, he launched his Indian Labour Party that reflected his urge to bring togeth-
er the working class, transcending the caste lines. It is only when the political
polarisation took communal turn that he abandoned his ILP project and launched
the Scheduled Caste Federation. Ambedkar joined hands with a few political par-
ties – one the communists (while joining the strike of mill workers) and the other is
thePraja Samajwadi Party of Ashok Mehta in the 1952 elections. Although, he
accepted the Con- gress support and offered to work in their government, he never
tied up his political outfit to the Congress. Kanshiram’s record so far clearly shows
that he is ready to join hands with any one promising him the share of political
power. Ambedkar pointed at the capitalism and Brahminism as the twin enemy for
his movement but Kanshiram enthusiastically embraced them.

Apart from these broad political trends, there are many re- gional outfits like Dalit
Mahasabha in Andhra Pradesh, Mass Movement in Maharashtra, Dalit Sena in
Bihar and elsewhere, etc., some of which dabble directly into electoral politics and
some of them do not. So far, none of them have a radically different icon of
Ambedkar from the ones described above. They offer some proprietary ware
claiming to be a shade bet- ter than that of others.

Did State really helped? The post-1947 State, which has never tired of
propagandising its concern for dalits and poor, has in fact been singularly in-
strumental in aggravating the caste problem with its policies. Even the apparently
progressive policies in the form of Land Ceiling Act, Green Revolution,
Programme of Removal of Pov- erty, Reservations to Dalits in Services and
Mandal Commission etc. have resulted against their professed objectives.
The effect of the Land Ceiling Act, has been in creating a lay- er of the middle
castes farmers which could be consolidated in caste terms to constitute a
formidable constituency. In its new incarnation, this group that has traditionally
been the im- mediate upper caste layer to dalits, assumed virtual custody of
Brahminism in order to coerce dalit landless labourers to serve their socio-
economic interests and suppress their assertive ex- pression in the bud.

The Green Revolution was the main instrument to introduce capitalisation in

agrarian sector. It reinforced the innate hun- ger of the landlords and big farmers
for land as this State sponsored revolution produced huge surplus for them. It re-
sulted in creating geographical imbalance and promoting un- equal terms of trade
in favour of urban areas. Its resultant im- pact on dalits has been far more
excruciating than that of the Land Ceiling Act.

The much publicised programme for Removal of Poverty has aggravated the gap
between the heightened hopes and as- pirations of dalits on one hand and the
feelings of depriva- tion among the poorer sections of non-dalits in the context of
the special programmes especially launched for upliftment of dalits. The tension
that ensued culminated in increasingly strengthening the caste – based demands
and further aggra- vating the caste – divide.

The reservations in services for dalits, notwithstanding its benefits, have caused
incalculable damage in political terms. Reservations created hope, notional stake in
the system and thus dampened the alienation; those who availed of its ben- efit got
politically emasculated and in course consciously or unconsciously served as the
props of the system. The context of scarcity of jobs provided ample opportunity to
reactionary forces to divide the youth along caste lines. Mandal Commis- sion, that
enthused many progressive parties and people to upheld its extension of
reservation to the backward castes, has greatly contributed to strengthen the caste
identities of people. In as much as it empowers the backward castes, ac- tually their
richer sections, it is bound to worsen the relative standing of dalits in villages.

Dalits and Contemporary Indian Politics: While the Indian Constitution has duly
made special provisions for the social and economic uplift of the Dalits,
comprising the scheduled castes and tribes in order to enable them to achieve
upward social mobility, these concessions are limited to only those Dalits who
remain Hindu. There is a demand among the Dalits who have converted to other
religions that the statuto- ry benefits should be extended to them as well, to
overcome and bring closure to historical injustices.

Another major politically charged issue with the rise of Hin- dutva’s (Hindu
nationalism) role in Indian politics is that of religious conversion. This political
movement alleges that conversions of Dalits are due not to any social or
theological motivation but to allurements like education and jobs. Critics argue that
the inverse is true due to laws banning conversion, and the limiting of social relief
for these backward sections of Indian society being revoked for those who convert.
Many Dalits are also becoming part of Hindutva ideology.

Another political issue is over the affirmative-action measures taken by the

government towards the upliftment of Dalits through quotas in government jobs
and university admissions. The seats in the National and State Parliaments are
reserved for Scheduled Caste and Tribe candidates, a measure sought by B. R.
Ambedkar and other Dalit activists in order to ensure that Dalits would obtain a
proportionate political voice.

Anti-Dalit prejudices exist in fringe groups, such as the extrem- ist militia Ranvir
Sena, largely run by upper-caste landlords in areas of the Indian state of Bihar.
They oppose equal or special treatment of Dalits and have resorted to violent
means to sup- press the Dalits.

A dalit, Babu Jagjivan Ram became Deputy Prime Minister of India In 1997, K. R.
Narayanan was elected as the first Dalit President. K. G. Balakrishnan became first
Dalit Chief Justice of India.

In 2007, Mayawati, a Dalit, was elected as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, the
most populous state in India. Some say that her 2007 election victory was due to
her ability to win support from Dalits and the Brahmins. However, Caste loyal- ties
were not necessarily the voters’ principal concern. Instead, inflation and other
issues of social and economic development were the top priorities of the electorate
regardless of caste.

Dalit who became chief Ministers in India are Damodaram Sanjivayya (Andhra
Pradesh) , Mayawati four times chief min- ister of Uttar Pradesh, Jitan Ram
Manjhi, chief minister of Bihar.Some Dalits have been successful in business and
politics of modern India.

Despite anti-discrimination laws, many Dalits still suffer from social stigma and
discrimination. Ethnic tensions and caste-re- lated violence between Dalit and non-
Dalits have been wit- nessed. The cause of such tensions is claimed to be from eco-
nomically rising Dalits and continued prejudices against Dalits.
The Dalit Movement is the result of the constant hatred being generated from centuries from the
barbaric activities of the upper castes of India. Since Dalits were assigned the duties of serving the other
three Varnas, that is all the non– Dalit, they were deprived of higher training of mind and were
denied so- cial-economic and political status.

The division of labour led to the division of the labourers, based on inequality and exploitation. The
caste system degen- erated Dalit lifes into pathogenic condition where occupations changed into castes.

For centuries, Dalits were excluded from the mainstream soci- ety and were only allowed to pursue
menial occupations like cleaning dry latrines, sweeping etc.

They lived in the Hindu villages hence did not have advan- tage of geographical isolation like tribes.
They were pushed to the outer areas of villages whereas, the mainland was oc- cupied by the
Brahmins. They were barred from entering into those mainland areas in every sense, they were
prohibited to wear decent dress and ornaments besides being untouchable. Many of the atrocities were
committed in the name of reli- gion. Besides, the system of Devadasi they poured molten lead into the
ears of a Dalit, who happened to listen to some man- tra. To retain the stronghold on people, education
was mo- nopolized.

The most inhuman practice is that of untouchability, which made the Dalits to live in extreme inhuman
situations . This has made the Dalits to rise and protest, against the inhuman practices of Brahmanism
.The Dalits began their movement in India with their basic demand for equality.
The Dalit movement that gained momentum in the post in- dependence period, have its roots in the
Vedic period. It was to the Shramanic -Brahmanic confrontation and then to the Bhakti Movement.

With the introduction of western language, and with the in- fluence of the Christian missionaries, the
Dalits began to come across the ideals of equality and liberty and thus began the Dalit Movement in
modern times. The frustrated Dalit minds when mixed with reason began confrontation against the
atrocities of Brahmanism.

Dalit movement was fundamentally the movement to achieve mobility on part of the groups which has
logged behind. They were a reaction against the social, cultural and economic pre- ponderance and
exclusiveness of other class over them.

Educated Dalit , gradually begin to talk about the problems of poor and about exploitation and
humiliations from the up- per castes. They also got a fillip through British policy of divide and rule in
which census operation played a sufficient role (British policy of classifying caste). This provided an
opportu- nity for making claims for social pre-eminence through caste mobilisation.

Improved communication network made wider links and com- bination possible; new system of
education provided opportu- nity for socio-economic promotion, new administrative system, rule of law
undermined certain privileges enjoyed by few and certain economic forces like industrialization threw
open equal opportunities for all dismantling social barriers.

All these factors contributed to the shift in position of un- touchables. Social reform movement such as
those of Jyoti- ba phule in Maharashtra and Sri Narayan Guru in Kerala also began to question caste
inequality.

Gandhiji integrated the issue of abolition of untouchability into national movement and major
campaign and struggles such as Varkom and Guruvayur Satyagrahawere organized. Gandhiji’s effort
was to make upper caste realise severity of injustice done via practice of untouchability.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar emerged as major leader of Depressed Classes by late 1920’s. He formed All Indian
Scheduled Caste Federation in 1942. He also cooperates with colonial govern- ment on understanding
that he could get more benefits for SCs. The All India S.C. Federation also contested election, but its
candidates lost to Congress.

Others strands also emerged in different regions in Pun- jab the Adi Dharm, in U.P.the Adi Hindi and
in Ben- gal the Namashvedsas.

In Bihar, Jagjivan Ram who emerged as the most important Congress leader formed Khetmajoor Sabha
and Depressed Class League.

In early 1970’s a new trend identified as Dalit Panthers

Volume : 5 | Issue : 8 | August 2016 ISSN - 2250-1991 | IF : 5.215 | IC Value : 77.65

144 | PARIPEX - INDIAN JOURNAL OF RESEARCH

merged in Maharashtra as a part of country wide wave of radical politics. The Dalit Panthers learned
ideologically to Ambedkar’s thought. By 1950’s Dalit Panther had developed serious differences and the
party split up and declined.

In North India new party BSP emerged in 1980’s under Kan- shi Ram and later Mayawati who became
the chief minister of U.P.

Acharya Ishvardatt Medharthi (1900–1971) of Kanpur supported the cause of the Dalits. He studied Pali
at Gurukul Kangri and Buddhist texts were well known to him. He was initiated into Buddhism by Gyan
Keto and the Lokanatha in 1937. Gyan Keto (1906–1984), born Peter Schoenfeldt, was a German who
arrived in Ceylon in 1936 and became a Bud- dhist. Medharthi strongly criticised the caste system in
India. He claimed that the Dalits (“Adi Hindus”) were the ancient rulers of India and had been trapped
into slavery by Aryan in- vaders.

Dynamics of Dalit Movement: Sanskritization The strategies, ideologies, approaches of Dalit movement
var- ied from leader to leader, place to place and time to time.

Thus, some Dalit leaders followed the process of ’Sanskriti- zation’ to elevate themselves to the higher
position in caste hierarchy. They adopted Brahman manners, including vegetari- anism, putting
sandalwood paste on forehead, wearing sacred thread, etc. Thus Dalit leaders like Swami Thykkad
(Kerala), Pandi Sunder Lai Sagar (UP), Muldas Vaishya (Gujarat), Moon Vithoba Raoji Pande
(Maharashtra) and others tried to adopt established cultural norms and practices of
the higher castes. Imitation of the high caste manners by Dalits was an assertion of
their right to equality.

Adi-Hindu movement Treating Dalits as outside the fourfold Varna system, and
de- scribing them as ‘outcastes’ or ‘Panchama’ gave rise to a movement
called Adi-Hindu movement. Thus, certain section of Dalit leadership believed that
Dalits were the original inhab- itants of India and they were not Hindus. That
Aryans or Brah- mins who invaded this country forcibly imposed untouchability on
the original inhabitants of this land. They believed that if Hinduism was discarded,
untouchability would automatically come to an end.That Dalits began to call
themselves Adi-Andhras in Andhra, Adi- Karnataka in Karnataka, Adi-Dravidas in
Tamil Nadu, Adi-Hindus in Uttar Pradesh and Adi-Dharmis in Punjab. Dalits also
followed the route of conversion with a purpose of get- ting rid of untouchability
and to develop their moral and fi- nancial conditions.Conversions A good number
of Dalits were converted to Christianity, espe- cially in Kerala. Some of the Dalits,
especially in Punjab were converted to Sikhism. They are known asMazhabis,
Nam- dharis, Kabir Panthis etc.Dalits also got converted to Buddhism. Dr.
Ambed- kar converted to Buddhism along with his millions of followers at Nagpur
in 1956.

Finding Sects As a protest against Hinduism some of the Dalit leaders founded
their own sects or religions. Guru Ghasi Das (MP) founded Satnami Sect.
Gurtichand Thakur (Bengal) found- ed Matua Sect. Ayyan Kali (kerala) founded
SJPY (Sadha Jana Paripalan Yogam) and Mangu Ram (Panjab) founded Adi
Dharam.Ambedkar’s activism Attempts were also made to organize Dalits
politically in or- der to fight against socio-economic problems. Dr. Ambed-
kar formed the Independent Labour Party in 1936. He tried to abolish the
exploitative Khoti system prevailing in Kokan