Dalit politics in Tamil Nadu: What went wrong?

"If Pattali Makkal Katchi, which drew a blank in the Lok Sabha elections could get a maximum of 31 seats and a Rajya Sabha seat despite the fact of being a troublesome partner in alliance, the VCK which has a clout in the northern districts and also a reasonable presence across the State has failed completely in the art of lobbying and politicking." questions Stalin Rajangam, a dalit intellectual and writer.

The VCK's emergence in the political scenario is an interesting one. The party, which was against the idea of electoral politics and later decided to contest elections, was offered eight seats in 2001, along with 10 for the PT by the DMK. In 2006, they were offered nine seats by the AIADMK and in 2011 they are given 10. The growth rate is abysmally low and during the last ten years they were able to get just two seats more.

Mr. Stalin Rajangam further said that the compromises that the VCK had made during the last five years anticipating the electoral gains as a passive partner not voicing the major issues that affected the Dalits to appease the DMK showed the intricate workings of political hegemony.

D. Karthikeyan in The Hindu. More Here.

"The price for a taste of that touchable water" - Meena Kandasamy

One-eyed
the pot sees just another noisy child
the glass sees an eager and clumsy hand
the water sees a parched throat slaking thirst
but the teacher sees a girl breaking the rule
the doctor sees a medical emergency
the school sees a potential embarrassment
the press sees a headline and a photofeature
dhanam sees a world torn in half.
her left eye, lid open but light slapped away,
the price for a taste of that touchable water.

- A poem from a collection of Meena Kandasamy

The categories into which Meena Kandasamy falls—Dalit and female—have put her among those Indian society has historically tended to oppress and marginalize the most.
Repeated humiliation pushed the 26-year-old to fight back—through her social activism and her inflammatory writing, in verse and prose.
In a recent interview at the Jaipur Literature Festival, Ms. Kandasamy, who is from Tamil Nadu in south India, said the aim of her poetry is to send a social message.

In her poems she addresses issues of caste and untouchability—something that stems from her being a Dalit, considered the lowest and most oppressed of India’s castes and formerly known as “untouchables”.
She said she embraced her identity as a Dalit partly because there was no way of escaping it. “People will force that label on you so you might as well make the most of it,” said Ms.  Kandasamy.

From Margherita Stancati's write-up in WSJ.
More Here and here

Who's afraid of Caste Census?

If caste census is done, the India democracy would thrive on the firm support of the lower castes who keep hoping of getting their share based on their numbers. The upper castes may feel desolate with the system of democracy itself, if this shift begins to take place. They might call such a shift “castocracy”. But would they call a state or a nation being ruled by women “womenocracy”?

Cognitive social psychology says all such theories are constructed on a convenience known as “comfort zone”. If brown upper castes live in white societies they see brown bashing but black bashing remains hidden in their blind spots. In white societies the browns are not in their comfort zone but in India they are and do not want to see the other’s “discomfort zone”.

Many upper caste intellectuals say that caste was a construction of the colonial census system. They talk as if caste never existed before the British started an enumerative process. By their logic we should come to the conclusion that before the British enumerated people based on religion, there were no religions in India. There are many such blind spots in India and that is why we still remain backward in theories of knowledge.

Let all castes — not just OBCs — be counted for strengthening our democratic system. I know that even mine is a blind-spot theory but it may have the effect of an antidote.

From veteran Dalit activist Kancha Ilaiah's comment in The Asian Age. More Here.

What if Rahul Gandhi marries a dalit girl?

Some times we ask to change only one part of our social machine. Parts have no independence actions; they are dependent on big Machines. Honor killing is just one bad product of that social machine of India. 

First abolish the unjust Caste system. If champions of social changes in our country start marrying Dalit families to break the taboos, picture will change. 

That is what Rahul Gandhi can not do. He can visit to condole every devastated family, he can distribute thousands of rupees, government jobs but he can not understand the social pressure under which Brahmin and Dalit families are living. Can Rahul Gandhi, Varun Gandhi, Son of Rajnath Singh, and sons and daughters of our political leaders and RSS leaders come to marry Dalit families? 

Many upper caste people are enjoying social celebrity status speaking for social problems on Televisions, writing in News Papers. This is like championing social reform from dead, burned and raped bodies of Dalits. They can not on Television after they break taboos in their own homes. They can not allow the change which they proclaim on television. 

No social reform can be delivered without recognizing Dalits as respectable Human beings. Give message to society from your homes first, not from TV Shows and New Papers. If people belonging to upper castes like Mishras, Sharmas, Bajpayees, Pathaks and so on start marrying Dalit families, it will be greater than what Raja Ram Mohan Roy had done in his period. Rahul Gandhi and Varun Gandhi and sons of Brahmin political leaders, media pundits, business tycoons and Bolywood set an example by marrying in Dalit familes. The change will happen across the society.

There are many bright matches from both sides but they are divided in two borders of social vertical and horizontal hierarchy. If common Brahmin families find heavy weight people of their society marrying Dalits and all castes without any castiest considerations, they will not fear to be condemned by their relatives. It is the fact that many Brahimn and upper caste families are willing to allow their children to marry whomever they wish to do regardless of caste and creed but they are under immense social pressure.

If heavy weight of Brahmins and other upper caste from politics, business, academics etc have Dalit spouses and brides in their homes, the social stigma will gradually go away. It is irony that people still love to tag their caste tags (Sharma, Warma, Pandaey, etc) with their names. Can they not get rid of it so that other persons of lower caste tags feel it easy to talk and interact with on equal basis? 

Why these people want to make them feel that he/she should take care of his/her caste tag. Once you tell him you are Sharma, the other person fells in inferiority complex. If we are any more civilized people we must throw out t these tags. Our degrees, talents, performance, social achievements are enough to be our identity. (see comments on Ashutosh Ashu's Face Book wall. below. courtesy to Ashu)

I agree with individual liberty. But how can you ensure individual liberty when individuals are chained in a rigid caste system? I am talking about why marrying a lower caste person is still an stigma. If champions of social changes in our society, who have large following across the caste do initiate, things will change. Parents of Nirupama would have allowed her, had they found it a 'common thing' which is being practiced people like like Ghandhis, Bajpyees, Sharmas, Pathakas and so on. To break the stereotypes, change will come from the society, not from the laws. If Brahimns do not feel it easy to marry in Dalits, no Dalit, however is he educated or wealthy, will remain untouchable.

From Omair Anas's thought provoking, amusing and interesting post in his blog

To read the full post click here.

''Do you call this living? Even death is better than this humiliation"

Even today, the memories bring tears of shame to her eyes. She was paid to clean dry toilets each day, by physically scraping the human excreta that accumulated on the latrine floors, and carrying it away in a basket. Several months pregnant, Saroj one day climbed a narrow wooded staircase to reach the latrine in one home. She slipped and her foot broke, and she lay helplessly in agony below. But her employers — of many years — were unwilling to lift her even in this state, because they believed her touch was polluting. Finally they picked her up with a pincer of logs, and her family took her to the local dispensary. She wept bitterly that day. “Do you call this living? Even death is better than this humiliation.”

From an heartrending article by Harsh Mander in The Hindu.

To continue reading click here.