Haves and Have-nots

Rohith Vemula's suicide is turning out to be the Rajeev Goswami moment for the Dalit students. The analogy may sound sacrilegious as Rohith and Rajeev espoused diametrically opposite causes, however, they have one thing in common. They both ceased being mere statistic and found their way to the viewfinder of national media and had long shelf lives in public discourse.

For the sake of post-Mandal generation a quick recap. The graphic picture of Rajeev Goswami, a Delhi University student, committing self immolation during an anti-Mandal rally in Delhi in 1990 made him the face of anti-quota agitation.

Back in 1990s the mass media mainly consisted of newspapers and magazines; 24/7 news channels was still few years away, and internet, video platforms like Youtube were still in the realm of science fiction.

Barring some niche publications such as Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) and Mainstream all the popular newspapers and magazines came down heavily against Mandal Commission findings, which advocated reservation for Other Backward Communities, and the then prime minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh.

The mainstream media, led by India Today and Indian Express (under Arun Shourie), converged to the singular narrative that reservations kill efficiency in government departments and drain nation's precious resources. Moreover, they argued it was being cornered by a select section among the beneficiaries. Anyone with a differing view had no platform to express - websites, blog posts were still eons away. Their only solace were the niche publications, whose reach was very limited.

Now with Vemula's death the pendulum has swung to the opposite direction. His death has become a rallying cry to highlight the plight of Dalit students in particular and treatment of Dalits by our society in general. Many other instances of suicides by Dalit students, following harassment by classmates and professors at prestigious institutes like IIT Rorkee and AIIMS have come to light. For some Dalits it has now become a 'coming out' moment by revealing their caste, something they had kept tightly under wraps for years.  

Thankfully this time the mainstream media's bias was not as pronounced as in 1990, there is much more diversity and heterogeneity over the issue. Views favouring quota for Dalits and other backward classes are appearing in popular publications, though sometimes with a disclaimer (the views expressed are personal and not that of the publication) and there are many bloggers and independent writers concerned about the plight of Dalits.

However internet trolls against reservation quota, who were quite active in various social media forums, are now working overtime. Even before this issue broke out there was always a steady supply of jokes and memes lampooning reservations and making it appear that those who got college admission or jobs due to quota were dunces and free loaders. After Vemula's death they are now busy digging 'facts' to cast aspersions on his caste. Since his father belongs to an OBC caste and his mother an SC, they have got a toehold to play on. However the fact that Vemula got admission based on merit has taken a lot of wind out of their sails.

But surprisingly the political section that got the most exposed and discredited out of this controversy was not the right wing casteists (their regressive views were quite well known), but the Left parties whose claims of being inclusive rung hollow. Vemula was himself a SFI activist and got disillusioned and joined Ambedkar Students Association (ASA). He had wryly claimed the Leftists may have discarded religion, but not caste!!

While the Vemula struggle was hogging national headlines, Chitralekha a Dalit woman auto driver from Kannur in Kerala was waging a low profile battle by going on an indefinite strike in front of the state secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram. She has been waging a lonely battle for a decade against the alleged caste and gender 'intolerance' of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) workers in Kannur. The CPM-affiliated Centre for Indian Trade Union (CITU) workers had prevented her from plying her autorickshaw and even burnt down her vehicle.

Hence it is no wonder that Dalits feel cold shouldered by most mainstream parties, even those professing to be progressive, and float Dalit specific outfits like ASA to fight for their causes.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

Badaun: Nirbhaya Redux

It is turning out to be Nirbhaya redux with Bharatiya characteristics. When Nirbhaya happened in Delhi there were some who said rape was a city phenomenon, it had to do with displacement of population, loose morals, short skirts and even Chinese food and rural India was an idyll insulated from such crimes. For them the verdant fields, cow dung plastered houses were repositories of all that was good with Bharatiya sanskriti (culture) and it blinded them from all the atrocities happening there. But the recent grisly footages of two Dalit women hung to a mango tree in a village in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun district comes as a chilling reminder.

Most parts of rural India are no strangers to these kinds of ghastly crimes against women, done more out of sense of entitlement or to show someone their place than to satisfy lust. But the exploiter-exploited caste matrix seems to have changed. Earlier the oppressors used to be Thakurs and other upper castes, but now it is increasingly Yadavs, who figure among OBCs, thanks to the upward mobility and political clout acquired over the years. With it has come a sense of entitlement to oppress those in the lower rungs of caste hierarchy.

The flippant patriarchal mindset among our politicians which was on display during Nirbhaya tragedy is very much intact. In post-Nirbhaya days when laws on eve teasing were being tightened, Sharad Yadav wondered how will youths indulge in 'mohabattein'. Recently Mulayam Singh Yadav said boys make 'mistakes' and should not be hanged for crime like rape.

For Akhilesh Yadav under whom the state's crime graph has docked into an orbit unheard of even by UP standards, this is time for cheap retorts, with no room for remorse or sensitivity. His snide remark to a scribe asking whether she faced any danger was reminiscent of 'painted and dented' remarks by Pranab Mukherjee's son and Sanjay Nirupam's 'thumka' remark against Smriti Irani. But being a Chief Minister and responsible for the state's law and order this remark scores much higher in terms of crassness quotient.

For opposition parties, with next election in their minds, Badaun has now become a new 'rape tourism' destination. Long motorcades of red beacon Ambassadors and high-end SUVs on dusty roads, hurriedly constructed helipads and hordes of TV crew, it is indeed a mela time for all except for the bereaved girls' family.

One positive fallout of this incident is that the issue of toilets and sanitation have come to the fore with an added dimension of women's safety, as open defecation leaves them vulnerable to attacks. The issue had somehow tapered off after former minister Jairam Ramesh had triggered a national debate over it.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat