nature & forms of political empowerment

8/14/2019 Nature & Forms of Political Empowerment

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m c raj, REDS, Tumkur, India

Nature & Forms

of Political

Empowerment

A Strategy Paper

Cognitive and Emotive Approach of REDS

Part I


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Preamble

A large section of the indigenous people of India is proud to identify itself asDalit today rejecting the many attempts to ascribe identities to it by the dominantcaste groups. The dominant caste groups in India had ascribed many identities tothe Dalits in order to subjugate them and later to make the society at large aswell as the Dalits internalize these dominantly churned out identities. When theascribed identities became commonly accepted some of them became assumedidentities. They were branded as Rakshasas and Asuras because the Dalit kingsand queen refused to acknowledge the gods of the Aryans and refused to per-form sacrifices according to their rites. They were ascribed the Chandala identitybecause the Dalits reused to tread the faith-line of the Aryans. Later when Castesystem was evolved and established as a social system of organizing the societyon the principles of graded inequality the Dalit people were ascribed the identitiesof Shudras, ati-Shudras, Panchamas and untouchables. In our own times NarsiMehta and M K Gandhi ascribed the Harijan identity to the Dalit people.

We may not go into an analysis of the possible hidden agenda behind each ofthese ascriptions. However, we must note that these identities are external to theDalit people. They are not natural identities. These are not innate arising out ofcertain characteristics or certain events from within the person or the community.Therefore, these identities never stand the test of time. Since the raison detre ofthese identities remains with the ascriber and not with the Dalits themselvesthese can be called false identities.

For no fault of theirs the Dalit people were subjugated in the course of history in

their own land as is the case with most indigenous people across the globe. Thesubjugation of the Dalit people is the consequence of many carefully designedand executed projects of Brahminization kept alive and kicking today. All the pro-

jects were aimed at the denial of basic and fundamental human rights to the Dalitpeople so as to break their backbone of a dignified and human existence.

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar opted for this particular dimension of Dalit history that as-sumes an identity that will be bereft of the ignominies and indignities of the


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ascribed identities. Dal is a Hebrew linguistic root that means exploitation andoppression. In its multiplicity of usage Dal is more oppression based on colorthan all types of oppression. Caste system is called a color system and the Ve-das ascribed different color identity to different caste. We understand thatAmbedkar did not want any of the ascribed identity for the Dalit people as it

would mean an internalization of subjugation. He wanted an identity that will benearer to historical truth and will not further consolidate the inferiority complexthat was consequential to the Brahminic ascription. The Dalit identity just de-scribed what happed to the Dalit people in history and is not value loaded unlessit is interpreted with a particular load of value and ideology. In the growth ofAmbedkarism after Ambedkar such value loading has taken place extensively.However, it must be noted that Ambedkar is not the one who evolved the Dalitidentity. It was Jyothiba Phule who chose this broken identity for the Dalit peopleand later it was nationally popularized by the Dalit Panther Movement.

The question of Dalit identity as a permanent identity is our present concern as it

has assumed serious proportions in the post-Ambedkar scenario. The book Dal-itology by M C Raj, has already stated clearly that one of the biggest challengesbefore the Dalit people will be to give up their Dalit identity when Dalit liberationultimately arrives. Contemporary Dalit resurgence has manifested many creativetrends of beyond Ambedkar instead of blindly carrying forward the chariot of lib-eration into eternity without ever touching it. The beauty of serious and concertedefforts at Dalit liberation is its creative multiplicity, though some are adamant onduplicity. As long as duplicity does not become and remain a dogma there will bemuch scope for liberation. The creative multiplicity of Dalit resurgence has givenan unprecedented visibility to Dalit liberation struggles.

However, in the euphoria of small successes and big visibility a central questionremains for all. The question has to be posed in such a way that dealing with itwill become the nucleus of Dalit liberation philosophy. What were the Dalit peoplebefore becoming historically broken by Brahminism? The simple answer is thatwe were unbroken. If the Dalit identity came to us as a consequence of our his-torically becoming broken it means we had an earlier identity as an unbrokenpeople. Dalit liberation will go many steps forward if the innate unbrokenness ofthe now Dalit people is pulled out of the crumbled citadels of Dalit IndianHistory. In fact, a vast majority of contemporary world is becoming broken be-cause of racism, globalization and Brahminization. If the world has to rescue it-self from becoming completely submerged in the brokenness that has now be-come the historical identity of about 240 million Dalit people, it has to look at theunbrokenness of the Dalit people as an alternative. The unbrokenness has to bepulled back into our times and made the foundation of governance of future na-tions.


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Will the ancient unbrokenness be able to be the foundation of governance ofmodern nation state? When we look at the core characteristics of the unbrokenpeople we realize that their governing value premises transcend the limitations oftime and the contours of the State.

We are speaking of an unbroken civilization that provides unlimited space to allpeople. Generally there is an assumption that all cultural practices of today in In-dia are Brahminic. We must note that most of the cultural practices of today ori-ginally belonged to the Dalit people. Brahminism took these practices into itsrealm, emptied them of their original liberative meaning, stuffed them with theirown dominant interpretations for establishing a dominant social order and re-cir-culated them in the society for public consumption. Such an effort is being madeeven today by the Hindutva forces in India and globalization forces in the world atlarge. Ushering in an unbroken world will mean the rediscovery of original mean-ings and interpretations in a genuine and assiduous effort to realize an egalitari-an society. When we speak of returning to the unbroken quality of existence we

are not taking a retrograde step into the past. This is a revolutionary step into thefuture, as an egalitarian society with unlimited space for all people is futuristic.

REDS Thesis

Restoration of the

unbrokenness of the Dalit

people is paramount to

ushering in an alternative

governance for nations of

the world. This alternativegovernance will deal a

fatal blow to Capitalism

and Brahminism. There is

a need to take a step

forward from the Dalit

(broken) identity. In order

to move towards an

unbroken identity we need

to restore or rich historyand culture.

REDS Strategy

We evolve a Dalit assertion

that we are neither Hindus, nor

Christians, nor Muslims, nor

Buddhists. We Dalits are Dalits.

We have our own history andculture. We have our own

religion, the Dalit Religion. Let

us not convert to any other

religion in search of dignity

and equality. Let us find our

dignity and pride in the Dalit

religion.


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Resistance as Dalit Politics

The history of the Dalit people is narrated through the myths of ancient times.Without elaborating much I give here below a list of the significant protests ofDalit ancestors to the time of Babasaheb Ambedkar.

1.One of the noblest kings in human history, the great Ravana preferred togive his life protesting against the land-grabbing project of Brahminism. He

protested against the denial of Land Rights and the right to dignity to his sisterby the Aryans who looked down upon women in general and Dalit women inparticular as objects that can be used at will and be thrown out when notneeded.

2.Shambuka protested against the enslaving norms of Brahminism to denyeducation rights to the Dalits. He performed Tapas and was killed by Ramafor doing just that.

3.Emperor Trishanku protested against the denial of cultural rights by attempt-ing to go to heaven with his human body.

4.Eklavya protested against the denial of the right to choose ones professionby hiding his caste and became a warrior.

5.Soorpanakai protested against the denial of equality and dignity to womenby Rama and Lakshmana.

6.The many kings and queens of the indigenous Dalits1 protested and gavetheir life for preserving ecology, environment, animal life and for protectingtheir land from the degrading rituals of the non-Indians.

7.Kadaraiah protested against the denial of the right to freedom to choose byhiding his caste and marrying a Brahmin girl, Maramma. He paid for it with hislife.

8.Aralaiah protested against the denial of the right to human dignity by joininghands with Basavanna.

1. 14000 of them according to Ramayana

Part II


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9.Shri Narayana Guru protested against the denial of religious freedom bystarting a new religion for the Dalits.2

10.Mangooram protested against the denial of life and dignity by starting theAdi Dharm.

11.Ayyankali protested against the denial of land rights to the Dalits and edu-cation rights to Dalit women.

12.Muthukuttiswamy protested against the denial of dignity and religious free-dom by starting the Ayya Vazhi to liberate a section of Dalits from unseeabil-ity.

13.Jyothibha Phule and Savitribha Phule together protested the denial of edu-cation rights as well as the establishment of cultural nationalism by the Maha-rashtrian Brahminic forces.

14.Babasaheb Ambedkar protested against the denial of all ESC3 rights aswell as civil and political rights by vehemently taking up the question of politic-al nationalism at a larger level and for the political rights of the Dalit people.

In fact M.S. Gore characterizes the ideology of Babasaheb Ambedkar as an ideo-logy of protest. Unfortunately the protest element of Dalit ideology tends to beconfined to Babashab Ambedkar. It must be recognized in the larger interest ofDalit political empowerment that there are innumerable other stars in ancient andmodern history who have woven a multifaceted Dalit path of liberation.

Contemporary endeavors at Dalit empowerment have been centered on a socialpsyche of protest rather than on a rational and hard-hitting strategy of politicalempowerment of Dalit communities. The attempts at political empowerment areconcentrated on carrying on a legacy rather than on creating new avenuesthrough those legacies. Despite a long history of protest political empowermentof Dalit communities still remains a pipedream. There are pockets of political em-powerment but that is no reason for complacency.

Let me explain. Today protest is part of the dominant design in many parts of theworld. State sponsored resistance is an age-old practice so that the rulers are incontrol of resistance too. In our times we witness such legitimizing mechanisms,

2. For the Ezhavas of Kerala who liberated themselves from untouchability through this religious path

3. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

In this era of globalization much of our protest is losing its venombecause of the subtle strategies of dominant powers to transform thevery tool of political empowerment, namely, resistance into a tool ofcooption thus making it an arena of disempowerment.


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though not any more through Institutions of religions but through agents of theState, conveniently called non-government agencies. Many resistant movementsin the Third World countries are financially sponsored by such agencies. Theysponsor the movements as long as resistance is containable and remains withintolerable limits. The moment they perceive resistance breaking the boundaries

they have set, they sabotage the movements by stopping financial support aswell as by setting up networking partners against the movements. They system-atically isolate the leaders of these movements and provide financial support tobreakaway groups. They know that when resistance moves beyond their toler-ance limits it has the potential to become a revolution. They promote NGO activ-ists in the Third World precisely because they do not want any revolution to takeplace. Therefore, all those with revolutionary potentials are sought after and willbe gradually neutralized by encouraging a language of unlimited resistance anyby nipping revolutionary action in the bud. Most of the agents are provided fundsin their countries by their governments. The resistant agents are carefullychosen so that the revolutionary forces will have to think twice to dare to expose

them. Women intellectuals, Tribal leaders, Dalit leaders etc. have a natural de-fense around them as exposing them or attacking them will draw flaks from thegeneral society.

REDS Strategies: Develop organicintellectualism in the communities sothat conscientious leaders will notbecome a creamy layer and leave the

community to fend for itself.

Develop and spread out communityleadership. Each Dalit village shouldhave at least 10 visible and capableleaders so that no one leader holdsthe community for ransom.

Conduct long-term residential trainingknown as HPD-D as well as short-termand one day training for leaders and

village people.

Result

11 batches of HPD-D training have been conducted till now. As a consequence about

500 volunteers are spread out in the District to accompany the people in their struggles.Besides these volunteers a host of village elders have been trained short-terms to

position themselves in leadership locations and get into electoral politics.

More than three hundred elderly people have taken up leadership positions in villages

through short-term training.

200 hundred of our leaders have won in the last village panchayat elections.

In more than 100 Dalit Panchayats more than one thousand village people have beenassigned local leadership responsibilities. Half of them are women leaders.

A group of eight full time leaders are at the helm of affairs in the movement.

50 specially trained Dalit women have taken up second line leadership position in theMovement.


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REDS Theory of Political Empowerment

Classical political theory points to a bipolarity of power. One is Power as Domin-ance. The other is Power as Resistance. Through the many years of experienceand reflection in Tumkur District we have developed a Tri-polarity of power. Thethird pole is Power as Participation.

Pole 1 - Power as Dominance

The emergence of the Nation-State in Capitalistic Economic Order has consist-ently brought to the fore the discourse surrounding peoples power. Capitalismhas been wrought with inscrutable shenanigans and communicative incompet-ence. More than four centuries of uninterrupted discourse on peoples power hasconsistently brought concentrated power into the hands of a few and has increas-ingly disempowered a vast majority of the people of the world. Even the bipolarpowerof the Western and Eastern blocks has now become a myth of the pastglory and an unpopular power tower has emerged with the United States ofAmerica emerging as the stallion of power and the policeman of the world. TheUnited States of America commands from a position of unequal strength. It often

Part III


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uses blackmailing techniques to achieve what it wants to. Even the United Na-tions is brought to its knees by the shenanigan of America. The parties withwhom it bargains are often cowed down by the knowledge that it has in its arraythe technology of Star Wars. Settlements through such bargaining are manifesta-tions of power and not of justice. The emergence of the Nation State is the mani-

festation of a synchronization of a totalitarian power in the hands of an oligarchyin the name of democracy. The discourse of democracy is the official mech-anism within the Nation State to offset all resistance to the exercise of a to-talitarian power by the Nation State. The Nation State is also the legitimizationof the position of some groups in a societal relationship to carry out its ownscheme of things and their authority to carry out their designs despite resistancefrom other social groups and legal hurdles. This is not actually power. It is domin-ant power.

The post-colonial India that fabricated its freedom struggle on the discourse ofpower has followed the same chicaneries within India. In fact, the two big epics

of India, which still streamline and consolidate the thinking of the post-modernruling class of India, are representation of an unending struggle for dominantpower. India, which has opted to follow the Western model of development, hasalso set a model of peripheralization of vast majority of people from the cycle ofpower. If it has been generally accepted as the fate of the people of India to beruled by the `twice born at the national level it is the landlord in the village whorepresents such divine power. In the village Panchayat, for example, the Dalitscannot even sit. They have to stand and `accept the judgment of the Dhani theMaster, the landlord. Are we not speaking of archaic forms of the exercise ofpower? Yes, we are speaking of archaic forms of the exercise of power but it ishappening today. That makes the difference. What angers the sensitive and the

sensible common Indian is that it has not stopped with archaic forms but has de-veloped into barbaric forms? Just look at what happened in Melavalli village ofTamilnadu. One Dalit becomes the president of Panchayat. He and seven otherDalits are butchered in broad daylight. The reason? A Dalit dared to win an elec-tion and become the President of the Panchayat. The Killers? Dominant casteVanniyars today, Thevars yesterday. Hoisting one Dalit to the post of the Presid-ent of India washes all the accumulated guilt of the Caste oligarchy.

The question of power to the people, Decentralization of power, Democracy etc.,need to be carefully and scientifically analyzed to arrive at a weighed interventionin the Indian Society today and gain political leverage in the given political envir-onment. This is of paramount importance if one has to make an intervention onbehalf of and along with the disempowered people. Just one flaw in an objectiveunderstanding can propel someone into the camp of the owners of dominantpower. The tragedy is that those who shift camps are blissfully unaware ofthe shift that has taken place within them & the entire time croak aboutpoor & marginalized. Their language is around the disempowered peoplewhile their arms are around dominant powers, often inextricable.


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Power as Dominance in India

The State in India, whatever might be the different systems and structures it as-

sumed through centuries, was and always is a dominant vehicle of power. Thereis no evidence of the State in India being a dominant and oppressive powerstructure before the arrival of the Aryans. Ever since Brahminism established itsfirm grip over the Indian society it went about setting a normative standard andunleashed sets of normative prescriptions for the objugation of the Dalit people.While dishing out the power to rule to the Kshatriyas it retained in its hold thepower to govern, by nonchalantly usurping a spiritual hegemony. Governance isthe distribution of values, both material and spiritual. Brahminism began to dis-tribute the material resources of this part of the earth to itself and to its cronieswhile simultaneously depriving a vast majority of the people of their land and oth-er natural resources. It also distributed spiritual values by establishing Caste Sys-

tem as an imperative form of social organization. Since then no ruler, no king hasbeen able to change this Brahminic order of the society, including the British whohad the brutal power with them to transform the governance systems in thiscountry more equitably. Let us leave alone the equitable distribution of materialresources, even education has been sanctimoniously denied to the indigenousDalits. It was in denying education and knowledge to the Dalits that Brahminismwas able to retain its hold over the distribution of wealth according to its whimsand fancies. This is a monumental evidence of the State in India being in es-sence a Brahminic State. Many scholars in India are suffering from communicat-ive incompetence. They have a specific agenda before they make their thesis.Their theme is to create an impression in the common reader that the State in In-

dia is not Brahminic. They only produce those types of data and evidences whichwill more or less show the neutral character of the Indian State.

Most of us, especially the Dalits, live under the illusion that after the departure ofthe British from the Indian soil colonialism was wiped out from the face of thispart of the earth. The common people are battered with the paradigm that we areIndians, are one people with one culture and national integration is our primeconcern and duty. The reality is that India has simply passed from one formof colonialism to another form, more oppressive in many ways than theBritish colonialism. The class oligarchy in India is also simultaneously a casteoligarchy, which the British were not. They simply left the issue of caste to be

dealt with by the Indians themselves. First of all they did not want to antagonizethe Indian capitalists by taking any step towards social equality. Secondly, theywere not gaining in any way by taking up some of the issues of the Indian societythat were deeply rooted in religion. It was advantageous for them to turn a blindeye to certain issues. However, it must be said to their credit that they opened upthe doors of the education system to the Dalits thus reversing millennia old in-

justice to the indigenous people. The battle for Indias independence was es-


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sentially between the dominant economic gulag of Britain and the domin-ant class-caste combine of India.

We are all proud that the looting of India was arrested through the struggles ofthe Brahmin-Baniya combine for which thousands of ordinary poor Indians laid

down their lives. The Combine raised the tempo of animosity against the Britishdown the social order but stealthily joined hands with the same British for busi-ness enterprises and establishment of economic empires. But is not the looting ofIndia now being continued by the new economic gulag that has emerged inIndia? The economic patricians in India are simultaneously the dominant casteforces who have developed enough caste discourses, paradigms, strategies andprograms for the perpetuation of their wholesome hegemony over the people ofthis land. It is not that this particular class of people is a creamy layer within theIndian society. But they have joined hands with the same colonizers whom theyfought. With the same philosophy of liberalization, privatization etc. they havebuilt corporations after corporations and have expropriated the wealth of the na-

tion all to themselves. The finance capital and the speculative capital that theyhave amassed within the country are being pumped into the banks in other coun-tries. This capital forms a major part of the loan that the IMF and the World Bankare lending out to India and the onus of repaying the loan falls on the commontaxpayer of this country. It is a well-orchestrated nexus of the hooligans within In-dia and outside. The misery of our people has increased manifold.

Therefore, it is evident that the State is not a neutral mechanism of governance.It has to survive by taking sides. By the very fact of its dependence on certainforces for capturing power the owners of the State need to follow the dictat oftheir supporters. Such support may be coming from economic forces, communal

forces, caste forces or other dominant ethnic groups. Therefore, the State will beobliged to enact laws and establish systems that will, in the ultimate analysis,serve the interest of those groups or group with whose mercy it comes to power.Its roles then vary from allocation, distribution of resources to repression andcontainment of unrest. In the context of Globalization, for example, the State inthe developing countries will be compelled to enact such laws that will protect theinterests of the Global investors. The ruling elite of the country may be in a con-frontationist position yet may be forced to bend to a collaborationist level. Enact-ment of repressive laws to contain all forms of protest against foreign dominantforces is ineluctable in such a situation. But repression is not the only means ofsafeguarding the interest of the dominant elite in a State. It also creates its ownsystems, which will justify many of its endeavors among the common people.The State then either creates a legitimating ideology or makes use of an existingone by conveniently twisting it and popularizes a political formula to gain masssupport for its projects. Such ideologies and formulae usually give a false impres-sion to the people of their participation yet in reality will be far removed from it.The common people will not be in a position to identify any such hidden agendaexcept through a scientific analysis. The cover that the State weaves around itsprojects is full of such fine thread that it will normally look verry attractive to the


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unsuspecting masses. Only when they are caught in it will they realize the im-possibility of extricating themselves from it.

In the Globalization context one may point out to such big talks of a New WorldOrder, Decentralization of Power, Democracy, Participation etc. as the legit-

imizing ideology and Panchayat Raj as the legitimizing formula. Therefore, wemay conclude that the Project of Panchayat Raj is a pet agenda of the State thathas bowed its head and sold its freedom to the dominant elite of the world order.

In the internal organization of a multi cultural society with its conflicting interestgroups, governance by the State may also pose a threat to the dominant elite ofparticular interest groups or ethnic communities. The governance of rural India isan example to be looked at. The dominant caste elite in the rural communitiesappropriated for themselves the right to rule their villages through their ownnormative order. The legislation of the State is generally overridden by this norm-ative order as such an order had more acceptances among the rural people than

the law. In fact, the existence of many such laws of the State are unknown to thepeople and where they know it the rural elite unleash repression on the people tosuch an extent of creating an impression that the State legal system is ineffectivein their context. The conventional rural Panchayats in India where the dominantcaste people sit in judgment over the Dalits without giving them any right to provetheir innocence may substantiate this point. The State with its legislation and itsimplementing bodies like the police and bureaucracy provides a lot of room forredressals. This is mainly because of the British legal system, which India has in-herited and because of Babasaheb Ambedkar who is the architect of the IndianConstitution. Not that we have any high regard for a British legacy but the Indiannormative order did not and would not have allowed much space for the Dalits,

Tribals and women. This is borne out by the fact that despite the Constitution at-rocities and oppression to continuing in the daily lives of the Dalits and women.For the marginalized people in India, the State, however repressive it may be of-fers one of the biggest hopes of liberation from the traditional oppressions of thedominant caste forces.

Pole 2 - Power as Resistance

As against the extremely fundamentalist Project of Gandhi and Congress camethe endeavors of stalwarts like Mahatma Jothibha Phule4, Babasaheb Ambedkarand E.V.R.Periyar. Their effort was to construct a political nationalism for India.They outright rejected the Gandhian Project of graded inequality based onVarnashrama, the cultural nationalism. Their project visualized a society in India,which would be constructed on the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. (Ba-basaheb Ambedkar rushes to add that he derived these three principles, not from

4 He was the one who was first given the name Mahatma.


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French Revolution but from Buddhism). They actively resisted the construction ofa Nation on dominant cultural values, on caste lines. Equal rights for all peopleand equal status for all people was what they wanted. Caste system should beresisted and eradicated by the power of people at the bottom. By proposing athree-pronged strategy of Educate, Agitate and Organize Babasaheb Ambedkar

advocated power as resistance. The poor and the Dalits must not allow castesystem to continue and must resist all forms of inequality in the Indian Society.They should establish their power by resisting all forms of dominance.

(Sufficient explanation has been given earlier on Dalit resistance)

Pole 3 - Power as Participation

It is in the specific context of the Dalits and local governance that the concept ofpower as participation needs to be looked into. Against the bipolarity of poweras dominance and power as resistance we need to now move into a tri-

polarity of power as participation. This needs to be distinguished from anyblind following and co-option. A section of society that blindly follows a leader oris co-opted by the system may look like participating but will not have any poweras decision-makers. Power as participation takes people deep into Gov-ernance. Here we take Michael Th. Grevens definition of Governance as a pro-cess of the allocation of values in a given society. Allocation of values implies theallocation of material resources and normative standards. By implication thiswould mean that participation in Governance is the power to make de-cisions at the community/societal level and the power to determine thefunctioning of systems. The road to the power of determination and decision-making should be paved with the power of influencing the decision-making. His-

tory is full of overwhelming evidence that such a power as participation has notremained with the poor and the marginalized. There have been instances of theassertion of peoples power as participation. It presupposes a transformation ofthe nave consciousness of the people into a critical consciousness and congru-ent capacity building for affecting the mechanisms of Governance.

The forces of Globalization especially the economic bodies have usurped thepowers of allocation by blurring the political borders of the nation-state. The cul-tural nationalism of the caste leaders of India has sought to establishpower as dominance. According to it the business of governance belongs to acertain caste groups. The determining factor is birth in a particular dominant

caste. The political nationalism focused on power as resistance in the sense thatthe marginalized caste groups and the Dalits must fight for equal rights. But webelieve that the poor and the marginalized should go a step further and es-tablish their space in Governance, through conscientious political particip-ation. In the present context of Globalization where the powers of the nationstate are depleting through a dominant strategy the poor have to latch on to thesame nation state for a certain amount of maneuvering space on their behalf. It isa paradox. However, till there is another form of governance the marginalized


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people have to capture and expand the political space within the nation statecontext. Therefore, the type of participation that is being visualized is an ag-gressive maneuvering towards capturing political power by the marginal-ized people. This is not possible for any one community in India. It is possibleonly by a strategic combination of many communities, a combination that may be

realized only through an identity formation, strengthening of small communityidentities and through such realized strengths to forge a larger identity such asthe Bahujan identity.

Such an identity formation should not attempt at forging an identity that will sub-merge other specific identities of communities as that will lead only to the estab-lishment of dominant paradigms in the marginalized communities. In the long runone form of exploitation will be replaced by another form. That is not worth all thestruggles and fights that the marginalized people and their leaders are putting up.The primary need in this political path to power is the strengthening ofsmall group identities of different communities. The Madhiga people must

unite and realize their strength as one community. The Mala people should uniteand find their strength. So also should the other communities realize their com-munity strength. From this position of strength should they come together as Dal-its. The Dalit identity cannot expect people to lose their respective strengths asMadhigas, Mala, Chamar, Mahar, Pallar, Parayar, and Arundatiyar etc.

Political endeavors till now have had a heavy focus on what should be happeningoutside of a community, in the larger context, to capture political power. Emancip-ation and liberation have meant action out there. The general assumption underthis paradigm of participation has been that there is a community in existence.While the reality of a community cannot be put into serious question the re-

lative strengths of each community calls for deep introspection and criticalanalysis. What identity do the members of a particular community have as-sumed? What type of a leadership pattern is there within the community?Does a community practice direct democracy or a representative demo-cracy? What mechanisms are there within a community towards an eliteformation? What checks and balances are there within a community to pre-vent the formation of a creamy layer that will strive to alienate itself fromthe community and join hands with the oppressive mainstream forces?What are the normative standards of a community? Have these normativestandards come from within the community or have been derived from theBrahminic forces or from other dominant forces such as religion, ideolo-gies, Isms etc. What are the internal organizational mechanisms of thecommunity that binds it together? A series of such and other questions needto be raised.

Without diminishing the value of externally aggressive participation in the mech-anisms of the nation state, one should also emphasize the need for an internalorganization of the marginalized communities for the realization of their com-munity strength, which will in the long run enhance the strength of the political


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struggle for emancipation, liberation and greater participation in governance. Aslong as some Dalit communities assume the Brahminic culture and religion astheir own the respective strengths of these communities will be weakened. Aslong as some communities among the Dalits are as fundamentalist as the Brah-minic forces the cause of Dalit Liberation will be gradually lost. Therefore, reviv-

ing and strengthening of the religious-cultural identities of communities andidentifying a collectivity in that are of paramount importance. If participation in theprocesses of governance has to be meaningful and equal it cannot be at the sub-mergence of some communities as it happened in the Dravidian politics of Tamil-nadu. The role model that will be set by this submerging emergence will bethat of the dominant classes and that of Brahminism. The Dalit emergenceshould in fact defeat any such role models and strive for a new role model thatwill be based on alternative value paradigms. These new value paradigms will betaken from the religious-cultural context of the marginalized people.

While Mahatma Jotiba Phule was the first one in the history of India to open

schools for the untouchables, Periyar fought tooth and nail against the Brahminicforces of India in the name of the Dravidian Movement that he started. Babasa-heb Ambedkar went many m,any steps ahead with his explicit idea of a politicalnationalism. All the three of them fought Brahminism in their own specific way.Jotiba Phule refused to have any truck with the Congress party branding it as aBrahminic party. Periyar spearheaded his self-respect movement with five fam-ous nos. No God, No religion, No Brahmin, No Gandhi, and No Congress. Ba-basaheb Ambedkar sought the emancipation of the Dalit people first throughpolitical path but ultimately through the path of religion.

Cultural nationalism in India would mean the firm establishment of Caste

system as an instrument of societal organization. Not only that, it wouldalso lead to the Brahminic Order being recognized as the normative orderof the Indian society. The legal system then would be designed based on thisOrder. This was untenable in the Indian context for many reasons.

1.India is not one nation as one can see in many other nations. India is a con-tinent of nations. Each State of India has a different language, different cul-ture. The indigenous people do not belong to the Hindu religion. The Tribalpeople who are more than 80 million have their own religion. The Dalits whoare more than 180 million are not Hindus. There are 130 million Muslims.There are many other minority communities in large number. Moreover, Brah-minism whose other name is Hinduism is in its essence DOMINANT. Thiscannot be said of other religions, though in practice they may be the same oreven worse than Brahminism. But Brahminism believes in the graded inequal-ity of people and extols oppression, exploitation and ill treatment of others.Practicing inequality in general and untouchability is a way of gaining a super-ior birth in the next life. In fact according to it if one touches the Dalits orteaches them the Vedas (Scriptures) one will be re-born as an inferior being.


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2.Babasaheb B.R.Ambedkar and Periyar saw this shenanigan of the Culturalnationalists clearly and the consequences for the Dalits of this country. Wemay also mention the names of Mangoo Ram, Swami Atchutanand and BirsaMunda as other untouchable and tribal leaders who fought for political nation-alism. More than the religious minorities it is the Dalits who would suffer most.

Without much support from anywhere outside India the Dalits would have tocontinue to provide free and cheap labor. Therefore, they decided to fighttooth and nail against the establishment of Cultural Nationalism in India byproposing that Indias nation building should be based political nationalism.Such nationalism would ensure equal political right for the different communit-ies living in India respecting fully their freedom. A Constitution that would en-sure the equal rights of all people was made. It was written by no other thanAmbedkar himself. This Constitution has been guiding the destiny of India tilltoday. Now with the assuming of political power by the Hindutva forces at-tempts are being made to review this Constitution to once again bring culturalnationalism through the backdoor. Dr. B R Ambedkar not only led a political

movement for the nation as a whole but also laid the foundations for theemancipation of the Dalits. Being an untouchable, Babasaheb Ambedkarwrote in many volumes the philosophy of Dalit liberation. Rejecting Hinduidentity for the untouchables and resisting the attempts of M K Gandhi toHinduize the Dalits.

Babasaheb Ambedkar predicted this long ago. The third thing we must do is notto be content with mere political democracy. We must make our political demo-cracy a social democracy as well. Political Democracy cannot last unless therelies at the base of it social democracy We must begin by acknowledging thefact that there is complete absence of two things in Indian society. One of these

is equality. On the social plane, we have in India a society of graded inequality,which means elevation of some and degradation of others. On the economicplane, we have a society in which there are some who have immense wealth asagainst many who live in abject poverty On the 26th January 1950 we are goingto enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in socialand economic life we will have inequality We must remove this contradiction atthe earliest possible moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow upthe structure of political democracy which this Assembly has so laboriously builtup5When we have a nation through our struggles, where there is minimalinequality, exploitation and oppression, where there is no dogma that be-lieves in inequality and untouchability not only as a way of life but also as avirtue we shall be bold enough to announce the conversion of Hindustaninto Janasthan, a Nation that is governed by the guiding principles of theelders of the Dalit people.

5. As quoted by Professor D.N.Sandanshiv in Siddharth College of Law Magazine, 1980.

REDS Strategy

Take the people a step ahead of the protest psyche. They must be convincedthat there is no point in going on protesting and taking pride in protest as anachievement of a goal. Protest must be only a strategic means to achieve greaterparticipation in the Instruments and mechanisms of governance of India. Wemust fix our sight on capturing, expanding and consolidating a Dalit space innational governance. We must take up protest only in as much as it is aneffective means. Glorifying our protest and labeling us as a protesting peopleshould not blind our vision of providing a value based governance to this countryof ours.

Political empowerment is not a compartment of Dalit life. No one can honestlysay, I am not for politics. Politics is an integral dimension of Dalit culture.Therefore, Capturing, expanding and consolidating Dalit space in governance willimply a holistic engagement in the larger society. It implies and overallcheckmating of Brahminism and its shenanigans as well as a proactive creationof the virtuous cycle. REDS strategy for political empowerment of Dalits theDalit Panchayat which is simultaneously social and economic.


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Details of the realization of these strategies are given in Part IV.


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Dalit Political Empowerment REDS as a Catalyst

REDS looks at Dalit political empowerment from two major dimensions. Contraryto all previous endeavor, however, serious, sincere and committed they mighthave been, REDS believes firmly in the need for a strong and systematic internalcommunity governance if not to precede, at least to go hand in hand with parti-cipation in national governance. This is the first dimension. The second dimen-

sion is that as a strong community that is capable of governing itself Dalit com-munity must aim at capturing and expanding as much space as possible in na-tional governance to the extent that one day the governance of India will becomeDalit governance. Then this country will be known as Janasthan.

Internal Governance

What is the cumulative consequence of the submergence of the Dalit history andculture under the Brahminic culture? Over many centuries and millennia the Dalitcommunities have lost the strong normative order and forms of internal gov-ernance. Brahminism worked like a slow poison threatening the Dalits here, co-

opting them there, cheating them treacherously here and so on. A dilution of theirstrong principles of internal governance handed over orally generation after gen-eration has been possible because of the overriding influence of Brahminism.The same consequences are the results of the conversion of the Dalit people intoChristianity and Islam. These three cultures have taken pride in having hoistedthe symbols of their pride standing on the debris of the Dalit culture. Not havinghad a written normative order for internal governance of their society the Dalitculture has been trampled upon with impunity.

For the Dalit communities religions and religious systems have remained con-stant nemesis. Our daily living is continuously being conditioned by the prescrip-

tions of behavior by the dominant caste groups. More than 7,00,000 villages ofIndia are governed by the caste prescriptions of the dominant castes. Almost inall the villages there is a Dalit area that is till today called the Dalit Colony. Thevery structure of each village in India is a testimony to an inhuman level ofcolonization. What prevails in the village day in and day out is the directand blatant code of behavior determined by the caste village. The village iscalled united and peaceful if all the people in village abide by a common code ofconduct. This is one of the fundamental requirements in any society. Therefore,

Part IV


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to anyone who does not go deep into the peculiarities of Indian villages thisparadigm does sound quite innocent. However, for the conscientious Dalit thereis one inevitable question. Where is the common code of conduct when it hasbeen exclusively determined by the dominant caste religious precepts andpractices? Peace on whose terms and on what conditions?

There will be peace in the village generally if the Dalit people do not at all ques-tion the rationale of the village code of conduct. There will be peace and harmonyin the village if the Dalit people quietly take the glasses kept separately for themin the village tea shops, sip their cup of tea, wash the glasses and keep themback in their reserved place. If the Dalit people question the rationale of sep-arate glasses and demand tea to be served like anybody else it will bedeemed to be a disruption of harmony in the village. There will be peace andharmony in the village if the Dalit people remove the carcasses as a caste dutyi.e. as a virtuous job that will take them one step away from untouchability, in thenext birth of course. If the Dalits say it is your animal that is dead and there-

fore, you can remove it or at least join hands with us or pay us for the jobthat we do, or in the way we remove carcasses from your streets youshould also come forward to remove carcasses from our streets, it will be aterrible affront to the dominant castes and a serious violation of the peaceof the village.

There will be peace and harmony in the village if the Dalit people sweep thestreets and clean the gutter as prescribed by the dominant castes. If the Dalitssay that after all it is our village. It will add to the luster of the village peaceif you also join us in cleaning the village, it is a sure way to insulting thecaste lords and will lead to clashes and beating up of the Dalits. Such

clashes and atrocity on the Dalits by the dominant caste groups are onlyfor preservation of peace and harmony!!! and for teaching a lesson to theDalits. There will be peace and harmony in the village if the Dalit people taketheir musical instruments to announce deaths of dominant caste people and beattheir drums during their funeral processions. If they go to different villages to in-form the relatives of the dead bracing hot sun or heavy rain at no cost at all therewill be sure peace in the village. If ever the Dalits demand wages for theseservices then the village peace will be disrupted, of course by the violenceof the dominant castes. There will be peace and harmony in the village if theDalit people unquestioningly dig the graves of the dominant caste dead. If theDalits say for the sake of peace and harmony let us all join hands to dig thegrave of one of the elders of the village or pay us a certain amount ofmoney for this hard work or you must also dig graves when one of our eld-ers dies, then it is a sure case of the worst violation of village peace andsubsequently of the human rights of the Dalit people.

There will be peace and harmony in the village only if the Dalit people preparefirewood for marriages in the caste families, only if the Dalits carry lamps in thevillage processions, only if the Dalits came last with their flowers to gods and


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goddesses, only if the Dalits remove the leaves and plates in which the castepeople eat, only if the Dalits willingly accept the leftovers, only if the Dalits areready to accept the residual development schemes of the government etc. Thelitany can go and on.

Suffice it to say that the peace and harmony prevailing in the Indian vil-lages today is the fruit of the slavery of the Dalit people as well as theirforced acceptance of it. It is the compulsive consequence of the meek sur-render of the innocent Dalit to bow his head (The Dalit woman generally isnot a part of this compromising formula of Dalit men) to the village Danithe Lord. Where does so much authority come from? Where does this code ofconduct come from? Are they from the Constitution of India? No. In fact, the vil-lage governance is an antithesis of the political nationalism proposed inthe Constitution of India. The norms and codes of conduct widely prevalent inthe post colonial India smack of an ancient form of colonialism which is infusedwith new life and inflated with renewed vigor by the post modernist educated and

informed Indian. Such a knowledge, audacity, arrogance and authority come fromreligion and the different seats of religious power. Religious books and other In-stitutions of religion provide the stamp of authority for such archaic forms of vil-lage governance. The forces that have a bounden duty to govern the nation stateunder a rule of law prefers to look the other way when it comes to a question ofviolations of the human rights of the Dalit people. The dominant caste man is notat all afraid of his gods and goddesses, as he very well knows that these are hismere creations of his ancestors. What he is afraid of is the Dalit approaching therule of law for justice, both distributive and retributive. This is because even themost radically conscious Indian has a residue at the core of his being, howeverreluctant he/she may be to acknowledge it, that the Dalit is destined to be outside

the periphery of human existence by a divine ordinance. Even the so-calledatheists and communist leaders shudder to take up the responsibility ofDalit liberation simply because most of them live by their Brahmin identity.

In the Dalit world there is a simultaneously synchronizing effect. Whatever maybe the intensity of repulsion a Dalit experiences in his raw nerves against suchinhuman forms of governance he has till now generally been abiding by the rulesand regulations of the village as formulated by the caste masters. The primaryreason for this abiding subservience is an internalized fear. Throughout his/herlife the Dalit lives in fear of the totally unexpected outcome of his/her otherwisenormal behavior. The hidden presence of the caste lord hangs over his/her headlike the sword of Damocles. The personality of the caste lord is a shadow that fol-lows the Dalit wherever he/she goes. In any remote area, physically far removedfrom the Dhani the Dalits decisions are conditioned by what the he may say ordo to him/her as a consequence of his/her decision. The Dalit does not knowwhich of his/her conduct and decision would draw the wrath of the Dhani and atwhat time. If there is no compliance with the normative from the village therecould be a severe beating up, maiming, and hospitalization etc. not only ofhim/her but also possibly of his/her family members. It is the community that is


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generally punished for the supposed crime of an individual Dalit. Another reasonfor compliance is the fear that the caste lord would demand the immediate repay-ment, with interest, of the loan that the Dalit borrowed in times of distress. Whilelending the money the Dhani knew only too well that such loss of money wouldstand him in good stead. The most compelling reason however is the overall de-

pendence of the entire Dalit community on one or other of the caste lords for sub-sistence. When the Dalit wakes up from sleep every morning the day be-comes one of compulsive servility.

The binding that the village code of conduct has on the Dalit is not because ofany enlightened consciousness that the village rules are evolved for the good ofhumanity. The ordinary Dalit knows only too well that the caste rules are explicitlymeant to subjugate him/her, his/her family and his/her community for the selfish

ends of the caste forces. Simultaneously we also witness a ReverseBond in the Dalit community. There are unwritten codes of conduct withinthe Dalit community. These codes have been handed down from generation to

generation by its observance. These are not consequent to any holy book or anyreligious authority but because of the emotional bond that exists within the Dalitcommunity. Though there are no seats of power there are families and elders be-longing to certain families who are conventionally vested with an informal author-ity go guide the behavior of the community. On certain occasions when there areguidelines given out by such elders some Dalits make a public show of their dis-sent, which they would never dare to do vis--vis the dominant caste dictates.This is because of the bond they have within the community among one another.They are so confident of the tolerance of one another that they have no hesita-tion to violate any internal guidance. Since this is not the type of bonding that willtake a community forward and leads to regression we call it a Reverse Bond.

The refusal to abide by a community code is born of a bond and not be-cause of the absence of it. It is easy to violate internal norms, as there is nofear of punishment and as there is no visible seat of power to which onehas to be accountable. The dominant caste groups make use of this psyche ofthe Dalits to their best advantage. The fear of the dominant castes is also accom-panied by a fear of punishment by the gods. This fear has been instilled into theDalit psyche systematically by the caste forces.

Therefore, we have come to a crucial question. Is it the village code of conduct?Is it the Constitution? Or is it something else that is going to liberate the Dalitcommunities? An honest and dispassionate reply to this question actually takes

us to the need for Dalit Religion. Let me explain. The cumulative consequenceof the objugation of the Dalit people for many centuries is the denial of theright to codify their principles of internal governance. This was effectivelyachieved by the dominant castes by banning education to the Dalits. A constitu-tional alternative will become irrelevant in this context as the Constitution itselfhas become a vacant site. The Dalits may clamor for the rule of law but un-less the entire nation upholds the rule of law the Dalit space in governance

will be restricted and violated at will as it is happening. When the caste


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society has the audacity to bye-pass the Constitution of Indiaand make religious laws as the de facto governing mechanismof the country, the Dalit communities can only think of a revolu-tion as our liberation path. Revolution is not the outcome of a romantic as-piration. It will be the consequence of carefully planned strategies. It will require acommon identity and a collective will to succeed. The collective will cannot comeabout unless a group of people evolves a community sense with their own norm-ative. People do not accept and abide by community norms unless the com-munity itself emerges out of a history and culture. The Dalit people have a historyand culture. Dalit religion is a humble attempt to discover in a rational way thehistory, culture and civilization of the Dalit people. Hence the Dalit assertion Weare neither Hindus, nor Christians, nor Muslims, nor Buddhists. We Dalits areDalits. Dalit Religion is our Religion. (Expand here on external Politics and gov-ernance.)

REDS Thesis

The cumulative impact of dominance over Dalitcommunities through history is the loss of formallystructured Internal Normative Order(INO), a privilegethat all other communities enjoy. Lack of an INO has

lead to the weakening of the internal strength of theDalit communities and has wreaked havoc with Dalitidentity. If Dalits have to effectively participate innational governance their internal community strengthhas to be restored. If internal strength of Dalitcommunities has to be restored the INO of the Dalitcommunities must be revived and consolidated.Political bargaining, capturing and expanding of Dalitspace in governance, can sustain themselves only onthe strengths that Dalit communities acquire bygoverning themselves as a community of people.

Developing an INO may look like an introversion. True,however, this introversion will produce the type ofuncontainable energy in the Dalit communities that itwill have to break out naturally into an extroversion.Such a breaking out will lead to a take over of nationalgovernance by the Dalit people. Only then can we trulysay that India has become free once again.

REDS Strategies

Economic Land forDalits

Politicala. Internal DalitPanchayatb. ExternalConvergence of Dalitvotes on Land

Social Battle againstuntouchability andatrocity

Cultural Dalit Religion

Overriding International Advocacyand Lobbying


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Strategies of REDS

The Strategies of REDS are placed in three timeframes.

The first timeframe is the first decade from 1984 to 1993. This is the decade ofthe NGO REDS. During this period REDS was the front-line leader for the Dalitpeople taking up their cause in a pioneering fashion as well as educating and or-

ganizing the people for struggles.

The second timeframe is the second decade starting from 1994 to 2003. This isthe decade of the Dalit Jagruthi Samithi, which is the Dalit movement supportedby REDS. In this decade the NGO REDS systematically was asked to give up itsleadership position and assume a support service role to the Movement. In thisdecade DJS became a strong front-line leader of the Dalit people.

The third timeframe has just started. This is the third decade where Dalit Reli-gion, Dalit Panchayat and Booshakthi Kendra are emerging as focal points ofDalit liberation. In this decade DJS is giving way to Dalit Panchayats for internal

community governance with a primary focus on the restoration of the primacy ofthe Dalit woman.

The three timeframes also have had theirStrategic Focus and Strategic Loca-tions from which have emerged the many struggles and programmes for thepolitical empowerment of the people. Strategic Focuses flow from Dalit libera-tion philosophy and the space they provide for creativity is much wider. They arelike springboards from which many strategic Locations emerge.

Strategic Locations are similar in nature to the focuses with less mixture ofphilosophical moorings. However, they are much reduced in their scope in com-

parison to strategic focuses. They give impetus to the emergence of pro-grammes, action, reflection and struggles.

Part V


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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Timeframe Strategic Focuses Strategic Locations------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Decade of REDS Political Bargaining Power Educate, Agitate, OrganizeNGO Sangha Model Community Short-term training

OrganizationEffective leadership

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Decade of DJS Power as Participation Long-term training

Movement Organic Intellectualism Electoral battlesInternationalization Struggles againstAlternative leadership Untouchability and atrocity

Advocacy & Lobbying International NetworkingLand Struggles------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Decade of DPs Internal Governance Dalit Panchayats

Cultural Resurgence Dalit ReligionCommunity Convergence of Dalit Booshakthi Kendra

Votes One Vote DalitologyDalit Governance of India 5 acres of land to each

Dalit familyBooshakthi Vedike

Booshakthi ForumInternationalBooshakthi WomensForum

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Strategic Offshoots

Jai Bheem greeting as a Dalit form of greetings to instill a sense of prideamong the Dalits as well as to create a sense of belonging to a community ofpeople. Today the Dalits in many villages and towns greet one another, dom-inant castes people and government officials with Jai Bheem.

Transform the identity of an untouchable people into one of a dont touch-able people. The common saying in the District among the dominant castesis hey, do not poke in their affairs. The have DJS and Booshakthi Kendra.


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Transform identity of a receiving people into one of giving people. We havea rich history and culture, a worldview and way of life that the world can re-ceive as an alternative to dominant ways, oppression and exploitation.

Stop converting to other religions. We are neither Hindus, nor Christians, norMuslims, nor Buddhists. We Dalits are Dalits. We have our History and Cul-ture. We have our religion. Our Religion is the Dalit Religion.

Emergence of women leadership as a strike force and a governing force. Al-most all successful struggles in Tumkur District have been led by Dalit wo-men.

Dalit cultural symbols have been evolved to give visibility to the Cultural re-surgence.

Landmark Empowerment Events

(Social, Cultural, Economic and Advocacy events are excluded)

1993 110 members of the REDS Sanghas contested the Mandal Panchay-at elections. 58 of them won. 18 of the winning candidates were women.There was euphoria all around. However, in the subsequent elections to thepost of Presidents they could not contest in the name of REDS as politicalparties could field their candidates.

1994 The Dalit Jagruti Samithi was formally inaugurated by Prof. B Krish-nappa, the Founder of DSS. There was a gathering of 5000 Dalits in the Dis-trict.

1999 Assessment by political parties put the votes on hand strength ofDJS to 35000 in the District. Politiciansl came out in the open to seek the sup-port of REDS-DJS. Hard negotiations took place.

January 2000 The Declaration of this Millennium as Ambedkar Yuga gen-erated a raging political controversy in the District to some extent in the State.

Political parties, RSS, Brahmin Mahasabha and other Caste Groups triedtheir level best to sabotage the event. It was one of the bitterest controversiesin the history of the District. The battle of wits was won by REDS-DJS. TheDeclaration was a roaring success with 42000 Dalits mobilized by ordinary il-literate and semi-literate Dalit leaders. A few thousand others came on theirown from different parts of the country. Prakash Ambedkar was the hero ofthe day. Four senior Ministers of the Karnataka Government attended thefunction. It was a terrible slap on the face of politicians and Caste forces. It


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was the first and the only time when so many thousands gathered together inthe history of the District.

March 2000 The Kampalapally Issue once again brought the Dalit peopletogether. Though it was a Caste atrocity in Kolar for DJS it was a political mo-

bilization of its people. Each taluk organized Road Blockade in the entire Dis-trict simultaneously.

Elections 2000 DJS fielded its candidates in the Panchayat Elections. 200of them won. DJS evolved a strategy of supporting Dalit candidates in theTaluk and Zilla Panchayat elections apart from three winning candidates atthe Taluk Panchayat level.

March 2001 One of the biggest mobilizations of women by DJS took placein Pavagada, a volatile taluk of the District. 3000 women took part in the pro-cession. It was a political show of strength.

February 2002 6000 Dalit people assembled in Bangalore to release Dal-itology. It was a cultural-political assertion of the people in the Capital. Morethan 1000 of them were from outside Tumkur District.

April 2003 The Great March to establish the Booshakthi Kendra was onceagain a cultural-political assertion of the Dalit people. Jyothi and Raj walked25 kms in scorching sun without any stop. 6000 people assembled to wel-come and announce the arrival of the Dalit Peeta.

November 2003 The Chief Minister of Karnataka was on a public relations

tour with the people of Karnataka. DJS_Booshakthi Kendra decided to stopthe CM at the Booshakthi Kendra and present a Memorandum for five acresof land. This was not allowed by the organizers. However, the Minister forHighjer education invited Jyothi and Raj for a discussion and made sure forhimself that we were not staging a protest. After we clarified that we were notstaging any protest a stop at the Booshakthi Kendra was included in theschedule of the CM. Abot a thousand people gathered in one days notice.

December 2003 In the Festival of Dalit Ancestors, Six Dalit Swamijis as-sembled in the Boosahkthi Kendra with 3000 people. It was a combination ofcultural-economic-political assertion. It was announced that in the forthcom-

ing elections to the State Assembly only that party which, incorporated in itsofficial Manifesto, the promise of giving five acres of land to each Dalit family,would get the Dalit votes in the District. Convergence of Dalit votes into onevote became an urgent appeal.

Bhoomi Jatha 2004 Centered on the demand for five acres of land toeach Dalit family Jyothi and Raj went on a village tour appealing to people tobring theirl votes into one vote and realize its worth by casting this ONE


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VOTE to a party that promised to give 5 acres of land to each Dalit family inits Manifesto.

Elections 2004 The Booshakthi Vedike was formed to pressurize the polit-ical parties to include the clause of 5 acres of land in their official Manifesto.

13 Districts are represented. Five Dalit Swamijis have also joined the Vedike.The Vedike is known as a Network of Dalit Movements and Dalit Peetas. Per-haps for the first time in the history of Dalit liberation this idea emerged andhas been realized. A smaller committee was formed to meet national andState level leaders of all political parties.

Elections 2005 In the elections to the Panchayats in Karnataka, The DJSfielded 452 candidates. 261 of them won the elections. Out of the 261 winningpersons from DJS 118 were from the other castes with whom Dalits made analliance and made them win. In the bargain they were able to make the rest oftheir candidates win.

The Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh invited REDS-DJS to identify alltheir party candidates and field them in Tumkur District on behalf of theirparty.

The Janatha Dal (S) made it a point to stop at the Booshakthi Kendra in theirparty march to Tumkur. This was to show to the Dalit people that they were ingood terms with Booshakthi Kendra.

The Congress organized a public meeting in the Booshakthi Kendra to hon-or Babasaheb Ambedkar. Once again the motive was the same as the

Janatha Dal.

The Janatha Dal (S) had included promise of a hectare of land in their draftManifesto. The leaders met them once again and insisted that it should befive acres of land and nothing less. They agree and it was there in the final of-ficial Manifesto. The Booshakthi Kendra immediately gave a call to all theDalit people in Tumkur District and in parts of Karnataka to support JanathaDal (S).

Cumulative Impact

The cumulative impact of the Cultural Resurgence-cum-Political Mobilization ofthe Dalit people in Tumkur District has been manifold and multifaceted.

4500 acres of land have been recovered for the Dalit people till now in theDistrict alone.


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Untouchability practices have been reduced to a mere 20% in area of opera-tion.

Atrocity was nil in the last three years. Major atrocities have completelystopped. The common talk in the District is not to touch the Dalits as they

have REDS DJS and Booshakthi Kendra.

Political parties vie with each other to garner the support of BooshakthiKendra.

The strategy for convergence of Dalit votes into one was applied in the lastGeneral Elections to the Legislative Assembly and to the Parliament. The res-ult was unprecedented. Out of the 13 seats in the District Janatha Dal (S) won8. Though we cannot claim the entire credit for this change in the District ourstrategies were effective. This was the first time that such a call was given tothe people and the rate of success is a sure lesson for the future in a positive

direction.

Free Caste labor has stopped in most village. People are proud to be Dalitsand in order to safeguard their dignity they now work for wages and are sacri-fice the little benefit that may come from Caste labor.

Dalits are celebrating their own festivals and have started giving up the fest-ivals of other religions. Photos of Hindu gods and goddesses are giving wayto the photos of Booshakthi and of the ancestors of the Dalit community.

Conclusion

The Vision and strategies of REDS are holistic Dalit liberation. While sustainingthe Dalit community with its own identity, culture and history it will also bringLand, political power and social equality within the next 200 years. Tumkur has

just set a model in the offing. We do hope this model will spread.

I place before you a few Frames that list out the thesis that have led to effectivestrategies while at the same time have emerged as a consequence of strategic

action. It is cyclic. There is no linear sequence of one being after the other.

Frame I


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I

REDS Overall Strategies

Econ om ic Land for Dalits. 4500 acres of land have been recovered for our people. Thestruggle for 5 acres of land to each Dalit family is gaining momentum. Already theJanatha Dal(S) officially included this clause in their Manifesto of the last generalelections.

Pol it icalInternal Dalit Panchayat. Already 100 DJS sanghas have been converted into Dalit

Panchayats. A target of 900 Dalit Panchayats has been set for the next three years.

50 specially trained women are already in leadership positions apart from the 500DP women leaders. A Booshakthi Mandali has been formed to spread the message

of Dalit INO. Each DP appoints a Booshakthi Sevaki/Sevaka to educate the

community.

ExternalConvergence of Dalit votes on Land. During the last general elections 8 out

of 13 legislators in Tumkur District won from Janatha Dal(S). DJS gave a call to theDalit people to vote only for Jantha Dal(S). Some candidates won mainly with the

support of DJS. 42000 Dalits were mobilized to declare this Millennium as

Ambedkar Yuga. Prakash Ambedkar and Four ministers of the Karnataka

Government were present against terrible odds. 200 DJS leaders were elected to thevillage panchayats in the last elections. The CM of Karnataka had to make a stop at

the Booshakthi Kendra because of political compulsions.

Soci alBattle against untouchability and atrocity. During the reporting period of 2003-2004atrocity was nil. Untouchability practices have been reduced by 80% in the District.Booshakthi Vedike and Booshakthi Forum for Women have been initiated.

Cu lt ura lBooshakthi Kendra, which is a Dalit Peeta has been formally inaugurated. Colorsymbols have become strong all over the District. Dalit community symbol hasbeen developed. Five Dalit Festivals have become popular. Dalit marriages, Dalitnaming ceremonies, Dalit Puberty functions, Dalit Death ceremonies are beginningto gain ground. Dalitology, the Book of the Dalit People has been popularized. Thishas been augmented by Cosmosity and DALITHINK.


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Frame III

Frame IV

REDS Thesis

Restoration of the unbrokenness of the Dalit people is paramount toushering in an alternative governance for nations of the world. Thisalternative governance will deal a fatal blow to Capitalism andBrahminism. There is a need to take a step forward from the Dalit(broken) identity. In order to move towards an unbroken identity weneed to restore oUr rich history and culture.

REDS Strategy

We evolve a Dalit assertion that we are neither Hindus, norChristians, nor Muslims, nor Buddhists. We Dalits are Dalits. We

have our own history and culture. We have our own religion, theDalit Religion. Let us not convert to any other religion in search ofdignity and equality. Let us find our dignity and pride in the Dalitreligion.


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REDS Thesis: Protest is truly an identity of the Dalit people. However, there is aneed to move beyond the social psyche of resistance as an achievement in itself.Dalit history is full of resistance. However, we have not removed untouchability anddenial of rights to the Dalit people.

Capitalist and Brahminic forces are constantly on the prowl to identify and co-optDalit resistance so that Dalit struggles of human rights and dignity does notbecome a revolution. Brahminic forces are on high alert so that Dalits may nevergrab the opportunity to become rulers of this country of theirs.

REDS Strategy: Develop an organic intellectualism in the Dalit community throughlong- term training and community education. 500 young men and womenvolunteers have been already trained and spread out into the District.

Let leadership be widespread in the community with at least 10 leaders in eachvillage. Five of tem must compulsorily be women leaders. There are already onethousand such leaders. 500 of them are women.

Keep away from the mechanisms of resistance of the dominant elite who prowlaround dishing out revolutionary jargons. Beware of slogans that come from

Northern NGOs. Constantly educate people through small booklets, pamphlets,wall posters and wall writing. Every major event is preceded by the publication of abooklet by the Ambedkar Resource Center of REDS. Every year there are at least10 types of pamphlets and wall posters.


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Frame V

Frame IV

REDS Thesis

The cumulative impact of dominance over Dalit communities through history is theloss of formally structured Internal Normative Order, a privilege that all othercommunities enjoy. Lack of an INO has lead to the weakening of the internalstrength of the Dalit communities and has wreaked havoc with Dalit identity. IfDalits have to effectively participate in national governance their internalcommunity strength has to be restored. If internal strength of Dalit communities

has to be restored the INO of the Dalit communities must be revived andconsolidated. Political bargaining, capturing and expanding of Dalit space ingovernance, transformation of Hindustan into Janasthana can sustain themselvesonly on the strengths that Dalit communities acquire by governing themselves as acommunity of people. Developing an INO may look like an introversion. True,however, this introversion will produce the type of uncontainable energy in the Dalitcommunities that it will have to break out naturally into an extroversion. Such abreaking out will lead to a take over of national governance by the Dalit people.Only then can we truly say that India has become free once again.

REDS Strategy:

In order to consolidate Internal Governance of Dalit communities Dalitology hasbeen written and is being acknowledged as the Scriptures of the Dalit people. Thiscontains the nucleus of an INO of the Dalit communities. A Bookless people havenow become a people of the Book.

DJS is giving up its tag and is now organizing Dalit Panchayats. Already 100 DJSsanghas have been converted into Dalit Panchayats. DPs are the ultimate decisionmaking bodies for the Dalit communities.


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The Latest Strategies

1.More than 550 Dalit Panchayats have been formed and a Dalit PanchayatParliament has been established to look into the internal governance of the

community as well as to enhance the communitys participation in the Instru-ments and Mechanisms of national governance in India.

2.A State level Networking has been strengthened in 13 Districts of Karnatakawith also integrated plans to develop the same at the national level.

3.Close association with top level bureaucracy has been set up. A critical co-operation is rendered to them when they request it. Booshakthi Kendra isconducting a sensitization programme in all the Districts of Karnataka for allthe bureaucrats of the government in collaboration with the Social WelfareMinistry.

4.A two years Diploma Course in Dalit studies has been started in theBooshakthi Kendra for Dalits from all the States of South India. This course isopen to all participants from national and international arena.

5.REDS has also initiated a major campaign at the national level for electoralreforms in India. This campaign will be formally announced with the release ofour next book on Dalit Politics. But contacts are being established with nation-al and international organizations to make this campaign a truly effective one.The campaign will be to reform the Indian electoral system to the Proportion-ate Electoral System from its Majoritarian Electoral System. A research has

already been done and the book on Dalit Politics is being written.

6.It must be noted that the campaign for 5 acres of land to each Dalit familystarted originally from Tumkur and has now become a national movementwithout REDS being the leader. Others are taking it up on their own. The Dalitcolor symbols of blue and black also started from Tumkur and has now be-come national. Dalit Panchayat Movement is also being taken up by manyother states and organizations.

7.There have been some bystanders in India who have opted to stand at thesideways of Dalit liberation and be cynical about the strategies of REDS andBooshakthi Kendra. They have constantly generated a refrain that REDS isdoing everything on its own. REDS has not wasted its time to keep on ex-plaining all of its strategies to all such bystanders. REDS has opened itsdoors to all the co-travelers in the path of Dalit liberation who wanted to comeand have serious dialogue on all the controversial issues that are proposed inthe books written by Jyothi and Raj. All new efforts have to evoke critical re-flection. That is the success of new initiatives that people have started think-ing about them. REDS has never refused to join hands with any Body in the


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path of Dalit liberation. All the same REDS and Booshakthi Kendra do notwant to be constantly threatening the social space of other Dalit brothers andsisters. If anybody wants to reject us they are most welcome to do. That willnever deter us from doing what we have set out to do as long as we are con-vinced of the legitimacy of what we are doing.

nature & forms of political empowerment

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