Politics, Morality, Identity: An Intimate Quest

This is the story of a young Dalit who aspires for a role in democratic politics which ensures people’s rights and empowers them. He thus begins to search for a suitable political party which he could join. But each avenue which he explores leads to a dead-end. The story does not claim to be representative of the Dalit existence, but Kulshresht’s urge for an active and central role in people’s politics and the despair of not finding ways to do this - is a condition shared by many young people. Various dimensions of Kulshresht’s quest demand our active involvement.

The story is based on experiences of friends. I hope that those who recognise themselves will forgive me.

Kulshresht has vivid memories of his years at the Brij Kishore Smriti Vidyalaya in his kasba. In particular, he remembered the stern looking Lal Singh, who taught him mathematics from class 6th to 8th. No student ever dared to go to class without solving the problems Lal Singh had given the day before. As a young student, Kulshresht had heard that every year on Baba Saheb Ambedkar’s birthday, Lal Singh invited the students of the 8th class to his village for a community meal and a ‘caste abolition sammelan’.

Kulshresht had looked forward to this day for years. Finally when he reached the 8th class he too went to Lal Singh’s village on Ambedkar’s birthday. Except for the teacher’s elder daughter and a few of her friends, there were few girls present. Kulshresht quietly slipped into one of the small groups of boys, who were standing about chatting, and listened to them.

One boy was asking, rhetorically, what would have happened to them if it had not been for Baba Saheb Ambedkar? Another boy said: "You can’t go on and on about this, there is so much still to be done, we must think about that." Another boy added: "What good does it do to think of our problems as an oppressed caste, I am already worried about finding a job and getting my sister married. My father can’t work any more. He suffers from T.B………." The conversation drifted along in this vein.

Kulshresht moved to another little group where a more heated discussion was going on. One side was arguing that the only decisive offensive against the caste system had been launched by Ambedkar, while others and especially Gandhi, had only flung obstacles in the way. The other side was arguing that without Gandhi’s work any effort to wash away this blot against humanity would have been unimaginable. It is not as though there were no earlier attempts to shake the hold of casteism. The period of the Bhakti movement is a saga of just such a struggle. But it was Gandhi who most significantly contributed to awakening the consciousness of the so-called upper castes and, to some extent, reducing the barbarity inherent in their relationship with the lower castes. "Absolutely not", shouted the other boy. "It was a conspiracy to protect the privileges and hold of the upper castes. He gave us the name Hari-jan and worked to blunt our anger."

"That’s alright" said another boy, "but Gandhi did evoke an anger among the upper castes against untouchability and thus the stirring to abolish it. After all, those who regard Moksha as the ultimate objective in life are also told that moksha can be earned through service of the poorest, the last person. For Gandhi the criteria for determining right and wrong in life was the welbeing of the last person."

Kulshresht was excited by this debate, but unhappy with its sharpness and anger. Having heard the viewpoints being expressed there, he decided for himself that Gandhi and Ambedkar had been two different individuals who worked in their own way — according to what they thought were the best methods — to remove untouchabllity and to expand the limits of the possible for all people.

Kulshresht was still pondering over this debate when they were all called for the meal. Being a quiet reticent boy who did not easily make friends, he sat down to eat with others and yet kept to himself. But that day an irrepressibly spirited boy named Rashid was sitting next to him. Rashid soon had Kulshresht laughing and chattering. By the time they finished eating, the two boys were talking as though they had known each other for years.

Later as everyone was assembling in the ‘pandal’ set up for the meeting, a hush settled over the gathering. The former Chief Minister of Bihar, Karpoori Thakur, had suddenly arrived, without invitation or intimation. Karpoori wore a brownish kurta and a yellowing white dhoti. "I was passing nearby and heard that there was a caste abolition meeting here so I came along," he explained.

Kulshresht stared at the man he knew of as the people’s leader of Bihar. He was excited about hearing Karpoori speak. Soon enough Karpoori was led up to the stage and the meeting began, inaugurated by Dalpat Ram, an old freedom fighter from that village. In his introductory speech Guruji, Lal Singh, explained the objectives of this annual event, which had been held regularly for the last 13 years. Finally it was Karpoori’s turn to speak.

Karpoori spoke briefly but his words had a magical effect on Kulshresht. Years later he could still recall every word Karpooi spoke: ‘The arrogance of our caste sensibility has to be seen to be believed – a sensibility which regards all existence, living and non-living, as a part of the supreme reality (Brhama) but discriminates so viciously between human beings. Unless Indian society struggles determinedly for the values of equality, our place in the family of nations will always be that of shudras. In the United Nations only the suvarna have a veto power, all the rest are shudras. When students of our so-called upper castes go abroad they willingly even wash the dirty utensils of the white people, to earn a living, and take any means of escape from doing hard work in their own country. The new India will not have two communities — one of those who labour and the other of those who loot. For the new India will support struggles for equality anywhere in the world and actively struggle against all injustices.’

On his way back, Kulshresht went to Rashid’s home. The foundation of a deep bond of friendship was slowly being laid. Years later, when Kulshresht was in the second year at college, news came that his old Guru Lal Singh has been murdered. It was 1977 and Karpoori Thakur was the Chief Minister once again. Lal Singh had been killed by some goondas who belonged to the same caste as the old math teacher. Lal Singh had continued to criticise, cajole and convince members of his own caste to change their attitude. Against all odds Lal Singh had persisted all his life in trying to mediate in the conflict between the privileged and deprived castes.

On hearing the news, Kulshresht immediately contacted Rashid and together they set out for Guru ji’s village. By the time they reached there, Lal Singh had already been cremated two days earlier. On the way back, Kulshresht told Rashid that he wanted to devote his life to the struggle against casteism. But he had also to earn a living and pay for the education of his younger brothers. Soon, Rashid and Kulshresht agreed upon a plan. Rashid would set up a loom to weave bed covers and durries, while Kulshresht would travel to the surrounding villages and mandis (markets) to sell these. Simultaneously, he would work to set up ‘anti-caste’ forums in these areas.

When their studies were complete Rashid and Kulshresht took a loan under a self-employment scheme and started the business. Within two years their durries and bed covers were selling at every big ‘Hat’ (weekly market) of the district. Gradually Kulshresht’s younger brothers finished their studies. One of them got a job as a clerk and the other as an assistant. Then Kulshresht got married. Later, when his third brother became a homeopathic doctor, Kulshresht began planning to buy him a shop. He was still thinking about this when the government suddenly announced a new textile policy and their weaving business began to slide into heavy losses. Rashid and Kuishresht’s durries and bed covers could not compete with the textile mills under the new policy. They lived in one of the poorest districts of Bihar and so could not afford to raise prices.

Meanwhile, the ‘anti-caste’ forums initiated by Kulshresht had spread all over the district. Invitations to meetings began to come from other areas. One year the Kabir-Lohia Vichar Manch had called Kulshresht to the Sonpur mela to inaugurate an exhibition on the hypocrisy and shame of casteism. There Kulshresht had met Shripat, an activist of the Chattra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini from Bodhgaya. Kulshresht was very excited by Shripat’s account of the landless labourers’ struggle for land against the Bodhgaya Math. Kuishresht now longed to devote all his time to such activities and he discussed this with his brothers. He was surprised by their enthusiasm for the idea. They said: "We also feel that you should now regard the whole of society as your family and we will take responsibility for the material needs of our small family."

This was a big event in Kulshresht’s life. He began to think afresh about his role as a political and social activist, for he always felt that what he had done so far was Inadequate. Involving people In meetings, processions or fund collection drives somehow did not give him a sense of progression and satisfaction.

From time to time, Kulshresht had read reports in the newspapers about the Sampoona Kranti Manch. Once a youth leader of the Manch, Ripudaman, had come to Kulshresht’s area and spoken about the Manch’s commitment to democratic values and people’s participation. The Congress party during the independence struggle, Ripudaman said, has been a social cultural movement. Political independence had been only one of several important objectives. However, today money-power completely controlled politics. Political parties no longer mirrored the needs and views of the people and had degenerated into power grabbing groups. Ripudaman then said that to ensure people’s participation, there was need to build a political instrument and during elections there will have to be unity against corruption and against those who promote booth capturing, casteism and communalism. Otherwise, he asserted, democracy will not survive.

Ripudaman’s words struck Kulshresht with great force. Suddenly questions that he had never even considered began to bother him deeply: If genuine political parties do not survive then the electoral process will not function and the voice of the ordinary person will be buried. What will happen to us then?

He recalled an incident related at the Sonpur mela by Rajendra, a representative from Rajasthan. Rajendra had told of how after the 1977 election, when the Janata Party came to power, landlords in many areas thought that their estates would now be returned to them. In some villages there were efforts to build separate water sources for Harijans. In 1980, the Harijans in these areas did not vote for the Janata Party, even though they had economically gained under that government: "In the absence of dignity what good are a few material gains."

If the system of political parties and elections collapses then what will happen? This question began to haunt Kulshresht, and kept him awake for two nights. On the third day, he resolved to join an opposition party, and work within it to build a party of the kind that the Congress was during the freedom movement. He would devote all his energies to changing the face of the party.

Kulshresht did not have any elaborate criteria by which he would choose a party he could join. He had some fundamental principles which were the minimum requirement for choosing an acceptable party, for example, that the Dalits must be able to live with basic human dignity — which demands that casteism must loosen its grip on society. Which leader or party would satisfy this simple demand? However, even if he put aside the struggle against casteism and looked for a leader who would not use caste as a political weapon, it was difficult to find one.

Any Indian who cares to can imagine what despair the growing force of AJGAR (Ahir-Jat-Gujar-Rajput) must have caused this Dalit youth. But having decided that political parties were essential for saving democracy, Kulshresht persevered in his search for a party.

Kulshresht had a distinct Dalit identity but the injuries of caste discrimination had not embittered him nor filled him with a hatred for mainstream society. He had never given much thought to the roots of caste and untouchability, or who was responsible for this blemish. He had lived it through long years of hurtful experiences. He had also watched the reports of burning and killing of Harijans or on the burning of young brides, being dismissed by most people in their casual chatter. But over the years he had ceased to be just sad about this, he had grown to derive strength for his vision of a new society free of caste barriers and discrimination. He would not align with any kind of casteism.

There is hopefully no room here for the query that given the excitement generated by the Bahujan Samaj Party why doesn’t Kulshresht join that party. This question would make Kulshresht very angry. Why should he begin his political life with the defeat of joining a party which practises a reverse form of casteism, instead of fighting casteism itself. Instead of having a principled leader who openly and consistently defines which of the other parties are friends and which are foes, why should he be forced to accept a leader who functions through ‘deals’ and keeps all his options open in the hope of striking the most opportunistic ‘deal’. No, this was entirely unacceptable to Kulshresht.

Kulshresht then began to explore a variety of Dalit groups and organisations, which are part of a wider social and cultural movement. But he did not find them potent means for making democratic politics healthier. Most of these organisations are held together by the devotion and hard work of an individual or a group of friends but not through the strength of direct involvement of ordinary Dalits. Kulshresht some times felt that there was no dream or resolve behind these groups and they were just discussion clubs for a few Dalits.

Some friends advised Kulshresht that in the struggle for social progress, cultural issues are also crucial. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad had collected vast amounts of money following the Meenakshipuram conversions to work among Dalits, they told Kulshresht and asked how he could still think of himself as a Hindu. Then why not work within at Hindu organisation to remove casteism. ‘Join any RSS type organisation, then you can work on the cultural front and it will also give you a place in the BJP’, they told him.

The despondent Kulshresht’s dilemma deepened. The reasons for this dilemma were partly rooted in the memories of his childhood. His grandfather used to tell him of an uncle who became a devotee of Ram and had stubbornly insisted on worshipping at the Ram Mandir. He is still missing. The people of the village had brutally beaten him for his audacity. Kulshresht’s grandfather had gone to a saintly and kind man in the village, Ram Prakash, to complain. Kulshresht could now understand that this man was a propagator of the RSS and talked of Hindu organisation and unity. Ram Prakash adviced Kulshresht’s grandfather to be patient. Later his grandfather had learnt that the ‘prominent’ man who ordered Kulshresht’s uncle to be beaten was a wealthy businessman who presided over functions of the RSS. But Kulshresht was willing to not give this incident much weight because some friends had told him that the RSS had changed.

Kulshresht didn’t know about the internal workings of the Sangh and its undemocratic character, nor had he given this much thought. He was still considering the possibility of trying to work through the medium of the Sangh and the BJP, when the court gave permission for the Ram Janmabhoomi temple to be unlocked. Kulshresht was then left with no illusions about the RSS, about the character of its Rambhakti and patriotism. Those who claim to be leaders of this large organisation are denigrating the country’s courts, they don’t have faith in its processes of justice. The Sangh is not concerned about the conditions of people in the villages from which the Ramshilas (bricks with ‘Ram’ inscribed on them) are being collected under the initiative of Hindus who are steeped in arrogance, ignorance and corruption and lack faith in the basic dignity of all men.

The Sangh is interested only in opportunistic gains by setting brothers against each other and sowing the seeds of hatred and communal violence. Can an organisation made up of such destructive components allow democracy to function in this country? Kulshresht is clear that an enemy of democracy is an enemy of the country, of the poor, the Dalits, the majority — he is an enemy of all. Kulshresht cannot understand how an organisation with patriotic claims can do such destructive work. How is this any different from Indira Gandhi calling Khalistani Jagjit Singh Chauhan to India or boosting Bhindranwale, or Rajiv Gandhi’s protecting the touts in the Bofors scandal. At any rate, this understanding of the RSS eliminated the BJP as a possible option.

What should Kulshresht do now? He decided to abandon the search for a party of his liking. Kulshresht resigned himself to the fact that there is no party which both effectively opposes the ways of the Congress-I and also offers a clear alternative. A friend suggested that Kulshresht join the Janata Dal. The president of the Janata Dal often talked about a politics that transforms the structure of power. There were many young people in this party who had emerged from the Bihar agitation of 1974 and there were old socialists. Dalit leader Arun Kamble had also recently joined the Janata Dal.

Therefore, Kulshresht began to seriously think of the Janata Dal as a possible option. But many doubts persisted. How much space would there be within the party to raise questions about democratic rights? How much would money power control the party, how different would this party really be from the Congress-I. Kulshresht thought that there was no one in his family or among his friends who would give him large donations for party activities. In the Congress, if a block youth president sneezes even silently, there are posters announcing this on the walls the next day. Would the Janata Dal be any different from this?

Kulshresht was mulling this over when he heard that veteran Sarvodaya leader Acharya Ramamurti had been taken into the National Steering Committee, Political Affairs Committee and the Central Parliamentary Board. Later the selection of Ramsunder Das as President and Acharyaji as Bihar Parliamentary Board also touched a responsive cord in Kulshresht. He recalled a speech by the President of the Dal, in which he had said that the growth and running of the party are more important than coming to power and running the government.

But it is unlikely that Kulshresht will be able to join the Janata Dal. Why is this so? He has found that several friends who have joined the Dal for similar reasons and who belong to the tradition of the Bihar movement are struggling with each other for positions within the party. From the outside it does not seem as though any of the tussles have to do with differences over programmes of the party or social issues. Besides, on 14th July 1989 V.P. Singh had said, as an explanation for the delay in the formation of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Dal, that ‘a sanghatan is needed to prepare the people. Here the people are already ready so what is the need for a sanghatan?’ Kulshresht disagrees with this view. He believes that a sanghatan is the first requisite for the growth and continuity of the democratic process. Democracy in India today is facing a crisis and lacks an appropriate political party and leadership partly because Indira Gandhi succeeded in skillfully, repeatedly, breaking various parties. Kulshresht had some hopes from the youth In the Janata Dat but their sectarianism disturbed him. Moreover his expectations from Acharya Ramamurti’s joining the Dal had also been belied since he read a statement by Acharyaji in which he had denied being active in the day to day affairs of the Dal. Kulshresht also spoke to Surendra Mohan of the Janata Dal, who told him of some experiences of activists working at the grass roots and gave him useful and concrete suggestions for his work. But even Surendra Mohan could not delineate a clear path for joining and working within the Janata Dal.

Kulshresht discussed the situation with Rashid and Shripat, his two closest friends. Their responses disappointed him. Rashid said ‘I have thought of myself more as a Hindustani than a Muslim, and tried to ensure that my being a Hindustani does not become a barrier between me and other human beings. But the president of the Janata Dal wants a certificate of his ‘secular’ credentials from Syed Shahbuddin, the man who is determined to make Muslims seem different and separate from Hindustanis.’

Shripat’s words were also saddening. He said: ‘I am a full time activist and manage my public and family life with the help of friends. I have found that in helping a full timer my friends get the same pleasure that a young person gets in helping his or her parents, or parents get in looking after their children. And what will happen in the Dal? Only the body of a bonded labour is enslaved, I have heard that a worker in the Dal does politics not with the help of friends but of leaders and he has to mortgage his soul to them.’

Today Kulshresht is not able to understand what is the most important medium for working between the state and the people. Kulshresht is a youth with a vision of a new society and he wants your help in building a bridge in the form of a party, between egalitarianism and the state. For he is now firmly convinced that only a people’s movement and organised people’s power behind political parties can ensure true democracy.