Bharat Jhunjhunwala
Caste-based reservations, and the vote banks they have helped create, have led to deepening of caste divisions instead of eliminating them. Even Muslims are organizing themselves nowadays as a vote bank. The problem is rooted in the theoretical inconsistencies inherent in the Poona Pact reached between Dr BR Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi. Dr Ambedkar wanted the formation of separate constituencies of Dalits. He wanted to make sure that upper caste individuals would have no room to make mischief among Dalits. He was afraid that ‘‘joint constituencies with reservations’’, as proposed by Gandhi, and finally agreed to by Ambedkar, would lead to election of individuals who will basically toe the line of upper castes. Only such a Dalit will be elected from reserved constituency who was willing to be co-opted by the upper castes.
Dr Ambedkar’s fear has proven true. It is seen that Dalits elected from reserved constituencies hardly ever raise issues such as those of land reforms, employment, speedy justice etc that are important for the majority of Dalit voters of the country. They are content with cosmetic issues like more stringent prohibition on caste-based abuses. Indeed, Dalit representatives are helpless. They have to secure support of upper caste voters for getting elected. In exchange they have to give up pro-Dalit and pro-poor demands such as that of land reforms, eating of employment by big companies and leakage of money from welfare schemes. Clearly, Poona Pact has proven ineffective to ameliorate the economic conditions of Dalits. And economic deprivation has overflowed into social deprivation. Gandhi once said that food is the God of poor. The Dalits have been substantially liberated from social injustices but they remain foodless and Godless. This is the logical outcome of focus on social empowerment via raising of individual Dalit leaders such as Jagjivan Ram, Mayawati and Ram Vilas Paswan.
Gandhi, it seems, was aware of this danger. He was against forming separate constituencies because that would strengthen birth as the main identity of the person. It would lock the Dalits into their lower caste perpetually. This will create permanent hostility between Dalits and upper castes. The focus of liberation would become social instead of economic. Gandhi wanted that Dalit-hood of the Dalits should be obliterated without leaving a trace whatsoever. In hindsight, it can be argued that Dalits elected from separate Dalit constituencies could also be co-opted by the upper castes. It is seen that Dalit IAS officers are very keen to get accepted in upper caste society and some are even cruel towards their fellow Dalits. Neither Ambedkar nor Gandhi had a solution to the problem at hand because both were working on the basis of birth-based caste.
This is, in my humble understanding, a false premise. The jati is actually only name of a profession. Indian society was fundamentally organized by profession or livelihood. Farmers made the jati of Yadav and so on. The jatis were then classified as most suitable for a particular varna. But the relationship between jati and varna was not absolute. The Rig Veda mentions a Brahmin betel nut seller and we find story of a butcher guru in the Mahabharata. The butcher of the Mahabharata was a Brahmin by varna or temperament even though Sudra by jati. A butcher who organizes his clan and dispenses justice in the jati panchayat would be a Kshatriya. One who makes money by running a modern slaughterhouse would be a Vaisya. One who served in the slaughterhouse would be a Sudra. Likewise, we can see the four varnas among college teachers. Some do true research, others engage in elections of the managing committee, run tutorial colleges to make money, or are content with living a comfortable life on their secure salaries. It is not correct, therefore, to fix a person’s varna according to his profession or jati. The true basis of varna is temperament of the person. Individuals having temperament of truth, violence, moneymaking and comfortable life are to be classified as Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra respectively. All four varnas are found in each jati.
Livelihood is the central concern of all people. It is best that farmers, workers, traders and soldiers are organized in their jatis. The problem exists not in jati or profession-based organization of society but in the wrong stipulation that jati is determined by birth. We must move forward to reestablishing profession-based society. Livelihood is the natural way of people to come together. It would be appropriate, therefore, to establish profession-based constituencies. Farmers, workers, traders, soldiers etc should be made members of their respective constituencies. Jati of a person should be determined by his present profession, not by his birth, which is the same as profession of his ancestors. Every individual should be free to self-declare his jati. Of course, having done so, he would have to conform to the rules of his profession just as a lawyer is answerable to the Bar Council of India.
This arrangement would be satisfactory for Dr Ambedkar. He wanted separate constituencies for the Dalits. This demand will be met in essence because many professions such as farm labourers have Dalit majority. This arrangement would also be acceptable to Gandhi. There will be no branding of a person according to his birth. A person who is born in a family of agricultural labourers but becomes an IAS officer would spontaneously move to that jati and constituency of government servants. There will remain no need for reservations in this arrangement.
Many Dalits have migrated to higher professions, courtesy reservations in elections and government jobs. Reservations have opened the gates for change of profession. The sad part is that a Dalit remains a Dalit even after embracing the new jati. There is no escape for him from his birth. The present jati-based politics has become retrogressive. It is based on birth. Thus, there is no possibility of a Dalit wholly overcoming his Dalit-hood in the present dispensation. It is time that we undid the damage of the Poona Pact. Let us reorganize our society in professional constituencies. THE SENTINEL
Caste-based reservations, and the vote banks they have helped create, have led to deepening of caste divisions instead of eliminating them. Even Muslims are organizing themselves nowadays as a vote bank. The problem is rooted in the theoretical inconsistencies inherent in the Poona Pact reached between Dr BR Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi. Dr Ambedkar wanted the formation of separate constituencies of Dalits. He wanted to make sure that upper caste individuals would have no room to make mischief among Dalits. He was afraid that ‘‘joint constituencies with reservations’’, as proposed by Gandhi, and finally agreed to by Ambedkar, would lead to election of individuals who will basically toe the line of upper castes. Only such a Dalit will be elected from reserved constituency who was willing to be co-opted by the upper castes.
Dr Ambedkar’s fear has proven true. It is seen that Dalits elected from reserved constituencies hardly ever raise issues such as those of land reforms, employment, speedy justice etc that are important for the majority of Dalit voters of the country. They are content with cosmetic issues like more stringent prohibition on caste-based abuses. Indeed, Dalit representatives are helpless. They have to secure support of upper caste voters for getting elected. In exchange they have to give up pro-Dalit and pro-poor demands such as that of land reforms, eating of employment by big companies and leakage of money from welfare schemes. Clearly, Poona Pact has proven ineffective to ameliorate the economic conditions of Dalits. And economic deprivation has overflowed into social deprivation. Gandhi once said that food is the God of poor. The Dalits have been substantially liberated from social injustices but they remain foodless and Godless. This is the logical outcome of focus on social empowerment via raising of individual Dalit leaders such as Jagjivan Ram, Mayawati and Ram Vilas Paswan.
Gandhi, it seems, was aware of this danger. He was against forming separate constituencies because that would strengthen birth as the main identity of the person. It would lock the Dalits into their lower caste perpetually. This will create permanent hostility between Dalits and upper castes. The focus of liberation would become social instead of economic. Gandhi wanted that Dalit-hood of the Dalits should be obliterated without leaving a trace whatsoever. In hindsight, it can be argued that Dalits elected from separate Dalit constituencies could also be co-opted by the upper castes. It is seen that Dalit IAS officers are very keen to get accepted in upper caste society and some are even cruel towards their fellow Dalits. Neither Ambedkar nor Gandhi had a solution to the problem at hand because both were working on the basis of birth-based caste.
This is, in my humble understanding, a false premise. The jati is actually only name of a profession. Indian society was fundamentally organized by profession or livelihood. Farmers made the jati of Yadav and so on. The jatis were then classified as most suitable for a particular varna. But the relationship between jati and varna was not absolute. The Rig Veda mentions a Brahmin betel nut seller and we find story of a butcher guru in the Mahabharata. The butcher of the Mahabharata was a Brahmin by varna or temperament even though Sudra by jati. A butcher who organizes his clan and dispenses justice in the jati panchayat would be a Kshatriya. One who makes money by running a modern slaughterhouse would be a Vaisya. One who served in the slaughterhouse would be a Sudra. Likewise, we can see the four varnas among college teachers. Some do true research, others engage in elections of the managing committee, run tutorial colleges to make money, or are content with living a comfortable life on their secure salaries. It is not correct, therefore, to fix a person’s varna according to his profession or jati. The true basis of varna is temperament of the person. Individuals having temperament of truth, violence, moneymaking and comfortable life are to be classified as Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra respectively. All four varnas are found in each jati.
Livelihood is the central concern of all people. It is best that farmers, workers, traders and soldiers are organized in their jatis. The problem exists not in jati or profession-based organization of society but in the wrong stipulation that jati is determined by birth. We must move forward to reestablishing profession-based society. Livelihood is the natural way of people to come together. It would be appropriate, therefore, to establish profession-based constituencies. Farmers, workers, traders, soldiers etc should be made members of their respective constituencies. Jati of a person should be determined by his present profession, not by his birth, which is the same as profession of his ancestors. Every individual should be free to self-declare his jati. Of course, having done so, he would have to conform to the rules of his profession just as a lawyer is answerable to the Bar Council of India.
This arrangement would be satisfactory for Dr Ambedkar. He wanted separate constituencies for the Dalits. This demand will be met in essence because many professions such as farm labourers have Dalit majority. This arrangement would also be acceptable to Gandhi. There will be no branding of a person according to his birth. A person who is born in a family of agricultural labourers but becomes an IAS officer would spontaneously move to that jati and constituency of government servants. There will remain no need for reservations in this arrangement.
Many Dalits have migrated to higher professions, courtesy reservations in elections and government jobs. Reservations have opened the gates for change of profession. The sad part is that a Dalit remains a Dalit even after embracing the new jati. There is no escape for him from his birth. The present jati-based politics has become retrogressive. It is based on birth. Thus, there is no possibility of a Dalit wholly overcoming his Dalit-hood in the present dispensation. It is time that we undid the damage of the Poona Pact. Let us reorganize our society in professional constituencies. THE SENTINEL
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