BJP - the Dalit of Indian Politics

(Published in the Organiser issue of November 8,2015 http://epaper.organiser.org/epaper.aspx?lang=4&spage=Mpage&NB=2015-10-31#Mpage_25 )
        These days BJP is experiencing what Dalits generally feel when they taste success. BJP symbolizes the forces, that were till recently discarded as ‘untouchables’ by the mainstream politics. To the discomfort of these mainstream forces, they have now been able to position themselves at the fulcrum of the Indian politics from where they are about to dictate a new paradigm. The upper caste political dispensation (Congress and Left combine) are unable to digest the rise of nationalist forces. They are losing their peace and balance as they find themselves cornered in the political space - to witness what they had never dreamt of. A socio-political mindset that was created and constructed by these upper-caste political constructs and was used to enjoying power since the British rule, is now being seriously challenged by the hitherto ‘marginalized’ BJP. Those who are suffering from the ‘ill-belief’ that only British or British-like mindset (read congress) can govern India - are losing their sleeps. Those who were used to getting favours from the government in return to their full time effort in maintaining this mind set (read as Left) have suddenly started losing their grounds. These forces have invested their life in trying to make us believe that we can be properly governed only through some ‘imported ideology’. Drawing parallel with the upper caste mentality, they wanted us to believe that ‘nationalist forces’ are not good enough to govern. They are convinced that, left on our own indigenous thoughts, we will fight to finish ourselves. They think that ‘nationalists’ need to be taught lessons on the idea of 'secularism', 'socialism', 'equal opportunity' and 'development' as they have least regard for these instruments that are absolutely necessary to claim any progress in the modern world. For this, they want us to feel ashamed of our past, to disown our existence and to feel dependent on borrowed constructs and imported ideology to think of making any meaningful progress.

          Just as the upper castes, they have carefully calibrated a socio-political order where those who were ready to disown their roots/existence and were ashamed of their past were categorized as acceptable and worthy for taking control of the government whereas those who drew inspiration from the past or from indigenous thoughts were termed as lumpens and goons required to be brainwashed before giving any responsibility. This upper caste construct in our political setup believed that their empire would grow with time and would never be in danger. Their unthinkable and unimaginable fears have come true with the Modi government storming at the centre. And what is making them restless is that this government is also showing genuine promise of making India a progressive and economically developed country despite refusing to toe their prescribed line.

          Modi refused to read out the line of apology that was almost being forced by Karan Thapar just to make Modi admit his guilt; Modi refused to enact the skull-cap ‘secular’ drama, he insisted with everyone to realize the sincerity of his comment regarding puppy killing instead of retracting on the same; he started taking pride in several personalities other than Nehru and Gandhi; he started exhibiting his pride in our ancient culture, beliefs and texts – and therefore as per the judgment of the existing upper caste political construct - Modi was not fit to occupy the chair. But to snatch them of their livelihoods Modi arrived at the centre.

          With their dooming future looming large, just to prove their conjectures right, these forces are prepared to do everything to prove that this government is undesirable. To save themselves from becoming extinct, they are bent upon blowing up events after events entirely out of proportions to somehow project that India is now destined to doom, that the liberal space of this country has shrunk all of a sudden and that this country has suddenly turned into a country of cannibals and conservative intolerant. They are doing this despite the fact that this country has started showing a great turnaround in economy – that was never witnessed before in this country. A careful and academic exercise would be enough to show statistics that though the hate incidences need to be curbed immediately and effectively but contrary to the secular’s projection - it is far from peaking recently.

POLITICS ON CRIME - the Indian Phenomenon

Over the years since independence, India has developed a strange habit of classifying ‘gruesome crimes’ as - ‘hate-generating’, ‘communal clashes’, ‘religious fanaticism’, ‘class atrocities’, ‘gender suppression’, ‘reactionary outbursts’, ‘revolutionary unrest’ and recently as ‘media marketable’. To cover up the governance failures, administrative inefficiencies and other corrupt practices the administration has found it extremely useful and easy to play politics on crimes. To their relief, these classifications have helped the successive governments in setting up a trend where all other kind of crimes that are left ‘unclassified’ gets considered as ‘simple’ and therefore almost as ‘acceptable’. The information about the ‘character’ of a crime has become so important that we have got used to the news headlines such as ‘crime against minority’, ‘crime against child’, ‘crime against woman’, ‘crime against Dalit’ - so much so that thinking of headlines as ‘crime against men’, ‘crime against a majority community’, ‘crime against an adult’ or ‘crime against an upper caste’ are either likely to evoke laughter or no response at all. 

Not that the ‘classified’ crimes get any better or the desirable attention, but the government utilizes this politics only to pass the blame somehow on the majority community entirely. Being arguably one of the most tolerant and accommodating community existing in the world, this majority is then expected either to absorb the blame or to start hating itself. Under this ‘secular formula' we are expected to accept all the blame as ‘evils’ of our society and at the same time are also left to consider all other ‘unclassified’ crimes as natural, simple, normal (and therefore desirable??).

As its natural consequence the Indian administration wastes much of its precious time in ‘discovering’, ‘investigating’ and  ‘establishing’ the color and shade of a crime when it is actually required to act swiftly and efficiently. I am convinced that until this country stops taking interest in knowing the caste, gender, religion, faith and ideology of a victim – politics will continue to sideline our real administrative concerns. Instead of doing a political comparative analysis, the state must be extremely serious and ruthless in addressing all crimes and thereby punishing each criminal blindly.