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Caste & the Tamil Nation
On Dalit Phobia
Chandra Babu Prasad
6 June 2006
Book Note by the Publishers -
Vitasta Publishing Pvt Ltd:
Chandra Bhan Prasad is one of the leading
Dalit intellectuals in the country. He has been writing
regularly for various newspapers and magazines on
Dalit-related issues. He believes in confounding readers
with new ideas and challenging them to think afresh away
from the traditional paradigm.
One may not agree with him, but one will find it
difficult to brush aside his arguments. While India is
marching ahead through the shopping malls and Express
National Highways, the average Dalit has not moved
forward. He is subjected to same tyranny or humiliation,
which his forefathers faced, if he dares to walk the road
not trodden by his predecessors.
1958-born Chandra Bhan comes from Azamgarh district of
Uttar Pradesh. The urge to rebel and fight for justice
took him to the CPI-ML in 1983. He was a research scholar
at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi,
where he specialised in Chinese Science and Technology.
He began the Dalit Shikhsa Andolan (Dalit Education
Movement), which has since spread to many districts of
Uttar Pradesh.
Excerpt from Dalit Phobia:
Sapru related to Mahatma Gandhi the whole
story. Malaviya put the Hindu point of view. Then in a
soft, slow flow Dr Ambedkar began. He said in low voice:
"Mahatmaji, you have been very unfair to us. It is always
my lot to appear to be unfair." Replied Mahatma Gandhi:
"I cannot help it." Then Dr Ambedkar explained the whole
situation and his viewpoints. The sober Biblical language
had its visible effect upon Mahatma Gandhi. He was
convinced of the justice of Dr Ambedkar's demands. At
length, Mahatma Gandhi replied: "You have my fullest
sympathy. I am with you, Doctor, in most of the things
you say. But you say you are interested in my life." "Yes
Mahatmaji, in the hope that if you would devote solely to
the cause of my people, you would become our hero, too,"
said Dr Ambedkar in reply. (pp130-131)
Dalits have faced social ostracism of a peculiar kind.
Centuries-old prejudices pushed them to the southernmost
corner of traditional Indian villages almost invariably.
How was this possible, all over the country, unless there
was a design or a conspiracy? Dalits constitute the same
proportion of the total population throughout the
country. Chandra Bhan enumerates the history behind this
unique phenomenon and argues that this is not possible
unless there was a colossal shifting of humankind. He
draws profusely from Dr B. R. Ambedkar. Hindutva forces
may not take kindly to him for saying that Dalits were
outside the Varna hierarchy and that they worshipped
different gods and goddesses than the Varna followers. He
talks of history's longest fought war between the Dalits
and the non-Dalits in the process of adjustment. Is the
Varna peoples' hate for Dalits a manifestation of hatred
of the victor for the defeated and the fear that the
Dasas of the Vedic times may assert themselves and
challenge the old Order?
Chandra Bhan calls this Dalit Phobia and argues that this
gets passed on genetically through generations.
Otherwise, how does one explain that the chief executive
of an MNC, the editor of a newspaper and the fishermen at
Nagapattinam (Tamil Nadu) share the same disdain when it
comes to dealing with Dalits. It must be pathological and
hence the treatment must also be so. He suggests Dalit
therapy and demands international action to cure the
disease while describing this as more vicious and
pervading than Apartheid. Is it after the Poona Pact with
Dr Ambedkar that Mahatma Gandhi realised the need to work
among the Harijans (Dalits)? The author argues it is
indeed so and points out to the bold arguments Dr
Ambedkar had with the Mahatma. The book also reflects why
an average Dalit holds Dr Ambedkar in such a high esteem.
He could stand up and resist the Varna Order. It must
have needed a massive courage to face the Mahatma and
tell him about the centuries of injustices meted out to
Dalits. Those who blame Macaulay for ills of `India's
education system are in for a shock as the book finds him
as a liberator of Dalits. Chandra Bhan is an ardent
Macaulay fan. Macaulay liberated India from the
Brahmin-oriented traditional education system and Varna
jurisprudence, he argues. He also holds Macaulay Party
every year to celebrate the man and his ideas.
While trying to analyse how Dalits gained importance and
social recognition, the book concludes the 1942 Quit
India Movement to be a Vedic reaction to the British who
had dared to induct Dr Ambedkar in the Viceroy's Council
and thus the Council's ruling elite.
A must-read for anyone trying to analyse
Dalit psychology and the hate sense of the Varna Order
for these deprived groups. People often confuse Dalits
with the Backward Castes. The book describes the Backward
Castes as a part of the Varna Order unlike Dalits who are
still treated as untouchables. This may help understand
why the same yardstick of reservation was not applied for
two different social categories by the Constitution
makers.
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