---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: MN sanil <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 08-Jul-2005 15:16
DALITS IN KERALA
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Dalits in Kerala are trying to assert in ambigous ways.Identity
politics has become the dominant feature of contemporary politcal
scenario in Kerala.
Uppercaste/middlecaste organisations like NSS and SNDP play a vital
role in the reactionary/hierarchical/patriarchal identity
politcs.Muslims and christians are supporting probrahmanic
ideology.But,they are trying to interact within the dominant hindu
discourse in a different manner.Muslims and christians play as
opportunistic/populist counter hindutva agents.Dalits are fragmented
on the basis of class,subcaste,gender,region etc.But,some of them are
active in the sankritised/subcasteist patriarchal organisations like
Pulaya Mahasabha,Sambhava Mahasabha etc.But,such apolitcal caste
organisations lack the ideological potential to tackle the current
threats of neohindutva forces.They are trying to revive
antimodernist/revivalistic caste politcs.Dalits are the main cadres in
the leftist forces of kerala.Uppercasteist/brahmanic left do not
possess any agenda to qustion the existing forms of graded
inequality.Dalits remain as a new slave in the stalinist hierarchy of
leftist forces.
Opportunistic dalits are working in different competitive populist
groups to acquire a sanskritised mainstream kerala society.Due to the
emerging dalit assertion,some of the articulate dalits have
foregrounded the critique of casteist populism.In order to appropriate
the sceptical/articulate dalit minority,right wing/casteist forces are
using the jargon'dalit'.Theoreticall,they are trying to intellectually
subordinate dalit assertion as new social movement.Most othe brahmanic
left/rightwing intellectuals deny the dalit politcal history to
neutralise the current dalit assertion.At the sametime,they are
reluctant to start anti caste struggle based on the neo readings of
Ambedkar political philosophy.After the Muthanga adivaasi land
struggle,Adivasi Rahtreeya Mahasabha became popular among the poor
dalit-tribals.Actually,they have started to problematise the land
question of dalit-adivaasis.Adivasi Rashtreeya Mahasabha exist as a
antimodernist/revivalistic/dalit-adivaasi patriarchal
political group. .But,it will degenerate in to the narrow
identitarian politics without any vision.Dalit-Adivasi middleclass is
not interested in the anti statusquoist dalit-adivasi politics.They
considerb the term dalit as a means of selfrespect.Dalit-tribal
middleclass employ dominant/subordinate forms of print culture to
assert their question of identity.Most of the non dalit mallu cultural
elites are non interested in the current dalit assertion.For
example,nondalit writers like Anand,V.C.Sreejan,P.K.Rajasekharan have
expressed their their anti dalit sentiments through their brahmanic
writings.They criticise dalit intellectuals/writers for dalit
assertion.Nondalit writers are not ready to debuk the casteist
mainstream kerala society.They are trying to reduce the word dalit as
a casteist theoretical construction.But,the dominant dalit
intellectual K.K.Kochu criticised their casteist critique of
contemporary dalit assertion.But,the word 'dalit' question the
hegemony of casteist
indian society.The dominant malayalam cultural
practices(Literature,Performing arts,Visual media, artists' groups
etc) are brahmanic in every respect.But,contemporary print/visual
culture exploit dalit assertion for profit maximisation.Dalit
assertion is being segmented for the tastes of the
apolitical/brahmanic readers.Media is trying to attract readers from
dalits,adivasis,minorities,women,left/radical left members etc.Due to
the (pseudo) politcal market segmentation,nondalit/uppercaste cultural
elites used to appear as pro dalit activists.They are trying to
acquire space within the current media politcal terrain.Radical
marxist-leninists have failed to address the real question of the
caste in the so called gods' own country -kerala.They are not
interested to start anti brahmanic struggle in the casteist indian
society.Some of the official marxist writers like K.E.N.Kunhammad have
started using the construction like dalit-OBC alliance to counter the
brahmanic forces.Actually,they
are trying to revive the ideological mantra of BSP to exploit the
current dalit assertion.He is trying to suppress the antidalit
practices of OBCs in the private/public kerala society.Muslim
organisation employ the same slogan to woo dalits.But,coverted
dalit(muslims) are sterotyped by their so called real
muslims.Nondalit casteist rumours based on the dalits exprss their
anti dalit sentiments.This kind of stereotyping exist at the micro
level of the casteist kerala.Dalit christians react as real christians
in order to hide their oppression in the uppercasetist structure of
christian religions.Some of them are trying to fight as dalit
christians.Uppercaste Christian think-tanks are aware of this
ideological shift of dalit christians.So,they are trying to remold
dalit christianity with the ideology Mahatma Jyotiba
Phule,Dr.B.R.Ambedkar,Ayootheedasan etc.Previously,they employed
uppercasetist indian nation congress' ideology to covert dalits in to
their uppercasteist
christianity.Dalit christians used to behave as a dominant christians
to project their false identity.Dalits are awrare of such painful
masquerades.But,they are not ready to identify with dalits.Sankritised
dalits are not interested in their casteist background. Dalit
christians are trapped in the sansritsed dalit-uppercasteist
minorites' ideological prisons. New religious cults are trying to
attract dalit-adivasis.It represents the withdrawal of nation-state
from the social security.The so called secualar/progressive forces
have failed to resist the brahmanic onslaught of hindutva forces.New
religious forces use visual communications to give new casteist
theoretical insights for the ancient brahmanic texts.
Dalit-adivasi students suffer from the discriminations from the
brahmanic educational institutes.Dalit student Rajani.S.Anand commited
suicide due to teh antidalit policies of different brahmanic
institutions. Dalits Student Federation tried to address the issues of
dalit-adivassi students.But,it could not emerge as a anti brahmanic
dalit students' force. Other left/radical left students organization
conside dalit students as other students.They are working in a
apolitcal politcal terrain which is marked by the brahmanic ideology.
Dalit students are criticised by their nondalit counterparts for
positive discrimination.Non dalit students could not read postive
discrimination as a constitutional privilege of dalit students.Dalit
women are the direct victims of dalit patriarchy.Dalit individals find
it difficult nto exist within the hierarchichal/dalit patriarchal
families.Reactionary uppercaste cultural elites used to romanticise
the shared poverty within the dalit patriarchal
families.Dyanamic dalit intelligentsia should raise the question of
egalitarian communitarian politics.But,the multifaceted aspirations of
dalits will determine the political content of that platform.
Kerala is projected as a site of positive social
change.Dalit-adivaasi think-tank should emerge to raise the issues of
dalit-adivassis inthe post globalised indian society.Sanskritised
dalits are trapped in the fantasies of mallu cultural
industry.Apolitical/fragmented dalit identites are shaped by the
consumerist kerala society.
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