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Dalit youth hacked to death for marrying upper-caste girl

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Dalit

Coimbatore: A young couple, whose inter-caste marriage was opposed by their families, was Monday brutally attacked by a gang with sickles in full public view in nearby Tirupur district, resulting in the death of the husband.

When Shankar (22) and Kausalya (19), hailing from Palani in Dindigul district, were waiting at the Udumalpet bus stand, a group of armed men came on a motorcycle andhacked them with sickles before fleeing, police said.

Police rushed the profusely bleeding couple to the Government Hospital here. While Shankar died on the way, Kausalya’s condition is said to be critical, and she is undergoing treatment, they added.

The couple, said to be from different castes, had fallen in love and had got married despite opposition from their families just eight months ago and the gang was reportedly related to the girl, they said.

Further investigations are on, police added.

(Agencies)

Priests perform purification ritual after Dalit man takes bath in temple pond

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temple-pond-purification

Kozhikode: A purification ritual was performed at a temple in Kozhikode by the priests after a Dalit man took a bath in the temple pond.

The incident happened at the Kondamvalli Ayyappa Temple, near Koyilandi in Kozhikode, on January 26, 2016.

“A committee was formed to renovate the temple pond, which was lying in a dilapidated state. A Dalit man was chosen as the president of the committee. The temple authorities later removed him from the post after the completion of the first phase of renovation works. Later, they finished the renovation work and dedicated the pond to the temple on October 17, 2015. The dedication ceremony was conducted by the priests. As part of the ceremony, it was the Dalit man who had given Dakshina to the temple Tantri and he had conducted the snanam (bathing),” Dalit leaders said at a press meeting.

“However, there were some people who were not satisfied with a Dalit man performing snanam (bathing). So, they organised a rededication ceremony on January 26. They organised a purification puja in the temple pond. The snanam (bathing) ritual was then conducted by an upper caste man.  Neither the temple committee nor the temple Tantri was aware of it,” they said alleging that it was part of a move to bring back the caste system in Kerala.

“The rededication ceremony was conducted by Koomulli Karunaakaran, president of Chengottukaavu grama panchayat. Former MLA P.Vishwan was also present at the event,” they said.

“Dalits and other social activists should come forward against such move,” they added.

Bharathiya Pattika Samajan leaders M.M Sreedharan, P.M.B Naderi and Saseendran Bappankaavu were present at the press meeting.

(Madhyamam)

Movie Review: Court: A Tale of Law and Injustice

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Now running in theatres, Court, an award-winning multilingual drama, studies caste and criminalisation of political dissent through the prism of judiciary.

Chaitanya Tamhane Court

by Manisha Sethi

Baap sarkar… O lord, our Master

How you wield the sword

That stabs the heart

That smashes all life!

With one shot of your gun

The best of people are downed

Down in the dumps!

Yet you did not muffle me

Showed me the courtesy to try me in court

How you rendered a favour unto me

O’ how you rendered a favour to me

Baap sarkar… O lord, our Master

So sings Narayan Kamble upon being released on bail. This ‘ballad of gratitude’ exposes the violence that lies at the heart of law. It places the machinery of law at par with the swords and guns that smash and drown people, much as it may pretend to be its exact opposite.

The Court follows the trial of Narayan Kamble, an ageing ex-mill worker, now part-time tuition teacher and full-time balladeer who sings at street corners, at Ambedkarite meetings, and among workers. Kamble is arrested for abetting suicide of a manhole cleaner who is found dead in the gutters, just days after Kamble has sung his rousing songs in the slum of the now dead man. The prosecution’s case is as follows: How could a man who had cleaned gutters for five years as a contract worker with BMC, who was well aware of the hazardous gases that filled these hellholes, have descended down without proper protection? The absence of any safety equipment amounted to deliberate ignorance of safety norms by the deceased. The dead gutter cleaner had been coaxed and incited by Kamble’s song to inhale toxic gases to gain dignity and respect.

While it may appear to be a satire – and it almost is, given the incredulous charges against Kamble, and even flimsier evidence supplied by the police to support the prosecution’s case – the troubling thing about this plot is that it is wholly plausible in today’s India. There are shades of the Kabir Kala Manch trial as well as Binayak Sen’s, and countless less reported ones. The evidence – recovery of books either never banned, or banned by the British almost a century ago; a stock witness who testifies for the prosecution in several cases; and a letter from a friend in jail urging Kamble to look after his ill mother presented as a conspiracy in code language – is fairly typical of such cases.

Kamble sings, “truth has lost its voice”. But the film also shows us how ‘truth’ is produced in the courtroom. The messy and unruly claims and counterclaims enter the records through the dictation of the sessions judge, cleaned and flattened, in the service of law. In his cross examination by the public prosecutor, Kamble denies having written or performed the song “Manhole workers, all of us should commit suicide by suffocating inside the gutters”, which may have triggered the suicide in question.

“Ok, have you written such a song?

“Not yet.”

“So you might? You don’t mind?

No.

“Note”, tells the judge to his typist, “The accused is claiming that though he has never written or performed such a song, he doesn’t mind doing it either.”

The judge shakes his head, as if to suggest that this admission on Kamble’s part of the possibility of writing such a song in future is as good as an admission of guilt.

Anti-terror laws have raised the pursuit of the slippery and elusive “intention” into a weighty legal category.  This, combined with the widest possible meaning of terror acts (as the public prosecutor says, “it could be bombs or chemical, or any other means of whatever nature, includes anything”), has made it legally possible to criminalize practically every opinion that the government may dislike.

To those of us reared on a diet of Sunny Deol venting his fury about “tareekh, tareekh aur tareekh”, The Court offers a very calm, even resigned, look at the workings of our lower judiciary.  It unravels the socially conservative skeins of the judiciary: the public prosecutor enjoys an evening out watching anti-immigrant Marathi theatre and wishes that the judge would sentence the accused to 20 years in prison and relieve her of boredom; the judge who gently reprimands the police for not following the police procedure manual during search and seizure and yet doesn’t throw out these tainted seizures; who refuses to hear a litigant who has appeared before him in a sleeveless dress, because it violates his sense of dress code in the court.

The Court is the story of the criminal justice system as well as those it has abandoned: the dead gutter cleaner who drinks himself to insentience so that he can clamber down the manhole, who throws a pebble into the filth and waits for a cockroach to appear so that he knows that there is oxygen down there, who has lost an eye to the deadly gases. This man’s degradation is turned into material evidence of Kamble’s guilt. The Court shows us that law may only rarely be about justice. It is a requiem for gutter cleaners, for the balladeers who sing the truth, for the ideal of justice – and indeed, for all us.

Manisha Sethi is the author of Kafkaland: Prejudice, Law and Counterterrorism in India (Three Essays Collective, 2014). A slightly edited version of this review was first published in The Hindu Business Line.

From the pages of Dr. Ambedkar's Mook Nayak

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The following is the first editorial (translated from Marathi) written by Babasaheb Ambedkar for the very first issue of Mook Nayak published in January 1920! This translation was first published in July 2010 by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Research Institute in Social Growth, Kolhapur. Translated by Dr. B.R. Kamble.

Dr. Ambedkar addressing a conference at Ambedkar Bhawan, Delhi, 20 May 1951.

Dr. Ambedkar addressing a conference at Ambedkar Bhawan, Delhi, 20 May 1951.

Mumbai, Saturday 31st January 1920 [Issue No.1].

If anyone throws his glance on the Indian physical and social world as a spectator he will undoubtedly find this country a home of glaring inequality. Despite the blessings of nature and the things produced in abundance the growing inequality of poverty is so much in existence among the Indian masses that it can be easily noticed by anybody even in his unmindfulness. But no sooner he notices the inequality of poverty among the masses he does not fail to notice the social inequality that exists among the people and this inequality is like the elder sister of the former making the younger one ashamed of it.

Inequality that exists among Indians is of many forms. Inequality due to physical differences and also due to racial differences which is quite common everywhere is also found here. Black-White, tall-dwarf, straight nosed and snub-nosed.Arya- Anarya, Gon=Knod, Yavani-Dravid, Arab, Irani etc. are the differences that surface clearly in some places and though not as clearly defined but they exist in other places in latent form and in some other places in stable form. Religious inequality exists in more severe form than physical and racial inequality. The quarrels and struggles emerging out of religious inequality in several instances go to the extent of blood shedding. No doubt that Hindu, Parsi, Yahudi, Musalman, Chrisitan etc. stand as the walls of religious inequality but more than this if we see with our own subtle eyes the existing inequality among the Hindus we find its form much beyond our imagination and also worth condemning.

The Mang, the Brahmin, the Shenvi, the Maratha, the Mahar, the Chambhar, the Kayastha, the Parsi, the Kori, the Vaishya etc. are the different castes that exist in Hinduism and these are mentioned as this is a Mahar, this is a Brahmin etc.

One need not tell the Hindus how caste feelings among them are more deep-rooted than the feelings of religious oneness. If a European is asked who is he? On his answer that he is an Englishman, a German, a French or and Italian we are satisfied. But this is not so with the Hindus. If one says that I am a Hindu, no one will be satisfied. He must reveal his caste. This means to reveal their humanity the Hindus have to reveal their inequality at every step.

This inequality among the Hindus is as incomparable as it is hateful. Mutual dealing among the Hindus based on their inequality does not suit the character of Hinduism. It is clear that the castes that exist in Hinduism are inspired by the feelings of high and low. Hindus society is just like a tower which has several stories without a ladder or entrance. The man who is born in the lower storey cannot enter the upper story however worthy he may be and the man who is born in the upper storey cannot be driven out into the lower storey however unworthy he may be.

This means it is clear that the feelings of inequality among the castes are not based on the merit or demerit of individuals. The man born in a high caste, however unmeritorious he may be is always regarded as high whereas the man born in a low caste, however meritorious he may be, must always remain low. Another thing is that due to the prohibition of inter-dining and inter-caste marriages each caste has remained aloof from the growth of mutual intimate love. Even if the question of their mutual intimacy is kept aside they are also not free in their mutual dealing even in external matters. Some people’s dealing is only up to their doors. Some castes are regarded as untouchables which means that their touch pollutes other castes. Because of this notion of pollution the untouchables rarely come in contact with other castes. The alienation produced by the absence of inter-dining and inter caste marriages has fostered the feelings of touchables and untouchables so much that these touchable and untouchable castes, though a part of the Hindu society, are in reality living in worlds apart.

Because of this existing Hindu social system the Hindus form in them the three social classes namely the Brahmins, non-brahmins and the depressed classes. Similarly, if attention is paid to the effects that this inequality has produced it will be seen that it has produced different effects on different castes. Of course the Brahmins who are the highest in social grade feel that they are gods on earth. Therefore, this inequality is advantageous to these gods on earth who think that all other castes are born only to serve them. Therefore, by their self-created privileges they are enjoying the fruits of their social position exacting the services of all other castes. If they have any work to their credit, it is only the collection of knowledge and the writing of religious scriptures. But scriptures are full of contradictions and inconsistencies in matters of thought and practice. The writers of these scriptures seem to have been under the influence of intoxication while writing these works otherwise they would not have tied the high thinking and bad practices together. Because on one hand the philosophies in their scriptures preach that both living and non-living are the forms of the same god but on the other hand there is seen an extraordinary inequality in their practices. This is not a sign of them being in their senses.

Right or wrong these Shastras have made enormous impact on the minds of the innocent masses. That the masses are worshipping their enemies as gods on earth, who will accept this? It is easy to understand why the masses have clung to the harmful slavish religious practices worshipping their enemies as their benefactors.

The Brahmins, thinking that if the masses are kept ignorant they can be driven out to any direction, have kept the knowledge confined to them alone making it as their sole monopoly, and the masses thinking that this is their own real religion are following it. There are enough examples of Brahmins during their rule punishing those non-brahmins who inspite of the Brahmins warning that acquiring the scriptural knowledge is not their profession, tried to acquire that knowledge either openly or secretly.

It is clear that in the absence of authority and knowledge non-brahmins remained backward and their progress was arrested but at least poverty was not their lot. Because it was not difficult for them to earn their livelihood throughagriculture, by trade and commerce or by state services. But the effect of social inequality on the people called untouchables has been devastating. The vast masses of untouchables are undoubtedly sunk deep into the confluence of feebleness (helplessness), poverty and ignorance.

Meanness produced by their slavery with which they have been used to for many years is keeping them backward. They think that the wretched condition in which they are placed is their lot and it is god ordained. This thinking can be removed from their mind only by imparting knowledge (education) to them. But the costly education is a purchasable commodity and the untouchables because of their poverty are unable to purchase it and even if few of them are able to purchase it they are not allowed to enter the schools because the stigma of untouchablilty is permanently attached to them.

The stigma of untouchability has restricted their freedom of profession and therefore, their efforts to remove their poverty are not fructifying. In professions like trade and commerce they are very rarely found. As they can find no place to try for their fortune they are constrained to remain as manual labourers. Seeing these untouchables, nay the out-castes, who are living in wretched conditions, the 33 crores of gods but again these are Hindu gods, at least Allah maybe be taking pity of them. Even the people other than the Hindus will also condemn these out-castes because even when their whole humanity has been deprived of them they are not rising against their suppression. They are not human beings, they are just insects.

There are people even among the untouchable communities who say that the untouchables are sandwiched from all corners and there is no way out to escape from their existing insect like living. The untouchables have no knowledge (education) because they are poor and they are powerless because they have no knowledge. This is a correct logic but it should not be forgotten that it reduces the importance of those who are fighting against the practice of untouchability. The real humanity lies in breaking the barriers. It is a good sign that the sense of humanity (self-respect) is growing among the untouchable communities. Because of the evil practices in Hinduism the crores of high caste people who are irrational, obstinate and are not even god fearing are treating our people as untouchables. As long as these people treating us as untouchables are there, our people are bound to remain in a miserable condition. It is a happy augury that our people have realized this whole social dilemma.

The untouchable communities have also realized that now the upper caste Hindus taking advantage of their easy access to the British Government in India misrepresent the case of the untouchables to the Government. The untouchable communities have demanded that since casteism and caste hatred prevail in this country in highest degree in practice, for the realisation of genuine Swarajya (self-rule) the untouchables must have a share in country’s political power through their independently (separately) chosen representatives. Therefore, the untouchables have complained to the government over the stand taken by the upper caste Hindus who in their stand have opposed the demand made by the untouchable communities. The untouchables have now understood the tactics of caste Hindus who by gaining political power, it is likely, would use that power to perpetuate the social inequality. This agitation of the untouchables against the design of the caste Hindus is a sign of growing awakening among the untouchables.

There is no better source than the newspaper to suggest the remedy against the injustice that is being done to our people at present and will be done in future, and also to discus the ways and means for our progress in future. If we throw even a cursory glance over the newspapers that are published in Bombay Presidency it will be found that many among these papers take care in protecting the interest only of some (upper) castes. And these have no interest in caring for the interest of other castes. Not only this but sometimes they go against the interest of other castes. Our warning to these newspapers is that if any one caste remains degraded it will have it shocking effects on other castes too. Society is like a boat. Suppose a sailor in the boat, with the intent of causing some damage to other sailors or for making fun of them to see that they are frightened, strikes a hole in others’compartment because of his destructive mentality, the result will be that along with other sailors he will also sink sooner or later. Similarly, a caste which makes other castes suffer will also undoubtedly suffer directly or indirectly. Newspapers, therefore, interested in their own selfish interests should not follow the examples of a clever fool who deceives others and protects his own interests.

Fortunately, there are some newspapers, which appreciate the rationality of our argument. The papers like Din-Mitra, Jagruk, Deccan Rayat, Vijayi Maratha, Dnyan-Prakash, Subodh-Patrika etc. often discuss the problems of the untouchables in their columns. But it is also clear that these papers are occupied with the problems of non-brahmins, whose population is big enough in number. Therefore, devoting sufficient space for untoucahbles problems is not possible for them. Anybody will admit that there is a need of an independent newspaper to discuss especially the problems arising out of the miserable condition of the so-called untouchables. This newspaper is born to meet this need.

To devote to the discussion mainly on untouchables’ problems the newspaper such has Somwamshiya Mitra, Hindu Nagarik and Vittal Vidvamsak, were born but hey did not live long. The paper Bahishkrit Bharat is somehow continuing with difficulty. I end this matter with assurance that if the subscribers extend their proper co-operation the paper Mook Nayak will courageously work for the great cause of our people to show them the right path and their experience will show them that our assurance was not wrong.

This English translation by Dr. B.R. Kamble was first published in July 2010 by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Research Institute in Social Growth, Kohlapur.

Remembering Babasaheb: Dr. Ambedkar and The Annihilation of Caste

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ambedkar

by Sukumaran C. V.

There is no code of laws more infamous regarding social rights than the Laws of Manu. Any instance from anywhere of social injustice must pale before it. Why have the mass of people tolerated the social evils to which they have been subjected? There have been social revolutions in other countries of the world. Why have there not been social revolutions in India is a question which has incessantly troubled me. There is only one answer and it is that the lower classes of Hindus have been completely disabled for direct action on account of this wretched system of Chaturvarnya.—B. R. Ambedkar.

April 14th 2015 is the 125th birthday of Ambedkar, the man who was the greatest crusader against the inhuman caste system of India, the man who sincerely wished to annihilate the monster called caste. I have often and again felt that, in the history of the whole humankind, the two most draconian human ‘inventions’ are the slavery that was prevalent in the U.S. and the caste system of India. As slavery was abolished and it doesn’t exist now, caste system of India is the only draconian human invention that exists today.

It was while I was in the 9th standard I happened to know about Ambedkar. The Malayalam Supplementary Reader for class 9th was a short biography of Ambedkar and the portion which described that the people who belong to Ambedkar’s caste have had to wear a small pot around their neck to spit in order not to defile the path they walk on by spiting on the path really disturbed me. And when I hear that even today there are people in our country who are not allowed to drink tea in glasses and tea shops reserve coconut shells for them, I am not only disturbed but also ashamed!

In his ‘Annihilation of Caste’ which was published in 1936, Ambedkar said: “…turn in any direction you like, caste is the monster that crosses your path. You cannot have political reform, you cannot have economic reform, unless you kill this monster.” (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter III)

Still, nearly 80 years after, we have not been able to kill the monster and the monster continues to kill and maim and insult the people. Even in Kerala, the most ‘educated’ and the most ‘progressed’ state, people subscribe to caste prejudices and bias. The ‘forward’ class colleagues of a government department head, the day after his retirement, applied cow-dung water inside his cabin and on the chair he used to sit to ‘purify’ them as he belonged to a scheduled caste! It happened in Kerala four years ago. Mentally it happens every day. The ‘forward’ caste people who are down in the official hierarchy of the government civil service machinery, are irritated when their superior belongs to SC/ST category. Even OBCs join hands with the ‘forward’ class in sharing this prejudice.

One of my Dalit friends recently told me that he didn’t vote for the Dalit candidate who was fielded by the Left in the 2014 Loksabha election. The Dalit candidate, who won, is a highly qualified one and the Constituency in which he was fielded was one that was reserved for SCs. My friend’s question is: Why does even the Left field well qualified SC candidates in the reservation seats? Why can’t even the so called progressive parties field educated and qualified SC/STs in the general seats and make them win?

The irony is that even those who are supposed to fight the monster called caste don’t want to kill it. The question Ambedkar asked 80 years ago—‘Can you have economic reform without first bringing about a reform of the social order?’—is still relevant, but conveniently forgotten by every political party.

In the following words of Ambedkar, we can see the reason why secular democracy failed in this country and the religious fundamentalism of RSS and BJP thrives: “Why do millionaires in India obey penniless Sadhus and Fakirs? Why do millions of paupers in India sell their trifling trinkets which constitute their only wealth and go to Benares and Mecca? That, religion is the source of power is illustrated by the history of India where the priest holds a sway over the common man often greater than the magistrate and where everything, even such things as strikes and elections, so easily take a religious turn and can so easily be given a religious twist.” (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter III)

The struggle against caste has not come forward even a step further from where Ambedkar has led it. After Ambedkar nobody is as serious and dedicated as he has been in annihilating the caste system, the most draconian social set up in the world. Therefore caste and caste bias still thrive in our country and the humans and humanity fail.

And the most pathetic development in our country today is the competition between Congress which has never tried to annihilate the caste system and the BJP which doesn’t even dare to question caste system, to ‘own’ Ambedkar in relation with his 125th birth anniversary! Both the BJP and Congress should do justice to Ambedkar’s legacy if they can assimilate his spirit against caste system which still drags India back as far as social progress and equality are concerned. How can the Congress ‘own’ Ambedkar who said that ‘every Congressman who repeats the dogma of Mill that one country is not fit to rule another country must admit that one class is not fit to rule another class’? (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter II)

And how can the BJP ‘own’ Ambedkar who said that ‘the Hindus criticize the Mohammadans for having spread their religion by the use of their sword. …But really speaking who is better and more worthy of our respect—the Mohammadans and Christians who attempted to thrust down the throats of unwilling persons what they regarded as necessary for their salvation or the Hindu who would not spread the light, who would endeavour to keep others in darkness? I have no hesitation in saying that if the Mohammedan has been cruel, the Hindu has been mean and meanness is worse than cruelty’? (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter IX)

Both the BJP and Congress don’t want the Ambedkar who fought the most draconian system in the world—the caste system. Both want Ambedkar as bait to garner Dalit votes. They want to ‘own’ the form of Ambedkar sans the spirit. They know full well that the spirit of Ambedkar will annihilate the very base and foundation of such parties— religion and caste.

As Ambedkar says, ‘…Hindu Society is a myth. The name Hindu is itself a foreign name. It was given by the Mohammedans to the natives for the purpose of distinguishing themselves. It doesn’t occur in any Sanskrit work prior to the Mohammedan invasion. …Hindu society as such does not exist. It is only a collection of castes. … Castes don’t even form a federation. A caste has no feeling that it is affiliated to other castes except when there is a Hindu-Muslim riot.’ (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter VI). The BJP used this ‘feeling of affiliation’ in the Gujarat riots, in the Muzafarnagar riots and in almost all communal riots. People who are in the bottom of caste hierarchy are turned against the Muslims and both the caste oppression and religious fundamentalism which don’t allow the people to annihilate castes and religions thrive oppressing the very people who help religious fundamentalism to grow and rule the country. (Minority fundamentalism, the other side of the same coin, and the so called ‘secular’ politics of the Congress and other parties for whom secularism has always been a meaningless word only to catch the votes of the minorities, provided sufficient fuels for the majority fundamentalism to spread over the country and swallow the entire nation.)

Caste oppression in India is as worst as the European slave trade and the slavery prevalent in the United States. We can only read with horror the details about the slave trade of the people who were ‘burdened’ with the duty of ‘civilising’ the world. Howard Zinn writes in ‘A People’s History of the United States’:

“The conditions of capture and sale were crushing affirmations to the black African of his helplessness in the face of superior force. The marches to the cost, sometimes for 1,000 miles, with people shackled around the neck, under whip and gun, were death marches, in which two of every five blacks died. On the cost they were kept in cages until they were picked and sold. …Then they were packed aboard the slave ships, in spaces not much bigger than coffins, chained together in the dark, wet slime of the ship’s bottom, choking in the stench of their own excrement….The height, sometimes, between decks was only eighteen inches; so that the unfortunate human beings could not turn around, or even on their sides, the elevation being less than the breadth of their shoulders; and here they are usually chained to the decks by the neck and legs.”

This cruelty and meanness towards the humans by the humans was abolished, but in India the oppression and discrimination in the name of caste still continue and when will we the Indians be free from the oppressive and denigrating caste system which applies cow-dung water to ‘purify’ the official seat of an educated human being on account of his ‘lower’ caste origin? Will Ambedkar’s 200th birth anniversary see an India in which caste is annihilated totally?

Sukumaran C. V is a former JNU student now working as clerk in the Kerala State Government service. Emai: lscvsuku@gmail.com

Karnataka: Congress under pressure to replace CM Siddaramaiah with a Dalit face

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Siddaramaiah-Parameshwara

Bengaluru: Though summer is yet to set in, political heat is affecting the Congress party in Karnataka.

Dalits from across the state have come together to lobby for a CM from their community, and are backing Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president G. Parameshwara for the post.

Last week, representatives of at least 30 different Dalit organisations of the state met in Bengaluru to demand CM’s post for Parameshwara.

If reports are to be believed, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president G Parameshwara’s name has been floated by his supporters as the likely successor to Siddaramaiah.

Reports also suggested that Siddaramaiah is well aware of the forces backing Parameshwara and he is also in no mood to offer any powerful slot to the latter.

After Parameshwara’s shocking defeat in 2013 Assembly polls, he was forced to concede CM’s post to Siddaramaiah.

The Dalit groups have also planned a massive rally in Bengaluru on April 14 to press for their demand. The day coincides with Dr BR Ambedkar Jayanthi.

According to some media reports, Parameshwara is expected to lead a delegation to New Delhi shortly to meet the party high command.

(Agencies)

The Everyday Violence of the Law: Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court

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Chaitanya Tamhane Court

by Amit Basole, Sanhati

Chaitanya Tamhane’s directorial debut, Court, is a multilingual, award-winning film on the “quiet violence” of the judicial system and how the State uses it to suppress political activists. Financed by the Hubert-Bals Fund and private equity, it opened to rave reviews and won Best Director and Best Film in the International Competition section of the 16th Mumbai Film Festival. It also premiered at the Venice Film Festival earlier in the year, where it won the Lion of the Future Award for the best first feature. Court successfully invokes the mood of a trial based on patently ridiculous charges, conducted with no intent other than disciplining and harassment of an activist. A phenomenon that is all too common in India. The theme is very timely given the increasingly intolerant nature of the Indian State and the large number of political prisoners languishing in jail all across the country.

The film follows the trial of Narayan Kamble (Vira Sathidar), a Dalit political activist and lokshahir (people’s poet) who is arrested on stage during a performance in Bombay on charges of “abetment of suicide.” The police claim that Kamble has penned and performed “incendiary” lyrics calling on Dalits to “drown themselves in sewage” provoking a municipal sanitation worker to actually take his own life by drowning in the very sewer it is his duty to clean. The absurdity of the charge is matched by the (mock?) seriousness with which it is pursued but the police and the officials of the Sessions court. While the politics of false charges and suppression of activists via legal means is an important theme in the film, Tamhane also uses the context of the trial to explore the everyday lives of the principal actors in the courtroom; especially the lawyers for defense (producer Vivek Gomber) and prosecution (played by Geetanjali Kulkarni), and the judge (Pradeep Joshi). What emerges is how extraordinary injustice is embedded in quotidian affairs. The prosecution lawyer argues against bail, ensures that an honest man of advanced years rots in police custody for no reason at all and then goes home to cook dinner and watch TV with her family.

The ponderous legal system is certainly the main protagonist, as is evident in the name of the film. And as a useful counterpoint to the brilliant and satirical Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho, Court forces us confront the fact that the byzantine alleyways of justice and the proverbial tarikh pe tarikh, are not merely the unintended result of an uncaring and bureaucratic system but rather used deliberately by the State to remove its more inconvenient citizens for some time, say three or four years. At which time it is the headache of the next set of rulers.

As noted by other reviewers, Anand Patwardhan’s Jai Bhim Comrade could serve as the primer or backdrop to Court. Vilas Ghogre the activist and singer with whose suicide over the Ramabai Nagar police firing in 1998 Patwardhan begins the film, could be Narayan Kamble. Indeed the protest poetry that Kamble sings from the stage has been penned by Ghogre’s friend and fellow activist Sambhaji Bhagat, a renowned and powerful lokshahir. Vira Sathidar who plays Kamble is himself a left Dalit political activist and editor of the radical Nagpur-based journal Vidrohi.

The film’s casting is brilliant (and took several months). Vira Sathidar is spot-on as Narayan Kamble. Being an activist himself he knows how to behave, stand, move and speak. His performance to the powerful lyrics of lokshahir Sambhaji Bhagat is also utterly convincing. Film producer Vivek Gomber as Vinay Vora is also very good, as are all the other actors (Geetanjali Kulkarni as the prosecuting attorney, Pradeep Joshi as Judge Sadavarte). Several members of the cast are not professionally trained actors. For example, the woman who plays the wife of the drowned municipal worker is actually the wife of such a worker who lost his life. The films skillful use of Bombay’s multilingual milieu should also be commended. Tamhane uses Marathi, Hindi, English, and Gujarati as needed according to the social context. This may not seem like a big deal, but if one notes how few films are able to do justice to the multilingualism that exists in Indian cities, this emerges as a major achievement.

While the overall aesthetic of the film is “documentary-like” with real locations and use of non-professional actors, Tamhane also makes extensive use of wide-angle shots, very long duration takes, and dramatic contrast cuts. This is a bold move on part of a first-time director since it makes him vulnerable by exposing large compositions to the viewer for long periods of time, to imbibe and criticize. But on the whole the move works well. Wide shots give Bombay city a starring role in the film conveying a sense of social context in which the action is embedded. We see other people, incidental to the scene going about their lives. The long takes slow down time invoking in the viewer a feeling of what it must feel like to be involved in an interminable court case where everything moves at a glacial pace.

The director noted during the Q & A that he is particularly interested in exploring the experience of the law in a Sessions court as a counter-point to the glamorous upper level courts with oratorical performances and tightly woven arguments. Here lawyers need not be articulate and proceedings are simultaneously intensely procedural but also highly disorganized. For example witnesses don’t show up for months because they are “ill,” stock (professional) police witnesses are used, charge sheets are read out in their entirety in monotones, arguments are not convincing, and logic borders on farce.

Overall, Tamhane has made a strong debut and has tackled an extremely important theme in a sensitive manner.

But the film does suffer from some problems. While the story and screenplay has been called understated by some reviewers, I found little subtlety in the treatment. Not much is left to the viewer’s imagination. Deliberate contrast cuts, e.g. from a softly lit, fashionable Bombay nightclub to a harshly lit, bleak, sessions courtroom are dramatic but also a tiny bit heavy-handed. The film ends with a scene showing Judge Sadavarte dozing off on a park bench while on a family vacation in Arnala (resort town near Bombay). Meanwhile the under-trial languishes in judicial custody. But where the director chose to end the film is also worth noting. In the last scene, the judge dozes on a park bench while some kids from the family stand nearby and giggle at him. They then come close, shout loudly and startle him out of his nap. He wakes up abruptly, scolds them harshly and falls back to sleep. The end. The obvious conclusion: despite the occasional irritant, justice sleeps on vacation. But if the film had ended with the judge being rudely awakened out of his slumber by the children, how different would the implication have been? Perhaps Tamhane felt that such an optimistic ending would have been out of keeping with the general mood of the film.

Further, the political prisoner theme naturally lends itself to some difficult political questions. In an attempt to make the story “interesting” Tamhane gives the defense lawyer a highly privileged background while making the prosecuting attorney come from a modest, lower-middle class home. The irony is in a scion of a Gujarati business family (his father owns an entire building in Bombay) forging a relationship with a poor, Marathi Dalit activist. Linguistically and in class terms, perhaps the lower-middle class (though most likely Brahmin) prosecuting attorney is closer to the accused than his own lawyer.

In fact, Tamhane goes to great lengths to establish the points of difference between Vora and Kamble. The lawyer speaks English-medium quality English, shops for expensive wine and cheese, frequents upscale nightclubs, listens to jazz in his car and watches news about the Jaipur Lit Fest on his Apple Macbook. He also does not speak very much Marathi. In one telling scene, while the accused is on stand in the courtroom being cross-examined by the prosecution in Marathi, the defense lawyer pleads for the proceeding to occur in Hindi. The accused, Kamble, says he is more comfortable in Marathi. Vinay Vora is thus the epitome of the “outsider” as far as Narayan Kamble’s social context is concerned.

What are we to make of this? In the Q & A after the movie, the director defended this set-up by saying it was “more interesting.” Perhaps so. But what message does it send? We are never told how Vora comes to defend Kamble, what the former thinks about the latter’s politics and struggle. It doesn’t appear to be the case that Vora is simply a public defender who has been assigned the case. Rather he seems to be Kamble’s lawyer. Certainly upper class lawyers can and do choose to fight such cases. But what is being suggested by drawing attention to how out of touch with his client’s life and social context the lawyer is?

This connects to the films intended audience, which not surprisingly seems to be the English-speaking middle class. This is a good thing, in so far as the film enables a class that has minimal contact with this side of the justice system to get a peek into its workings. But unfortunately, a voyeuristic peek and a coming away with shaking of the head at the deplorable state of affairs is all we are likely to have here. The film does not really unsettle any middle-class conceptions. Rather it confirms them. In the process it even makes fun of all the characters, apart from Vora and Kamble, that inhabit this universe (judging in part by the audiences’ laughter, for which the director of course cannot be entirely help responsible). Their earnestness in following court protocol, their heavily Marathi-accented English, one suspects even their lack of cosmopolitanism, become objects of amusement. A link of sympathy is forged between the audience, Vora, and Kamble, bypassing the social classes in the middle, who are mostly hostile.

What is also missing is a sense of the community from which Kamble comes or for which he has dedicated his life. There are references to the youth who form part of his cultural troupe and one young man is shown working with Vora. But that is all. Ironically we get back-stories or backgrounds for everyone but Kamble. We don’t see his family or where or how he lives, who his friends are. He is the archetypal “wronged Dalit.” Not innocent, he is, after all, political, but a two-dimensional representation of a Dalit activist, nevertheless. The dead municipal worker of course needs no backstory because he is not a person. He stands for the most degraded citizen who society literally kills with its waste.

It is possible that the director did not venture far in this direction because he wanted to stay close to the kinds of people he feels he knows well enough to characterize convincingly. It is also possible that, as is evident in the title of the film, he was more concerned with exploring the characters that inhabit a Sessions courtroom. But then a political trial which eventually progresses to a sedition charge under UAPA, no less, was not the best way to explore those characters, since much larger themes are raised by doing so and they must be dealt with.

But the complaints above notwithstanding, on the whole Court is a welcome development in Indian cinema from an assured and sensitive directorial voice. Such honest filmmaking especially on dissent is greatly to be desired given the narrowing of space for critical thinking in the Modi-obsessed middle-class. We look forward to many more films from Chaitanya Tamhane.

Maharashtra Dalits backed BJP due to frustration: Eknath Awad

by

Eknath Awad. [Photo: 100 Heroes Project]

Eknath Awad. [Photo: 100 Heroes Project]

Fondly called as “Jija” or “The respected” (in Marathi) by his followers, one of the tallest Dalit activist of India, Eknath Awad works for economic empowerment of the most depressed communities of the fuedal region in Deccan Plateau. Through his “Manviya Haq Abhiyan” or Human rights movement, Jija has secured land for over 50,000 Dalits in Marathwada, giving them social and economic freedom to a great extent. He speaks to TISS student Aishik Chanda at Manviya Haq Abhiyan headquarter near Telgaon in Beed district of Maharashtra.

How has the Dalit movement fared in Marathwada till now?

Marathwada was a part of Nizam-ruled Hyderabad state, which resulted in feudalism, backwardness and more atrocities on the Dalits. Lack of employement, fuelled by chronic casteism gave strength to the Dalit movement here. There have been several separate movements by the Dalit Panthers, Republican Party of India, Manviya Haq Abhiyan and Ukraant. The more you suppress, the stronger the movement grows.

How has Manviya Haq Abhiyan succeeded so far?

The main aim of Manviya Haq Abhiyan, which started in 1990, was to put a halt to the caste-based occupations in the villages, stop caste atrocities and secure as much as possible fallow government grazing land for the Dalits. A lot of Dalits have got grazing land to toil. Earlier, people did not file cases of atrocities. Things have changed. Dalits have gathered more courage and voice, which has led to more action.

Despite economic empowerment, has social equality come?

It is very hard to bring social equality in our country, even if economic equality has been achieved. After struggling for so many years, I am being looked down upon as a Dalit, but not on the face. Everything is behind my back. Social equality is very hard to achieve…our countrymen are mad people. Humanity has no value. Stones have value, animals have value, but humans don’t. Even cats and dogs are treated better than Dalits in our society. Humans are not treated like humans, rest all are gods. Lord Buddha spread the message of equality but the people of our country did not like that. Hence, this situation.

Why do you think Babasaheb Ambedkar’s ideology did not make much impact on many Dalit communities throughout India on the level it could have?

In south, Baba’s ideology has made a great impact. In U.P., Baba’s thoughts were taken forward by Kanshi Ram ji. However, all over India it might not have made a great impact partly because the one’s who should have taken the ideas to other states — The Marathi Dalit — is largely rural and does not have that level of exposure to the other states.

Where do you see the Dalit movement in Maharashtra post-BJP government both at Centre and state?

The Congress-NCP rule ignored the Dalit issues like anything. The earlier Chief Ministers and the home ministers would visit the Dalit villages after an atrocity or massacre. However, the recent governments even stopped that formality. The Dalits were angry with the government, so they wanted a change and voted for BJP en masse, which is also a reason for BJP’s accession to power in Maharashtra.

What are the differences between the Dalit movements in Vidarbha and Marathwada?

The Dalit movements of Marathwada, Vidarbha and western Maharashtra are different from one another. The Marathwada movement has been aggressive as caste-oppression has been the most violent here. The Dalit movement in Vidarbha is not united. However, after a caste atrocity or violence, the Mahars and the Maangs (major Dalit communities) come under the same roof. Organisations join hands to put up a collective fight. Within 15 days of an atrocity, the victim Dalit takes his “revenge” in Marathwada. Such is not the case in Vidarbha. The casteism in western Maharashtra is very subtle and non-violent in nature.

Despite such a strong social movement in Maharashtra, why did not the Dalits get much political power?

It is because of the divide among the Dalits. The shaane (clever) Dalits have outnumbered the deewane (passionate) Dalits in Maharashtra.

What is your stand on Arundhati Roy’s “version” of Annhilation of caste?

I haven’t read it yet. So, can’t comment on that.

Your organisation has Ambedkariite ideology but has supported NCP, Congress and BJP. Does that not clash with your political ideology?

No, it doesn’t. The Congress-NCP rule has been more cruel on Dalits than the BJP-SS rule.

So, you can go with any ideology for the betterment of the Dalits?

It is not like that. The Congress has used the Dalits and the Muslims by using the fear of BJP. So, our stand has become “dekh lenge” (We’ll see). Hence, the Dalits have supported the BJP this time.

Can Dalits and Muslims ever come together politically?

They can but they won’t. Dalits and Muslims have separate agendas. The Muslims have never been politically organised. They have just organised themselves on religious grounds. Dalits till get politically organised. Muslims have voted en masse to BJP here in Majalgaon in Beed district.

Why did it take so long for convicting the perpetrators of Khairlanji incident?

It has been majorly due to state government’s negligence. They were never beside the Dalits of Khairlanji. They instead honoured Kahirlanji with a “Tanta Mukti Puraskar” (an award given for solving their problems). In that very village, such a gruesome massacre and rapes took place. The attitude of the government is best seen the way it had changed non-bailable offences to bailable ones.

Where do you see media’s role in bringing out atrocities to the “mainstream”.

Only Dalit media reports such cases regularly. Big medias have become corporatised. The philanthrophy in journalism has become very weak. The media won’t earn much if they publish or report more of atrocities on Dalits, who are not “news”.

Where do you see role of Dalit literature as a medium of Dalit voice?

It is very very important. In Mahrashtra, a lot has been done through Dalit literature. Maharashtra has now all types of Dalit literature.

What is the reason that the Dalits in Maharashtra are the most organised?

It is the result of the movements by Mahatma Phule and Babasaheb. A lot has changed here.

Why do you think the BSP did not make much inroads into Maharashtra?

I have fought on a BSP ticket in Lok Sabha elections once. I believe in the ideology. But, with the death of Kanshi Ram ji, his dream too died. Mayawati is busy in petty party politics. Kanshi Ram ji’s work was missionary. His mission was to make Dalits wake up. During his lifetime, BSP became a national party. After his death, the downfall of the party started, its area of influence got reduced and limited to in and around U.P.

Do you think there is any chance of Dalit panthers to regain strength in Maharashtra?

No, its not possible. People have changed a lot. A Dalit organisation grows when Dalits are insecure. Now, the situation of Dalits in Maharashtra has improved manifolds. Atrocities have reduced. The “dushman” (enemy) has also become conscious. They now fear the Dalits. They are not in a position to be aggressive against Dalits, as was the situation during Dalit Panthers’ time. Also, the commitment among Dalit children towards the movement has reduced. Not many Dalit kids will go on a padayatra (foot march) today. During the heyday of 70s, we used to walk for 40 km a day to reach villages and sensitise people. In this new position, rebuilding and resurecting Dalit Panthers is very very difficult.

Do you support OBC reservations for Marathas?

Not at all!!! They are the exploiters. They have factories, dairies, farms. They are the sarpanch, MLA, MP, ministers, CM. They are everywhere. Why do they need reservation? According to the constitution, reservation if for the traditionally powerless communities. Marathas are in power since ages.

Bengal is second in the country both in terms of Dalit population and percentage. Still its has seen no major Dalit movement post-independence. Is it due to suppression of caste and more importance to class?

Yes. CPI and CPM have done this grave mistake and hence have failed. They believe that social mobility will follow economic mobility. But that has not happened. Babasaheb had told that caste and class issues should go hand-in-hand. So, Dalit issues in Bengal were suppressed by class struggle. Bengal needs a strong Dalit leader now.

The writer is pursuing M.A. Dalit and Tribal Studies and Action at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He was a working journalist at The New Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle in Hyderabad. He is currently an independent journalist.

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