7/18/2019 The Hindu Editorial - 2015-10-23

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10 | THE HINDU FRIDAY,OCTOBER23,2015

NOIDA/DELHIEDITORIAL

Friday, October 23, 2015

 The murder of two children of a Dalit family inFaridabad is part of a disturbing pattern of vio-lence against the Scheduled Castes in Haryana.National Crime Records Bureau data put the

number of incidents of crimes against Dalits in Haryanain 2014 at 830. The corresponding figure for 2013 was 493;for 2012 it was 252. Haryana has often been in the newsfor all the wrong reasons so far as the question of caste-related incidents are concerned. It has witnessed manymajor atrocities on Dalits before — including the Jhajjarkilling of five Dalits in 2002, the burning of Dalit housesin Gohana in 2005, and the killing of two Dalits at Mirch-pur in 2010. These atrocities apart, the State has been no-torious for its Khap (clan) panchayats that have hit outagainst marriages outside a given caste or within a clan.Successive State governments including the present oneled by the Bharatiya Janata Party have been unable toshow the resolve to confront such tendencies up front.Political leaders have generally shied away from ques-tioning the regressive aspects of tradition in the State.However, Haryana isn’t the lone culprit where violence

against Dalits is concerned. NCRB data show high inci-dence of such atrocities in States such as Uttar Pradesh,Rajasthan, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, among others.

Despite two crucial laws to deal with crimes againstDalits – the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, and theScheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 – the high incidence of violenceagainst them is disturbing. While this shows the socialvulnerability of Dalits even decades after reservationand dedicated laws meant to uplift and empower themwere put in place, the gradual improvement in their ma-terial status may in fact have led to a rise in atrocities.For, increased Dalit independence and assertion are notto the liking of the dominant castes, especially in thecountryside. There is little doubt that the rise of a middleclass among Dalits since Independence — thanks largelyto the reservation policy — has made these issues politi-cally sensitive. With Dalits emerging as a pressure groupconstituting about 16 per cent of India’s population, anysuch incident leads to a political outcry. One such waswitnessed on October 21 when Congress leader RahulGandhi visited the village and political leaders in poll-bound Bihar tweeted about it. Their votes have made the

voice of the Dalits matter to an extent. But all this is stillprimarily at the level of political discourse; more needsto happen on the ground. The answer would perhaps liein sensitising the police to act with alacrity in cases inwhich people are denied their right to life with dignity,and in more effectively communicating egalitarian ideasvis-à-vis caste within society. Unless Indian societymakes amends, such incidents will keep sullying thecountry’s name.

Dalits as

easy targets

 The sweeping victory of the Liberals led by J us-tin Trudeau in Canada marks a significant po-litical shift in the North American countrywhich had been ruled by the Conservatives

since 2006. Though the Liberals were expected to leadthe pack, the margin of the victory took many by sur-

prise. They won 184 seats in the 338-member Parliament,while the Conservative Party secured 99 seats and theleftist New Democrats 44. The victory is particularly im-portant for Mr. Trudeau, who was brought to the party’sleadership after the Liberals were routed in the 2011 elec-tion. Since 2006, the Canadian political spectrum hadlurched well to the right, helping Stephen Harperemerge as the strongest Conservative politician in years.While he drew legitimacy from his government’s eco-nomic record in his early years as Prime Minister, manyof his decisions were controversial. There was discon-tent among a large number of Canadians against his divi-sive religious policies — the controversial ban on face-covering at citizenship ceremonies was an example —and growingly authoritarian tendencies. His act of cut-ting down on several government-funded programmesin the name of fiscal tightening was largely unpopular,particularly among the middle class. But surprisingly,Mr. Harper’s poll managers shied away from addressingsuch discontent, and instead sought to build a negativecampaign focussed on the 43-year-old Mr. Trudeau’slack of experience and the “dynastic politics”. Conserva-tives often described Mr. Trudeau as “not just ready” to

become the Prime Minister. But the Canadian peoplehave clearly repudiated such misgivings.

What Mr. Trudeau got right during the election cam-paign was his focus on optimism and positivity. Insteadof returning the Conservative jibes, he vowed to reclaimCanada’s “core values” — a strong social security sys-tem, active participation in international organisations,and an inclusive nationhood. Laying down a clear policyalternative, Mr. Trudeau, who calls himself a “proudfeminist”, pledged to revise Mr. Harper’s anti-terrorismlaws and end the country’s combat role in the U.S.-ledfight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. He alsopromised to legalise marijuana. Moreover, the Conser-vative attack on Mr. Trudeau’s political lineage provedto be a boon rather than a bane for him. He could easilyconnect with the voters as positive memories of his fa-ther Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who was Prime Minister fornearly a decade, are still fresh. But he has now won onlythe battle, and the real war lies ahead. Though the Con-servative Party lost, the conservative politics is stillstrong and Mr. Trudeau will not have a cakewalk in im-plementing his campaign promises. He has to addressthe problem of growing inequalities while rejuvenating

the stuttering economy. The Canadians have given theLiberals another chance. The task before Mr. Trudeaunow is to live up to the formidable expectations.

 The messagefrom Canada

CARTOONSCAPE

“Development” is a word that one encountersfrequently across poll-bound Bihar, with peo-ple across caste lines using it to explain theirpolitical preferences. However, this shouldn’tmake one feel that this election is all aboutroads, power and education. For, different

castes cite “development” — a word frequent-ly used without elaboration in today’s politicaldiscourse — to explain divergent politicalchoices. And they link it not just to physical in-frastructure but also to caste-based socialwelfare.

Ask upper caste people and those living inurban areas, and they will call Prime MinisterNarendra Modi their “development icon”,though they agree that Nitish Kumar has beena good Chief Minister. They cite Mr. Modi’spitch for investment, schemes like Jan DhanYojana and his foreign policy initiatives as hisstrength. For them, it was in alliance with theBJP, their favoured party, that Mr. Kumar be-came the sushasan babu (good governanceman).

Step out into the countryside and walk intoareas inhabited by those from the lower castesand Muslims and the discourse becomes morecomplex. Except Muslims, few challenge Mr.Modi’s performance at the Centre, with many,even in the villages, seeing his foreign visits fa-vourably. However, it is Mr. Kumar whoemerges as a regional development iconacross rural Bihar, with voices of support even

in urban centres. People cite the roads he built,the scholarships he gave and his better man-agement of the law and order situation as com-pared to the performance of his predecessors,Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi of the Rash-triya Janata Dal (RJD), as the reason for hispopularity.

The Manjhi factor

Some Mahadalit Musahars this correspondentmet around Gaya, however, weren’t impressedwith Mr. Kumar; the treatment that was metedout to Jitan Ram Manjhi, a leader from theirown caste, still rankled. After a fallout with Mr.Kumar,Mr. Manjhi is with the National Demo-cratic Alliance (NDA).

Interestingly, there isn’t much fear of landacquisition after the now-diluted NDA moveto promote industry, suggesting that rural as-pirations are no longer necessarily agrarian.

Villagers inclined to support the BJP considerit necessary to usher in industry while Mus-lims and Yadavs often dub land acquisition as“anti-farmer”. In other words people see is-sues in line with their political positions,which are often caste-based. Muslims praiseMr. Kumar on the development front but at-tack Mr. Modi, accusing him of preferring slo-gans over real work. Significantly, Muslimsdon’t mention secularism explicitly, perhapswanting to be seen articulating their prefer-ence along governance lines rather than basedon community concerns.

Caste impact

Caste and community seem to explain the po-

litical divisions better than “development”, anebulous term both sides evoke. Here, the

grand alliance of the JD(U), RJD and Congresshas a slight edge. To simplify the equation, thegrand alliance claims the support of the Mus-lims (16.9 per cent of Bihar’s population), theYadavs (about 14 per cen t) and the Kurmis (3 .5per cent), which adds up to a possible supportfrom 34 to 35 per cent of the population (fig-ures as per the 1931 caste census).

The BJP has a larger social coalition than ev-er before, but this alone may not be enough.The upper castes — firmly behind the BJP inBihar — were 13.6 per cent of the State’s pop-ulation. To add to its upper caste support, itcan also claim the support of Banias — whocome under Other Backward Classes (OBCs)in Bihar — who are believed to number about 5to 6 per cent as a whole.

The BJP has also made crucial inroads intothe Scheduled Castes as a result of its alliancewith Ram Vilas Paswan and Mr. Manjhi. Dalits

(SCs) number around 16 per cent of the State’spopulation, of which the Dusadhs (Paswans)are 31 per cent — about five-per cent of theState’s population. The Musahars, the caste of Mr. Manjhi, are the third-largest Dalit caste inthe state, which means they may also numberabout four per cent of the State’s population.Add to this the four per cent population of theKushwahas, whose leader Upendra Kushwahais part of the NDA, and the NDA would scorearound 32 per cent in terms of caste support.

However, there is a catch here. The Mus-lims, the Yadavs and the Kurmis have a two-decade history of voting as solid blocs, even if the Yadavs and the Kurmis voted against eachother before the RJD and JD(U) joined hands.

In the case of the NDA, only the upper castes,Banias and Paswans seem to have established

traditions of voting as a block. The autono-mous Musahar and Kushwaha vote is a morerecent phenomenon and may or may not con-verge behind the NDA across Bihar. Thus, interms of raw caste numbers, the grand allianceis somewhat ahead. However, there are ca-veats. A large part of the Muslim population isconcentrated in the Seemanchal region, whichhas only 25 seats, which means there are manyareas where Muslims aren’t too numerous.This is likely to help the BJP, as the effectivestrength of Muslim votes goes down.

Some feel that the fact that the Congress isfighting on 41 seats gives the BJP a chance onthese seats, despite some Congress candidatesbeing defectors from other parties.

The BJP also hopes that large chunks of theExtremely Backward Classes (EBCs) — a cate-gory created by Mr. Kumar — will shift to-wards it out of a fear of a ‘Yadav dominance’ if 

Mr. Prasad makes a return. This large, floatingchunk explains why Mr. Prasad wants to con-solidate the Backward Class-vote and the BJPwants people to see the fight as one betweenMr. Modi and Mr. Prasad, who, they claim, will“remote control” Mr. Kumar. In fact, the fluidEBCs, in some ways, hold the key to the out-come of this election. They aren’t a bloc yetand behave like small, individual groups. Thismakes their behaviour difficult to fathom. TheBJP stands a chance of nullifying the grand al-liance’s core advantage if the EBCs vote for it

in large numbers out of a “fear” of Yadav dom-inance, something BJP leaders insist is a hid-den factor. If they split equally or veer towardsMr. Kumar, his alliance holds an edge over theNDA.

Nitish popular among EBCs

The fact remains that Mr. Kumar’s personalimage is good among the EBCs, and it was hewho carved out this category. This dissuadesthe observer from jumping to any quick con-clusion as to how the EBC vote will split.

Aware that Mr. Kumar is popular, the BJPhas been focusing on Mr. Prasad’s poor imageas an administrator in non-Yadav circles. Itclaims Mr. Prasad is pulling the grand alliancedown. Many upper castes also say that Mr. Ku-mar would have been better off alone. But Mr.Kumar’s core Kurmi vote is so insignificantthat he had little choice but to ally with theRJD, which brings in a strong Yadav chunk.

But where do these intricate caste detailsleave “development” as a slogan?

Significantly, “development” comes lacedwith caste in Bihar, if one analyses the re-sponses of voters. Many among Backward

Classes see social welfare schemes and affirm-ative action policies as a means to improvetheir material conditions. This social aspect isperhaps as crucial to the discourse of “devel-opment” as physical infrastructure. Mr. Ku-mar hopes his schemes will make peoplechoose him, while the BJP — with no regionalleader strong enough to match Mr. Kumar —wants to link the development discourse toMr. Modi, who is still popular in Bihar.

The BJP is looking at the possibility of young voters voting across caste lines for Mr.Modi. One saw this happening at a village inKhagaria, where young voters who had livedin Maharashtra and Gujarat saw the BJP asmore in sync with the times than the grand al-liance. If this emerges as a new trend in Biharpolitics, the BJP may still spring a surprise.

However, Mr. Kumar’s brand value may at-tract sections of this segment too. In particu-lar, Muslim and Yadav youth are more likely tochoose the grand alliance. With women votingmore, some feel Mr. Kumar has an advantagebecause of his schemes. BJP leaders claimmale migration could be a cause and insist mi-grants’ families would support them. They al-so claim this may be because liquor shopshave “sprung up” under Mr. Kumar and wom-en may be turning out in greater numbers tooppose this. The fact that both Mr. Kumar —the regional “development” icon — and Mr.Modi are popular complicates the contest.While it is true that a State election is moreabout the CM-candidate, it is the BJP’s focuson development that actually keeps it afloat.For, the party has no regional match for Mr.Kumar, and announcing a candidate may setoff infighting within its ranks.

However, the BJP has, in the last few days,subtly moved from a campaign exclusively fo-cused on the Prime Minister to one where re-gional leaders are also adorning the posters.BJP leaders dismiss reports that this betraysjitters within the saffron party. They also as-sert that the Prime Minister will hold as manyrallies as initially planned, viz., 22, rejectingbuzz that some rallies were cancelled.

The grand alliance’s USP is its caste coali-tion and Mr. Kumar’s credibility. And the BJP— which has Brand Modi and its own castecombine to bank on — is hoping Mr. Prasad’spresence in the grand alliance will damageBrand Nitish.

vikas.pathak@thehindu.co.in

It’s sushasan vs. developmentIn Bihar, ‘development’ comes laced with caste.For the upper castes, it is Modi’s pitch oninvestment that matters while for BackwardClasses, Nitish’s social welfare agenda makes hima governance icon. The BJP, having no regionalmatch for Nitish, has banked on Modi’s popularity

The floating votes of the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), a

category created by Nitish Kumar, will play an important role.

They aren’t a bloc and behave as small, individual groups

Vikas Pathak

Diversities betrayed

For a country that does not tire of harping on the ‘unity in diversity’mantra, it does come as a big shockthat social acceptability is stilldependent on one’s community andreligious beliefs. The atrociousincident in Haryana for instance,where a group of upper-casteRajput men allegedly poured petroland set on fire a family of Dalits,killing two children in the process,is an example (“2 die as Dalit familyset afire in Haryana,” Oct.21). It isrightly claimed that India is, by andlarge, still a terrible place to be amember of a lower castecommunity. It has been the same for

decades now, despiteuntouchability being banned in ourConstitution. Such inter-casteviolence draws more attention at atime when there has been a newsurge in Hindutva politics, a lot of itcoming from elements in the partyin power at the Centre.

Tolerance toward people holdingopinions different from one’s ownhas reached an all-time low, to anextent that citizens have to thinktwice before voicing their opinion.The politics over beef consumptionstill continues to consume thewhole nation, setting it in frenzydespite the truth that we are anation of multiple communitiesowing allegiance to various faithsand having been granted the libertyto practise them.

Pachu Menon, Margao, Goa

It is surprising that there is greaterdemand — mostly from

unemployed people from the uppercastes — to do away with caste-based reservation and introduce

one based on economic statusinstead, when Dalits and otherlower castes continue to be treatedas outcastes. In Haryana, they areburned alive; in Uttarakhand, theyare not allowed to worship in atemple; in Madurai, they are notallowed to worship a Pipal tree, inUttar Pradesh, they are harassedcontinuously. Worst of all, manydismiss such incidents as isolatedacts coming from an ill-manneredsection. We still have a long way togo before we translate ouregalitarian constitutional idealsinto actual achievements.

Rajnish Singh, Almora, Uttarakhand

A culture of intolerance, hatred andjingoism is gradually gripping thecountry. Public thrashing,deliberate hate campaigns andviolence are the means of protestsfor these people against anyonewho even slightly deviates fromtheir monolithic definitions(“Beyond the blackening,” Oct.21).Both Gautama Buddha, who foughtagainst Brahminical dominance,and Mahatma Gandhi, who alteredthe very definition of protests byadopting non-violence, are beinggradually forgotten.

India is a land of multipleminorities — linguistic, religious,racial and ethnic. Hinduism hasalways been an accommodativereligion. Attempts to re-define thiscountry in terms of the 3H’s —Hindi, Hindu and Hindustan —would be a disaster.

Punya Jyoti Boruah, Lakhimpur, Assam

The secular fabric of this country isbeing torn apart like never before.Communal hatred and distrust and

religious bigotry have become morevisible. Blackening of faces,throwing ink at an individual,burning alive Dalits, killingsomeone for his food choices, allthese factors compel me to ask:have we really progressed as asociety? Has the growth in GDPnumbers led to, even to someextent, a growth in harmony andtolerance, in a shedding of communal differences, in thebridging of caste fissures? Till suchdifferences remain unresolved,India will never find a place in thecomity of developed nations.

Rahul Jain, Kota, Rajasthan

Dismal law and orderEven after an expansion in thenumber of courts and policestations, if people resort tomedieval forms of justice, itperhaps shows that our lawenforcement authorities have failedto earn the common man’s trust.Massive outreach efforts areneeded from the government,similar to what was done in Kerala,where community policing wassuccessful. It was once reportedthat most people in Kerala considerthe police their friends. Further,with changing times, the erstwhile-privileged sections need to acceptthe achieved status of others andshed their rigidity over the ascribedstatus. The state should expeditethe liberation of Dalits from theclutches of upper caste excesses bytaking stern and immediate actionagainst the culprits. Killers shouldalso introspect and ask themselvesif they achieve anything at all

through such violence.Yogeshwar Tompe,Nanded, Maharashtra

The rise in intolerance amongmembers of the civil society in Indiais disconcerting (“All over a tattoo,”Oct.20). In the incident where anAustralian was harassed because of a tattoo, the local police proved tobe equally ineffective and apathetic.They violated the rights of theindividual further by seeking anapology, embarrassing him evenmore. A visiting Indian tourist/foreigner is not expected to be fullyconversant with the cultural habitsof the place he visits. A lack of historical knowledge, perceived orreal, regarding the culture of theland is not an offensive act. Theheckled visitor was not protectedeven after the incident. Expressing

‘concern’ and anger over mediareports of the incident was nothingmore a diplomatic gesture by theAustralian High Commission.

Let the BJP not discredit itsachievements at the Centre bypampering the right wing elementsin the wrong direction; it needs to,instead, caution them against suchactivities.

N. Visveswaran, Issaquah, Seattle,

NJAC verdict

Arun Jaitley’s remarks — that “theIndian democracy cannot be thetyranny of the unelected” — overthe National Judicial AppointmentsCommission (NJAC) verdict, werenot in good spirit. They were evenmore unexpected considering thathe himself is a senior advocate.Perhaps he made them undercompulsion to defend thegovernment. Our judiciary needs tohave complete autonomy from the

executive. The apex court’s verdictscrapping the Constitution (99th)Amendment was victory for Indian

democracy. India is the largestdemocracy in the world andwhenever the executive has failed,the judiciary has come to its rescue,many court-monitored probesbeing the best examples.

Mudgal Venkatesh, Kalaburagi

People’s capital?While I appreciate the sincereefforts of the people of the newlycarved Andhra Pradesh to grow onpar with the fellow States, I fail tounderstand the enthusiasm shownin building a capital city byacquiring more than 30,000 acres of agricultural land (“Capital task forAndhra Pradesh,” Oct.22). The way

things are moving there is a causefor concern. Environmentalsustainability is likely to be acasualty. Let the city grow on itsown and evolve over time. Thegovernment should not createanother concrete jungle.

Rettavayal S. Krishnaswamy,Chennai

While building a smart, green andsustainable people’s capital of Andhra Pradesh, the governmentmust also consider issues like theexistence of ghettos, which havecrippled cities like New York.Ghettos often come with poverty,illiteracy, unemployment, crimeand disease. A ‘smart city’ is notsmart enough if it contains ghettosin the shades of skyscrapers.Amaravati comes as a greatopportunity for India to build amodel city for the world. TheCentre, being a participant in theprocess, should take lessons from

the experience of other cities.Sachin K. Jadhav,

New Delhi

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