Ignoring social realities, while pursuing political reforms, has so far compounded the gap between the other castes and Dalits. But irresponsible and ‘cheap’ comments by politicians either for short-term electoral gains or for cajoling a particular class of fanatic section of society will do no good to rebuilding a composite culture and a renewed ‘idea of India’

Despite enacting several laws for preventing violence against Dalits, the community continues to be under attack with the media unfailingly reporting about incidents of violence against Dalits.

What does it mean and how long will this continueIJ

The answers to these questions have remained elusive for centuries as we have refused to change our mindsets even when globalisation has helped us to interact with the world in a better way. In the true sense of the term, the Independence that we rejoice about so much has never brought freedom to the Dalits.

Ironically, though the Dalits constitute more than 16 per cent of the total population of the country, they are largely fragmented on different socio-political lines. It prevents them to come under one “political umbrella.” Hence suggesting the Dalits to organise them within one political formation would be totally futile.

As the nation celebrates the 125th birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar, successive political establishments at the Centre, irrespective of their ideological orientations, and former Mayawati-led BSP Government in Uttar Pradesh failed to stop atrocities against the community.

The journey to social reform in India is strewn with formidable difficulties. Recognising this fact Social Conference and the Indian National Congress (INC) during the freedom struggle had come up with ways to address the problems of the social hierarchy in Hindu society. But problems didn’t go away as top-ranking politicians wanted the freedom struggle to concentrate more on larger issues, basically “political reforms.”

Ambedkar wrote, “Thus in course of time, the party in favour of political reforms won and the Social Conference vanished and was forgotten. The speech delivered by WC Bonnerji in 1892 at Allahabad as president of the eight session of the Congress, sounds like a funeral oration at the death of the Social Conference, and is so typical of the Congress attitude…” (Extracts from the speech prepared by Ambedkar for the 1936 Annual Conference of the Jat-Pat-Todak Mandal of lahore).

In the 1892 Congress, Bonnerji said, “I for one have no patience with those who saw we shall not be fit for political reform until we reform our social system. I fail to see any connection between the two…Are we not fit (for political reform) because our widows remain unmarried and our girls are given in marriage earlier than in other countriesIJ Because our wives and daughters do not drive about with us visiting our friendsIJ Because we do not send our daughters to Oxford and CambridgeIJ”

Thus a death knell was sounded on the social reform initiatives in the formative years of the INC. These leaders felt that there was hardly any bearing of social reform on political reform.

In fact, the Social Conference fought for banning child marriage, and advocated for widow remarriage, etc. This clearly reveals their interest in reforming the Hindu family, but not for reorganisation or breaking up of the Hindu society. But today, we have become a part of a world revolutionised by technology and information in which we can well bury our past differences prevailing within Hindu society as reconstructing would be an uphill task.

This is not to say that President or Prime Minister have not spoken against the increasing number of cases related to gruesome murder, assault and sexual violence against Dalit women. But their gestures have been nothing but seasonal. larger issue permanently lies with a broad-based social reform agenda spearheaded by both the media and civil society organisations followed by unbiased police action and judicial activism.

Surely, irresponsible and “cheap” comments by politicians either for short term electoral gains or for cajoling a particular class of fanatic section of society would do no good to rebuilding a composite culture and a renewed “idea of India”.

In this regard, what Ambedkar wrote in 1936 bears strong relevance even today, “That political reform cannot with impunity take precedence over social reform in the sense of reconstruction of society is a thesis which I am sure, cannot be controverted.”

Ignoring social realities, while pursuing political reforms, has so far compounded the gap between the upper castes and Dalits even today which is highly disturbing for co-existence in several parts of the country.

Pounding on Dalits has become a regular exercise, whether motivated by political reasons or by age-old caste prejudices. It’s a national shame that the Centre and respective State Governments have not been able to prevent caste-related atrocities for the last many years.

Also, it’s unfortunate that no Sahitya Akademi award winners have ever returned their awards in support of increasing attacks on Dalits. Moreover, they are yet to take out protests demanding actions from the Government.

Such a gesture would have sent right signals both to the Dalit community in the country in particular and to the international community at large. It is well documented and remembered how revered social activists like Anna Hazare came out to Delhi to register protest against deepening corruption. Finally, how the same stage was taken over by Arvind Kejriwal to mobilise people against the menace of corruption and later on for mounting pressure on the Government to bring in the most stringent laws to prevent rape following the December 16, 2012, incident in which a girl was brutally raped on a moving bus in Delhi.

It was such a symbolic and forceful protest and equally a clamour for justice for women, which many of us had never witnessed in our lifetime.

Of course “Writers Matter” as eminent historian Ramachandra Guha says, but it is hoped that such aam aadmi and writers would once again come up to raise their voices for the safety of the Dalits, particularly Dalit women in the years to come. With a combination of continued writings, struggles and stringent laws would surely make way for “achchhe din”, wherein no Dalits would ever see them as second class citizens.

(The writer is a political analyst based in Delhi)