http://www.tehelka.com/story_main31.asp?filename=Cr230607shadowlines.asp
DAULAT RAM BHAGAT SHADOW LINES THE DALIT VOICE 'EDUCATED DALITS DO NOT WANT US TO RISE' This is the last of a four-part series based on a conversation between Yoginder Sikand and Daulat Ram Bhagat, a Kashmiri schoolteacher from the Scheduled Caste Megh community There is no real independent Dalit movement in Doda, although the Bahujan Samaj Party has a slight presence here. There is hardly any Ambedkarite movement among the Dalits of Doda. Only a few educated Dalits have heard of Babasaheb Ambedkar. I came to know about him very late in my life. One problem Dalits here face is that there is hardly any Dalit literature available in the district. There are no Dalit organisations here. It seems that some educated Dalits do not want our own people to rise, fearing that they might compete with them. Our people cling to Hinduism. For centuries they have been conditioned to believe they are inferior, so they want to hide their identity I think, as Babasaheb Ambedkar insisted, conversion to an egalitarian religion is essential for Dalit self-respect. Can Dalits gain self-respect while still being treated as Hindus for political purposes? Personally, I don't consider myself a Hindu. How can I be a Hindu when I am told by the Hindu scriptures that I am 'low' and 'inferior' to a Brahmin just because of my birth? The Hindu books say that just because I am a Dalit I don't have the right to read the Vedas. So, how can I call myself a Hindu? But our people still cling to Hinduism because they have been conditioned to do so for centuries. They have been made to believe that by holding on to the tail of a cow they can attain heaven! Our people have been made to believe that they are inferior, and so they want to hide their identity. Several educated Dalits try to pass off as 'upper' caste Hindus. If they do that, of course they cannot work for their own people, because when 'upper' caste people see them doing so they will know they are actually Dalits trying to pass off as something else. That is the bane of many of our educated people, who received education and other facilities precisely because of their caste. My own daughter used to study in a college in Jammu; she lived in a hostel there. She clearly told me not to mention our caste name, Bhagat, on my letters to her, fearing that her fellow-students would come to know that she was a Dalit. That is the sort of fear, the urge to deny one's identity. In this situation, mobilising as Dalits for our rights and identities is, as you can imagine, an uphill struggle. Concluded Jun 23 , 2007
