Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Ghulam Azam: Death of a War Criminal

Subhash Gatade

I

Ghulam Azam. Photo: news.priyo.com
Wily strategists meet their nemesis in unexpected ways. 

Ghulam Azam, the once all powerful leader of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, who died recently, might have brooded over this old dictum, in his last days in detention. It was only last year that he was sentenced to 90 years of imprisonment for his crimes against humanity which he committed when people of the then East Pakistan - today's Bangladesh - had risen up against the occupation army of Pakistan in the year 1971.

It was not surprising that the funeral of this man who evoked intense hatred and loathing from a large cross-section of the population of Bangladesh for his role during and after the liberation of the country witnessed protest demonstrations all over the country. There were even demands that his body be sent to Pakistan for final rites and should not be buried here. 
“The janaza (funeral prayer) of a war criminal can never be held at the national mosque,” 
Ziaul Hasan, chairman of Bangladesh Sommilito Islami Jote, an alliance of progressive Islamic parties, said at a human chain near the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque where Azam’s body was taken for funeral prayers. (The Telegraph, 27 th Oct 2014).

It is now part of history how as Ameer (Chief) of the then East Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami he had played a pivotal role in forming collaborator forces with the Pakistani army- namely Shanti (peace) Committee, Razakar, Al Badr, Al Shams. He was the ‘torchlight’ who guided massacres of intellectuals in Dhaka at the end of the conflict.(Dec 71). As the official charge sheet tells Al-Badr, the militia floated by Jamaat-e-Islami, was entrusted the job of exterminating Bengali intelligentsia by the Pakistani military in mid Dec 1971 - because it was believed that they were the brain behind the struggle for independence.

The facts regarding the bloody period which accompanied Bangladesh’s emergence have been recounted n number of times. It need be noted here that Bangladeshi authorities claim that as many as 3 million people were killed in this struggle, while news outlets like BBC have quoted the figures in the range of 3,00,000 to 5,00,000 for the estimated death toll as counted by independent researchers.An official Pakistan government investigation after the debacle of 1971 - under the Hamoodur Rahman Commission after ‘acknowledging its mistakes’ itself had put the figure as 26,000 civilian casualties.

Even after emergence of an independent Bangladesh after the nine-month-long Liberation War in 1971, Ghulam Azam continued in his crusade to thwart its survival, as he tried in vain to revive East Pakistan and spread propaganda against Bangladesh for several years.After the assassination of Sheikh MujiburRahman in the year 1975, he had returned to Bangladesh on August 11, 1978 on a Pakistani passport. He subsequently got back his citizenship and re-joined his position as the Ameer of the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

[NSI Statement] For Women's Right to Choice and a Gender-Just Delhi University!

In a bid to make Delhi University a gender-just space we hail the right of women and men to love freely, choose their partners with freedom, irrespective of caste, class, region, religion or ethnicity, and the right to choose their sexuality. We celebrate love as an emotion that allows people to relate to other human beings in a way which enriches us by associating with others on the basis of equality. However, women's right to make choices about their own bodies and lives have been resisted ever since these ideas were first articulated. Instead, it is something that has been earned by the struggles and toils of the women's movement in India and across the world. The Delhi University administration along with the Delhi police and several right wing student organisations have frequently invoked the issue of women's safety and security as a smokescreen to monitor and control the freedom, mobility and sexuality of youth, particularly women. Instead of undertaking the urgent task of making the Delhi University and its surrounding areas safe for women at every hour of the day and night, these authorities and organisations lay the onus of the safety of women, on women themselves. Early hostel curfews for womens' hostels are the starkest example of this. 

We are committed to creating a university campus free of sexual harassment. We urge everyone to work towards ensuring a safe and secure Delhi University, by educating men and boys who objectify and disrepect women and other genders. We urge university authorities, police officials, student organisations and all individuals to work towards educating individuals against misogyny and training in gender sensitivity. We urge all to take up the issue of the recent dismantling of Ordinance XV(D) that had been put in place after much struggle in order to create mechanisms to prevent and deal with cases of sexual harassment in DU. Education of youth must include awareness about an individuals' constitutional rights, including the right to choose a partner and marry anyone of any caste or religion, and awareness about the Special Marriages Act. 

Instead of focusing on substantive issues that contribute to creating a safe and secure Delhi University, a campaign has recently been launched by a right wing student organisation to ensure "women's safety and security" in Delhi University by emphasizing two issues. They intend, as has been reported in the media, to educate (Hindu) women so as to prevent them from being 'lured' into marriage by Muslim men followed by forced conversion, and from the "menace of live-in relationships" that run counter to "Indian culture". The frenzied rhetoric of Love Jihad, the phrase coined by the Sangh Parivar to point to marriages between Hindu women and Muslim men, has gained ground since the election of the BJP to power in the Center. All of this is being pursued in the Delhi University too, all in the name of ensuring safety and security for women. "Indian cultural values" are invoked to curb women's right to freely choose their partner. 

It is in the name these same "Indian cultural values" that the Indian State continues to deny the existence of marital rape arguing that sex between a husband and wife can never be coercive. This is based on the higher status given to a man's conjugal rights than to a woman's right to choice, to say no to sex and to take decisions about her body. The simple denial of marital rape is the biggest example of the crass patriarchal nature of "Indian cultural values". It is in the name of these same values that women are morally policed, and the onus of sexual harassment and violence is placed squarely on women, blaming them for the clothes they wear, the time of night or day they move around, and the company they keep. From the outrageous suggestions such as calling your rapist "bhaiya", blaming foods like chowmin for creating heat, somehow only in men's bodies, for their uncontrollable sexual urges, blaming education for rising sexual crimes against women, or suggesting sexual violence only takes place in urban India and not in rural Bharat, the Sangh Parivar along with other regressive institutions such as Khap Panchayats have repeatedly and in no uncertain terms attempted to hold women and their choices responsible for sexual violence against them. These are the same forces which kill couples for choosing partners of their own choice, often from different castes. These are the same forces which beat up couples on Valentine’s Day claiming it goes against "Indian culture". There is little space in this scenario for individuals to make their own choices about their own lives, particularly women, and instead a set of non-negotiable rules are imposed with violence and aggression. 

The act of "raising awareness amongst women about the menace of live-in relationships" smacks of a patronising attitude that treats women as though they know little about the world. If we are truly to make the Delhi University a safe and secure space for women and other genders, we must stand first and foremost for women's right to choice and respect women as thinking individuals who are capable of making decisions about their own lives.

DOWN WITH PATRIARCHY! 
LONG LIVE THE STRUGGLE FOR WOMEN'S EMANCIPATION!

22/10/2014
Delhi University Chapter
New Socialist Initiative (NSI)

Saturday, October 18, 2014

‘Rip Van Winkle’ and Raman Singh Government

-Subhash Gatade
Can an elected Panchayat deprive a section of its own people belonging to a minority community its constitutionally granted right to practise its religion - e.g. organise prayers or engage in religious propaganda and have sermons ?
Or can it ever deprive them of their mandatory quota of grain under PDS (public distribution system)?
Anyone conversant with rudimentary understanding of law would reply in the negative. It appears that in Chattisgarh they do it differently. In fact, Sirasguda, Kunguda and many other villages in Jagdalpur and adjoining areas in the state are in the news for similar reasons.
Few days back a team of civil liberty activists belonging to PUCL had visited the villages and had come back with stories of intimidation faced by a section of the villagers - mainly belonging to Christian community - at the hands of Hindutva fanatics. Many amongst them have even left for Jagdalpur fearing reprisal attacks by them. These tribals are being pressurised to 'return to Hinduism'.
The local MP from the area - belonging to BJP - had organised a big 'reconversion' programme (presented as 'gharvapasi') in Kunguda on 11th October which 'witnessed' 33 tribal families embracing Hinduism. It is rumoured that the actual figure was low and many of the 'convertees' were Hindus only. The big congregation organised on this occasion was followed by a procession in the village itself where anti Christian slogans were raised which further terrorised the people.
A tragedy is that the local media is either silent over these developments or is presenting one sided versions of the whole developments there. And as far as the police is concerned it is no better. The very fact that resolutions of the local Panchayats are being used to deprive the minority Christians ( all of them tribals) of their basic constitutional rights does not seem to be their concern. The hapless christian tribals are even denied grain under PDS Scheme.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

NSI Public Meeting: Can Caste be Swept Away?

New Socialist Initiative (NSI) Public Meeting

Can Caste Be Swept Away?

Speakers

Bhasha Singh 
(Senior Journalist, The Outlook)
 Prof. Satish Despande 
(Department of Sociology, delhi school of Economics)
Prof. N. Sukumar
(Department of Political Science, Delhi University) 

Chair

Subhash Gatade
(Author and NSI Activist)

3 pm onwards; 15th October, 2014 

Venue: Seminar Room, Department of sociology, Delhi School of economics, Delhi University

Background Note: It is cleaning season in India. Country's prime minister has gone to town with a broom. He started the campaign to clean India by sweeping a dalit neighbourhood of erstwhile untouchables, seemingly breaking many caste barriers. There are very few public defenders of caste system nowadays. After the affirmative action for lower castes in educational institutions and government jobs has begun to show some results, upper caste men and women, whose ancestors only three generations ago fought tooth and nail to not yield even an inch of their caste privileges, now cry and organise under the slogan of equality. Are we witnessing the spectacle of caste being swept away into the dustbin of history? 

Reality of India is too complex for this simple hope. If caste appears to be disregarded, or flouted, in some domains, its prejudices and violence are flourishing in others. The day country's news channels were busy showing the prime minister sweeping a dalit bastee in the heart of the capital, a young woman of Madurai in Tamil Nadu was burnt alive by her family for marrying a dalit. She could have been from anywhere in the country, from Haryana in the North to Maharashtra in the West, or Bihar in the East, to have met a similar fate; if not murder, certainly social ostracism. In all villages, where majority of Indians live, habitation areas are divided along caste lines; upper and dominant castes occupy the most secure central areas with easiest access to public utilities like road, school, and panchayat ghar; and dalits live on the outskirts. In cities too, where caste markers are less visible, caste networks are the most effective resource the poor fall back upon while searching for job and habitation, Here too dalits occupy the most low paying jobs and occupy most vulnerable habitations. Come election time, the caste distribution of any constituency is the primary data for electoral calculations of every major political party. Caste distinctions have strong correlation with differences in income, education, and access to most sought after jobs. Caste remains a major determinant of personal life experiences. It stamps marriage and friendship of Indians, from a landless agricultural labourer to high professionals integrated into global economy. Yet, when one looks at the self-articulation of influential Indians about their country, caste is one social reality rarely discussed. The vision of the great future that country's prime minister painted for his fawning NRI audience at the Madison Square in New York had not a single reference to caste. Country's popular media, soap operas, films rarely refer to caste, in striking contrast to religion which is almost always carried on the sleeve. 

Why these two contrasting features of caste, its overwhelming presence in social reality, while simultaneous absence in dominant discourses? In fact, the absence of caste in India's dominant imaginings is not really an absence, a silence resulting from ignorance, lack of familiarity or interest. This absence is a symptom of a carefully crafted sub-text about caste, that serves the interests of a certain type of caste hegemony. Take the 'Swachh Bharat' campaign, a five year campaign to make India clean. If the campaign is successful, it will certainly make life better for every Indian, irrespective of caste, creed or religion. What better proof can there be of the universal concerns of the Indian state, or the currently ruling Bhartiya Janta Party, for the welfare of all? The inaugural 'event' of the campaign saw country's prime minister sweeping a Balmiki basti on 2nd October. But, why a dalit basti? Are these the dirtiest of the places in the country? Decades before Mr Modi went for his sweeping errand in the said bastee, Gandhi had lived there for a few days. Country's media and chatterati only saw the association with Gandhi on 2nd October, and his emphasis on cleanliness. But Gandhi had started his struggles with cleanliness by cleaning the community latrine at his Tolstoy Farm in South Africa, which did involve breaking some serious caste taboos. This was much before he started the practice of living in Dalit bastees for a few days at a stretch, mainly after his conflict with Ambedkar over separate electorates for the then untouchable castes. Gandhi also chastised caste Hindus, even declared the Bihar earthquake as a divine punishment for the sin of untouchability. He was rightly criticised by Tagore for spreading gross irrationality and superstitions. However, he at least had the moral courage. The current breed of leaders of the 'Hindus' are obviously of a different kind. Our prime minister is a proud Hindu, he would surely know that surroundings of Hindu temples, or places of pilgrimages like Banaras, are among the filthiest in the country. Why not start a campaign of cleanliness from there? No secularist would have criticised him for exhorting his co-religionists to keep their places of worship clean. Yet, only a dalit basti is seen fit for starting the national cleanliness campaign! Why? Because in the caste ridden popular consciousness of India, both dirt and broom are associated with dalits, the Balmiki caste in northern India, and other similar dalit castes in other parts of the country. 

Monday, October 13, 2014

हैदर के बहाने

-जावेद अनीस 

सियासत बेरहम हो सकती है, इतनी कि ऐसा जख्म दे कि वह नासूर बन जाए , ऐसा नासूर जिसे कई पीढ़ियाँ ढ़ोने को अभिशप्त हों , आगे चलकर यही सियासत इस नासूर पर बार-बार चोट भी करती जाती है ताकि यह भर ना सके और वे इसकी आंच पर अपनी रोटियां सेकते हुए सदियाँ बिता सकें। 1947 के बंटवारे ने इन उपमहादीप को कई ऐसे नासूर दिए हैं जिसने कई सभ्यताओं-संस्कृतियों और पहचानों को बाँट कर अलग कर दिया है जैसे पंजाब, बंगाल और कश्मीर भी। इस दौरान कश्मीर भारत और पाकिस्तान के लिए अपने-अपने राष्ट्रवाद के प्रदर्शन का अखाड़ा सा बन गया है। पार्टिशन से पहले एक रहे यह दोनों पड़ोसी मुल्क कश्मीर को लेकर दो जंग भी लड़ चुके हैं, छिटपुट संघर्ष तो बहुत आम है। आज कश्मीरी फौजी सायों और दहशत के संगिनियों में रहने को मजबूर कर दिए गये हैं। खुनी सियासत के इस खेल में अब तो लहू भी जम चूका है। आखिर “जन्नत” जहन्नम कैसे बन गया, वजह कुछ भी हो कश्मीर के जहन्नम बनने की सबसे ज्यादा कीमत कश्मीरियो ने ही चुकाई है,सभी कश्मीरियों ने। 

ऐसी कोई फिल्म याद नहीं आती है जो कश्मीर को इतने संवदेनशीलता के साथ प्रस्तुत करती हो लेकिन शेक्सपियर प्रेमी फ़िल्म डायरेक्टर विशाल भारद्वाज अपनी नयी फिल्म 'हैदर' में कश्मीर और “जन्नत के बाशिंदों” के दर्द को बहुत ही संवेदनशीलता के साथ उकेरने में कामयाब रहे है। इसी बात को लेकर आज दोनों मुल्कों में हंगामा बरपा है, दरअसल भारत और पाकिस्तान दोनों मुल्कों में कश्मीर पर खुल कर और अलग नजरिये से बात करना “टैबू” माना जाता है। पाकिस्तान में तो 'हैदर' रिलीज़ ही नहीं हो पायी क्योंकि वहां के सेंसर बोर्ड का मानना है कि फिल्म में कश्मीर को लेकर कुछ विवादास्पद बातें हैं और उन्हें इसके कहानी के कुछ हिस्सों पर एतराज़ है। इधर भारत में भी ‘हैदर’ को तारीफ के साथ साथ विरोध का भी सामना करना पड़ रहा है,सोशल मीडिया में इसको लेकर काफी विरोध हो रहा है।

लेकिन 'हैदर' कोई कश्मीर पर बनी फिल्म नहीं है और ना ही इसके मेकर ऐसा कोई दावा करते हैं,यह तो शेक्सपियर के मशहूर नाटक “हैमलेट” पर आधारित हैं, विशाल खुद कहते हैं कि ‘मैं 'हैमलेट' को कश्मीर में बनाना चाहता था लेकिन मेरी फिल्म में एक तरह से कश्मीर ही 'हैमलेट' बन गया है’। इससे पहले भी विशाल भारद्वाज “मैकबेथ” और “ओथेले” जैसी शेक्सपियर की रचनाओं पर 'मक़बूल' और 'ओंकारा' जैसी फिल्में बना चुके हैं। लेकिन इस बार उन्होंने “हैमलेट” को 'हैदर' बनाने के लिए ज्यादा यथार्थवादी और संवदेनशील कैनवास को चुना। एक फिल्मकार के लिए 'हैमलेट' और कश्मीर को एक साथ चुनना दो नावों की सवारी की तरह है, लेकिन फिल्म मेकिंग भी रचनाकर्म होता हैं और फिल्म मेकिंग जैसे बाजार पर निर्भर एरिया में दो नावों पर सवारी के लिए हिम्मत और काबलियत दोनों की जरूरत पड़ती है।

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Swach Bharat Abhiyan: Too Many Erasures

- Subhash Gatade

What is important to note that the Conference of the Untouchables which met in Mahad resolved that no untouchable shall skin the dead animals of the Hindus, shall carry it or eat the carrion. The object of these resolutions was twofold. The one object was to foster among the Untouchables self respect and self esteem. This was a minor object. The major object was to strike a blow at the Hindu Social Order.

The Hindu Social Order is based upon a division of labour which reserves for the Hindus clean and respectable jobs and assigns to the untouchables dirty and mean jobs and thereby clothes the Hindus with dignity and heaps ignominy upon the untouchables.

(The Revolt of the Untouchables, Excerpted from Essays on Untouchables and Untouchability : Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches, Vol 5 (Mumbai : Govt of Maharashtra, 1989, 256-58)

I.

The inauguration of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, (Clean India Campaign) with much fanfare, with ministers, bureaucrats and others holding Jhadoos (brooms) evoked an interesting reaction from a ragpicker Sanjay who lives in Mehrauli with his parents. “These are the same people from whose houses we pick up garbage every day. This is part of our life. We don’t really understand why they are making it such a big deal,” (PM’s Swachch Bharat Abhiyan has no place for Delhi’s 3 lakh rag pickers, Mallica Joshi , Hindustan Times New Delhi, October 03, 2014))

Sanjay happens to be one among a population of around 3,00,000 rag pickers (according to rough estimates) in Delhi, who are largely invisible and as expected live on the margins of society. It is a different matter that they play a major role in garbage management - right from collecting waste to segregating it for recycling. NGOs working with them feel that the city can easily come to a halt without them because they are the one 'who perform the basic task of taking garbage from people’s houses to dumps in most parts of the city.' At the time of Commonwealth Games held in Delhi few years back, the then state government had even provided few hundred ragpickers with dress and safety equipment etc 'acknowledging' the services they rendered to keep the city clean. 

Time seems to have changed now. As the above mentioned Hindustan Times report further adds; 'The government seems to be in complete denial of their presence even as they reap the benefits of their hard work."

The complete marginalisation of the ragpickers from the much tommed tommed Swachh Bharat Abhiyan does not appear surprising. It is rather symptomatic of the many other 'silences', 'erasures' which accompanied its launching. While analysts have rightly pointed out the manner in which legacy of the Mahatma is being 'reduced' to cleanliness obliterating his lifelong struggle against colonialism and communalisms of every kind and for an inclusive polity not much attention has been paid to the fact that the thrust of the campaign is to project a very samras (harmonious) picture of our society where cleanliness or the lack of it is connected with our 'duty' (Kartavya) towards 'Bharat Mata'. 

Perhaps one can have a look at the oath administered by the PM to everyone who joined this campaign.
“Ab hamara kartavya hain ki gandagi ko dhoor karke Bharat Mata ki sewa karein.” (Now, it is our duty to serve Mother India by removing the dirt.)
Did anyone hear any word about the pernicious 'caste system' during all the media frenzy which witnessed its launching ? Definitely not. In fact caste and related discriminations have become so common and ingrained in our psyche that the media did not find anything newsworthy in it. Perhaps when every other officer was getting ready to have his/her own moment with a broom in hand the mediawallahs decided not to talk about this unique system of hierarchy - legitimised by the wider society and sanctified by religion -which has condemned a section of its own people to the 'profession' of cleaning, sweeping and scavenging. What to tell the outside world that half of India still defecates in the open and there are lakhs of people who are still engaged in this 'profession' of shit collection. In fact, we have designated communities who have been 'forced' in this dehumanising work since centuries together

On closer look we can find that they go by many names in various parts of the country. As Gita Ramaswamy discusses in her book 'India Stinking' (Navayana, 2007) : They are Bhangi, Valmiki, methar, chuhra in Delhi, Dhanuk in UP, han, hadi in Bengal; mehtar, bhangi in Assam; methar in Hyderabad; Paki in coastal Andhra ; thotti in Tamil Nadu; mira, lalbegi, chuhra, balashahi in Punjab. Names may be different but they share the same fate : they belong to the bottom of the Hindu social hierarchy and are untouchables. And under the caste hierarchy, castes that consider themselves superior does enjoy a wider range of choice of occupations but the erstwhile untouchables, today's dalits have the least desirable occupations - removal of human excreta, cleaning, sweeping, leatherwork, skinning of dead animals, removal of human and cattle corpses, rearing of pigs etc. 

We know that despite sixty plus years of independence, while moneybags here can easily compete with moneybags in the advanced world, while rulers of India yearn to make 21 st century as India's century, there has not been any qualitative change in the lifeworlds of the majority of the dalits who are still lying at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Yes, a small section among them has definitely taken advantage of the affirmative action programme and is on the path of upward mobility, but for the majority amongst them, their is no qualitative change in their situation marked by deprivation and discrimination.

[NSI Statement] Can Caste Be Swept Away?

It is cleaning season in India. Country's prime minister has gone to town with a broom. He started the campaign to clean India by sweeping a dalit neighburhood of erstwhile untouchables, seemingly breaking many caste barriers. There are very few public defenders of caste system nowadays. Upper caste men and women, whose ancestors only three generations ago fought tooth and nail to not yield even an inch of their caste privileges, now cry and organise under the slogan of Equality, once affirmative action for lower castes in educational institutions and government jobs has begun to have some traction. Is now not an opportune time to sweep away the garbage of caste into the dustbin of history? 

Reality is too complex for this simple hope. If caste appears to be disregarded, or flouted, in some domains, its prejudices and violence are flourishing in others. The day country's news channels were busy showing the prime minister sweeping a dalit basti in the heart of the capital, a young woman of Madurai in Tamil Nadu was burnt alive by her family for marrying a dalit. She could have been from anywhere in the country, from Haryana in the North to Maharashtra in the West, or Bihar in the East, to have met a similar fate; if not murder, certainly social ostracism. In all villages, where majority of Indians live, habitation areas are divided along caste lines; upper castes occupying the most secure central areas with easiest access to public utilities like road, school, and panchayat ghar; and dalits on the outskirts. In cities too, where caste markers are less visible, caste networks are the most potent resource the poor fall back upon while searching for job and habitation. Come election time, the caste distribution of any constituency is the primary data for electoral calculations of every major political party. Caste remains a major determinant of personal life experiences. It stamps marriage and friendship of Indians, from a landless agricultural labourer to high professionals integrated into global economy. Yet, when one looks at the self-articulation of influential Indians about their country, caste is one social reality missing. The vision of the great future that country's prime minister painted for his fawning NRI audience at the Madison Square in New York had not a single reference to caste. Country's popular media, soap operas, films rarely refer to caste, in striking contrast to religion which is almost always carried on the sleeve. 

Why these two contrasting features of caste, its overwhelming presence in social reality, while simultaneous absence in dominant discourses? In fact, the absence of caste in India's dominant imaginings is not really an absence, a silence resulting from ignorance, lack of familiarity or interest. This absence comes along with a carefully crafted sub-text about caste, that serves the interests of a certain type of caste hegemony. Take the 'Swachh Bharat' campaign, a five year campaign to make India clean. If the campaign is successful, it will certainly make life better for every Indian, irrespective of caste, creed or religion. What better proof can be there of the universal concerns of the Indian state, or the currently ruling Bhartiya Janta Party, for the welfare of all? The inaugural 'event' of the campaign saw country's prime minister sweeping a Balmiki basti on 2nd October. But, why a dalit basti? Are these the dirtiest of the places in the country? Decades before Mr Modi went for his sweeping errand in the said bastee, Gandhi had lived there for a few days. Country's media and chatterati only saw the association with Gandhi on 2nd October, and his emphasis on cleanliness. But Gandhi had started his struggle (or rather experiments) with cleanliness by cleaning the community latrine at his Tolstoy farm in South Africa, much before he started the practice of living in Dalit bastees for a few days at a stretch, mainly after his conflict with Ambedkar over separate electorates for untouchables. Our prime minister is a proud Hindu, he would have surely known that surroundings of Hindu temples, or places of pilgrimages like Banaras, his parliamentary constituency, are among the filthiest in the country. Why not start a campaign of cleanliness from there? No secularist would have criticised him for that, for exhorting his co-religionists to keep their places of worship clean. Yet, only a dalit basti is seen fit for starting the national cleanliness campaign! Why? Because in the caste ridden popular consciousness of India, both dirt and broom are associated with dalits, the Balmiki caste in northern India, and other similar dalit castes in other parts of the country. Besides, the prime minister of the country cleaning a dalit basti follows the long tradition of politically dominant groups in India treating dalits condescendingly. Gandhi had started that tradition by christening untouchables as Harijans, a term much despised by dalit activists. If a politician is not willing to target the real scourge of dalits, the caste system, then the best s/he can do is to proclaim how worthy their condition is. Gandhi declared them 'God's people'; Mr Modi in one of his rare writings has declared cleaning others' filth a deeply 'spiritual' experience. Mr Modi's jaunt also fit like a glove with the strategy of his mentor organisation. The RSS, forever making stories to target Muslim community, has come up with a new theory for the condition of dalit castes in Hindu society. For it, pretty much like the second rate position of women among Hindus, the social deprivation of “untouchables” came about due to invasion of the country by the outsiders. RSS's is a concerted plan to bring dalit caste voters under its Hindutva fold, so that a solid electoral majority of all the so called Hindus can be created. Gandhi too had tried the same with his campaigns against untouchability. 

While the dominant political forces in the country have been trying to incorporate dalit castes within their political programmes, their poverty and oppression has continued. Sixty four years after the country was declared a republic based upon liberty and equality, the Balmikis in the heart of national capital are still living in a separate neighbourhood. Generations have come and gone, yet the overwhelming majority of them still clean city's filth. Many of them are employed by the government. But none of the governments have thought of providing them with mixed housing where their neighbours could be teachers, or clerks of other castes? Why this segregation? Why decades after government jobs were opened to all, irrespective of caste, one class of profession, that of cleaning public places, has been one hundred percent occupied by the men and women of only specific dalit castes?