Dalitocracy: Theory and Praxis of Dalit Politics [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Friends Our next book on Dalit Politics is readey for release. Please place your orders now. Dalitocracy Theory and Praxis of Dalit Politics Written by M C Raj and Jyothi Published by Ambedkar Resource Center, Tumkur Pages 275, price Rs.250/-, Pre-publication Price Rs.150/- The political conflict between Ambedkar and Gandhi on the issue of Separate Electorate for the depressed classes has thrown up many bitter lessons for future generations. Ambedkar was subdued to agree to the compromise formula of reserved seats for Dalits and not stake a claim for separate electorate which was not an illegitimate demand for any standards. Speaking of the victory of Mayavati in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh elections a learned friend of ours said that Mayavati has subdued the Brahmins in India. That is a highly exaggerated statement in our opinion. She did not go on a fast unto death, as did Gandhi against Ambedkar, to cow down the Brahmins of India. Only history will tell us who subdued whom in the UP elections. There is a big difference between the defeat of Ambedkar by Gandhi and the victory of Mayavati by an alliance with the Brahmin caste and other groups. In this gap are the political lessons that Dalits of India have to gather for future generations. This book was not guided in any way by the perception of the gap between two phenomena in the political horizon of Indian politics. Much before Mayavati won the elections many Dalit leaders were and still are quite disturbed about the lack of a political direction for the Dalits in the quagmire of Indian politics. In Dalitology, M C Raj touched upon the need for a Dalit political theory and has given glimpses of the constitutive elements of the much needed Dalit political theory. As against the classical political theory which has based itself on the bipolarity of power as dominance and power as resistance he has developed the tripolarity of power as dominance, power as resistance and has added power as participation. The epicenter of this book is the theoretical expansion of this Dalit political theory of power as participation with its logical extension of praxis. The Dalit political theory has been derived from a historical trajectory. Therefore, it becomes imperative to trace back this trajectory as well as to explicate the same from the particular angle from which politics is being perceived by Dalits in contemporary India. It is because of this need that Dalitocracy starts with a chapter on International Dalit Discourse. When the term International is used it basically means political positions that developed from the period of enlightenment with sporadic sprinkling from the ancient. One would be deceived if any cohesion in political theory during the period of enlightenment is expected. There are many trajectories in the international political discourse, adding a lot of beauty to the understanding of politics itself. However, the fossilization of one particular trajectory in our times has led to the contemporary form of democracy which somehow seems to have captured the imagination of political praxis till now. Those who developed political theories of cultural nationalism in India have also drawn innumerable lessons from the Western fascist discipline of politics. This is for the cynics who deride the tendency to learn from the West as if India is the ultimate source of all knowledge. The brand of cultural nationalism that has developed in India and is threatening Indian nationalism seriously is problematic in the Indian political scenario. It is evidently problematic as India is a multicultural nation. Unfortunately divergent cultures of India do not spring from the same source. That is the reason why Dalits are not allowed to enter the temples of the villages and some towns. The sources from which Indian cultural nationalists derived their inspiration also faced the same problems and have taken strong measures to come out of it. It is all the more so for the Dalits and other minorities. Any discourse of cultural nationalism in India will immediately throw up its conflicting face as that is what is aimed at the root. Just as in the West in India too political theory has developed in divergent and conflicting ways. Dalit political theory places itself in this divergence. When the legitimacy of divergence is recognized and received probably the way for a convergence among them will be made easy. However, if any one of the divergent groups is adamant and refuses to recognize the legitimacy of another divergent viewpoint or standpoint there will be conflict. Dalit political theory has been developed in a predominantly divergent trajectory of Indian politics. It will not take the exclusivist position of pushing out some viewpoints and standpoints from even the periphery of political discourse. Even a small difference adds its beauty to a big horizon. When Ambedkar demanded separate electorate for the Dalits the dominant caste groups of India castigated him for trying to separate the Dalits from mainstream politics. When the Dalit political theory of power as participation is understood in right perspective it becomes clear how Ambedkar was taking a lot of pains to integrate the Dalit people into the polity of this nation. The political leaders of this nation perhaps had no option when Jinnah demanded a separate nation for the Muslims based on their religious identity and unity. Probably Jinnah also had no option but to demand a separate nation in the emerging sectarian politics in India at least from some powerful sections of Indian society. But when Ambedkar demanded separate electorate there were all sorts of ascriptions to malign him and not to give in to his demands. Ambedkar did not demand a separate nation but only a separate electorate within the Indian nation. But the same caste leaders of India agreed to grant separate electorate to Muslims and Christians. Ambedkar then set about to establish a political position that the criterion for deciding who is a minority should not be based on religious category but on social category. The clamor for separation was so easily granted and the demand for integration through Dalit specificity was easily denied to the Dalit people. The message seems to be loud and clear: "If you want to integrate you do it under our terms and conditions. If you do not accept our terms and conditions you may go your way". The Dalit people will integrate themselves into Indian nationalism and its instruments and mechanisms of governance without sacrificing their specificity at any cost. This was the loud and clear message of Ambedkar and is also the political assertion of Dalitocracy. They will participate in national governance as an empowered community of people rather than as a subjugated community. Integration naturally brings with it participation as an inevitable consequence. Dalit participation has a history in this country. It has a history of leading to subjugation which should normally become an anathema in contemporary political theory and praxis. Dalit participation should not be allowed to get submerged into the wily shenanigans of caste politics in India. It is imperative that Indian politics moves into an arena of uncompromising principles of enhancing participation of all sections of Indian society into the instruments and mechanisms of governance. The present electoral system has too many roadblocks to allow such participation. When there is an erosion of values of governance power becomes a question of number and politics becomes a number game. Representative democracy is a symbolic manifestation of the sacrifice of values in the altar of power as dominance. When politics and governance become sheer numbers game manipulation becomes inevitable. Political expediency is an acceptable compromise. But political manipulation of participation will lead to engineered exclusion of sections of people from governance. Therefore, there is a need for all groups of people in India to find their legitimate space in the instruments and mechanisms of governance in India. Such a legitimate space in governance will be possible by reforming the Indian electoral system from the present majoritarian system to proportional electoral system so that all sections of people find their legitimate number in a representative democracy. Ambedkar himself changed his earlier vigorous demand for separate electorate later in the year 1955 and moved towards an assertion to give appropriate representation to Dalits through multimember electoral constituencies. Dalitocracy carries forward the chariot of Dalit liberation from this point of 1955. In order to do this a research has been done on German Electoral System which is a Mixed Proportional Representation System. The research was done in Germany itself. Among the many countries that have proportionate representation system in their electoral processes Germany was chosen because of the many common features that cultural nationalism has between Germany and India. Germany has struggled hard to arrest the resurgence of fascism by executing many reformation and changes in its electoral system. Therefore, it will be good for India to look at the political trajectories that Germany has traversed through. If India is serious about the representation of all groups and communities of people in governance then the immediate need is to reform its electoral system to a proportionate representation system. Countries of the West that swear by Individualism and citizenship of individuals have taken such a lot of pain to usher in proportionate representation in their electoral politics. This is amazing and India has a few leaves to take from the books of governance from many nations in different parts of the world who have shifted their electoral system to the proportional one. Dalitocracy is laying a small foundation for that. More and more countries of the world are further giving up the majoritarian electoral system and are taking up the proportionate electoral system. The legacy of the majoritarian electoral system that India borrowed from England fits perfectly well with the dominant design of the caste order. The level of sincerity towards genuine democracy in the ruling caste/class will be manifested by the level of interest it shows in changing the legacy that it has gained from the British. Dalitocracy is not a book of mere political theory. It would not serve the purpose of the Dalit communities in India if it remained so. Therefore, we have made it our task in this book to also integrate the praxis of Dalit politics. In order to do justice to this praxis we have taken the example of the Dalit Panchayat Movement in the District of Tumkur in Karnataka of which we are also the founders. The Dalit Panchayat Movement has grown to the level of establishing its own Dalit Parliament in Tumkur District. Dalit Panchayat is an assertion of the Dalit people that we have arrived as a community of people. In order to establish the Dalit Parliament there was a big election in the model of the German electoral system. It worked well. This praxis is set against the conceptualization of Dalit Panchayat which was originally written in Dalitology. The Dalit people with its very long history of unmitigated oppression cannot hope to participate meaningfully in governance unless it also gains its internal strength. Such strength has to be realized in the instruments and mechanisms of governance. All caste communities in India have gained this strength by evolving and implementing such mechanisms internally within their communities. Such an opportunity was never available to the Dalit communities as they were never positively allowed to do so by the caste society. The dominant caste society always wanted to push their normative order down the throat of the Dalit people. The dominant caste 'revolutionaries' of India have to give a serious thought to this dimension of Dalit development if they are serious about the progress of India. It will do a lot of good to the country and even to the caste society if they welcome the internal governance of the Dalit people as a community of people and enhance their participation in national governance as an empowered community. It will be a travesty of truth if the entire blame for the state of affairs vis-à-vis the Dalit communities is taken exclusively to the door of the 'others'. Dalit leadership and Dalit intelligentsia have to take as much blame as it is their due. In as much as demands are made to the caste society to come down from the top layers of the social order on which they have perched themselves the Dalit leadership and Intelligentsia also have a duty to move up the ladder along with their people. The Dalit communities all over the country are producing innumerable political leaders only to be easily devoured by the vultures that hover over their heads kling fully well that they become easy prey to the short sighted attractions. Like swarms of flied that fly in millions immediately after a heavy rain Dalit leaders emerge from nowhere only to knock themselves against the attracting light and die or to be eaten away by stronger insects that are in the waiting for such prey. Dalitocracy stresses the need for genuine introspection in the interest of the community as well as of the nation. There is innate strength in the Dalit community. There is also a dire need to identify the different dimensions of this innate strength and build the future of the community as well as the future of India on this strength. Eternal lamenting over what other people are doing to us will not solve the problems of the Dalit communities. It may at best expose the weakness of others but it is no way to fight caste system and move up the social and political ladder in India. Unless the Dalit community as whole moves up these two ladders the dream for economic development will remain only a mirage. Dalitocracy gives an inside view of the problematic in Dalit progress today. In Dalitology which is by now an internationally acclaimed book of M C Raj, the constitutional structure of the Dalit Panchayat and their roles and responsibilities are spread out in great detail. In Dalitocracy the constitutive structures of the Dalit Parliament are laid out with fine details of the processes for conducting the elections, counting of votes, formation of the Dalit Parliament etc. In great detail Dalitocracy also explicates how the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Dalit Parliament should be elected and how the Supreme Council of Dalit Parliament should be set up. The rules and regulations for conducting the Dalit Parliament meetings and the formation of different ministries are also explained well in the final chapters of Dalitocracy. The establishment of the Dalit Panchayat Parliament is a symbolic manifestation of the aspiration of the Dalit communities to become democratic elites on their own rights within the structures of governance in India. While the traditional aristocracy had usurped the right to rule over peoples of the world from a position of power as dominance the Dalit elite will rule over the people of India from a position of power as participation. Therefore, can we call them Dalit aristocracy? Usage of this language immediately throws up its contradicting rationality and emotions. Traditional aristocracy and Dalit elite are two poles apart representing two worldviews. That is the reason why a new term is coined. This is Dalitocracy which will mark a new era in the discipline of political governance by the Dalits. It is in Dalit governance with its rich history, culture and expertise that there is a hope for humanity. Kanshiram-Mayavati combine has captured political power in the biggest state of India. This is no mean achievement. They have succeeded in their number game. This is not the end of the road too. At the end of the tunnel of this success stand dominant forces with wry smile on their faces also gloating over the success they have achieved in this 'Dalit victory'. The model they have established to capture power to govern is in serious need of interrogation. Euphoria apart, all those who are involved in the evolution of the strategy in Uttar Pradesh must do an introspection on how this power will be sustained to the best interest of the Dalits and other marginalized communities in India. If this powe is not sustained by the Dalit communities it will only lead to further instrumentalization of the Dalit people. This success must also egg on the rest of the Dalit communities in different parts of India to interrogate the viability and sustainability of the number game that Ambedkar proposed on 27 August 1955. Dalitocracy proposes a congruence between the Dalit worldview and its relevant and numerical representation in the instruments and mechanisms of national governance. We are pretty sure Dalitocracy will go a long way in paving a small path in this very positive direction in the long term interest of the Dalit people primarily and also of the whole country secondarily. Jai Booshakthi! Jai Bhim! M C Raj & Jyothi Rural Education for Development Society Shanthinagar Tumkur 572102 Karnataka, India Phone: Raj-(0)9845144893
